Siouxsie quoted on 'Downside Up' liner notes in 2004 for this track, b-side of SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES 1988 "The Killing Jar" single, that: "I love old sayings or 'old wives tales', if you like. Although based on superstitions, their language, rich in history and imagination has always intrigued me. This one turns up in Shakespeare’s 'Macbeth', in a book by Ray Bradbury and that ‘who dunnit’ writer Agatha Christie."

- Like many phrases from Shakespeare, this is very popular for titles. The full line is "By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes" and originates in Act IV, scene 1 of William Shakespeare’s play 'Macbeth', where "the wicked thing" is Macbeth himself and the quote coming from Stygian Triplets.
- The song title is also taken from a Ray Bradbury novel and film adaptation of the same name. The novel "Something wicked this way comes" was published in 1962 and was made into a film in 1983 by director Jack Clayton, from a screenplay written by Bradbury himself! It’s about two boys who have an unpleasant experience with the carnival that comes to their Midwestern town.
- "By the pricking of my thumbs" is also a 1968 crime novel by Agatha Christie, featuring Tuppence and Tommy, a detective duo, instead of the classic ones of Miss Marple or Hercules Poirot, and being generally considered one of Christie’s lesser efforts.

Written in the spring of 1988 over a period of great uncertainty in the Banshees’ career, this is a premonition song. Preceded by some warning signs, the band’s worst fears came true eventually during that time: Dave Woods not only had systematically been neglecting his duties as their manager but also his addiction to heroin had inevitably dragged the band into a financial nightmare. Formally resigned on 3 May 1988, he was hastily replaced by Spizz and Altered Images ex-manager Paul O’Reilly (aka Suspect O’Typewriter because of his previous jobs as fanzine editor & reporter for Zigzag magazine) ironically another drug abuser (of cocaine this time) who thus didn’t last longer than 5 or 6 months, only to be replaced by Tim Collins, the Banshees’ tour manager at the time.

So while in London in the spring of 1988, the Banshees joined forces recording this track at Marcus Music Studios (with Steven Severin on bass, Jon Klein on guitar, cello provided by Martin McCarrick and 'disturbed' drums by Budgie, all over Siouxsie’s voice, singing lyrics penned by her) and subsequently mixing it at Marquee Studios with an audio result hypnotic for the listener yet with an unsettling feeling dispersed throughout it.

Animation in this video is 'SPECTRES' (1987) by British animator and film director Martyn Pick, who has also created the eerie animation for SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES promo video of "The Killing Jar" (1988)! No copyright infringement intended. I don't own any of the audiovisual content featured in this video.