The release of 1994’s Gideon Gaye sparked something of a bidding war aamong labels of the time, including the nascent Almo label started by A&M founders Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss. The Llamas ultimately signed to Sony, in large part due to their existing relationship with Jeremy Pearce of Sony’s LRD (Licensed Repertoire Division). In an interview, frontman Sean O’Hagan states Sony may have signed the band under the impression that Checking In, Checking Out was wholly representative of the band’s output and ambitions, and following their signing, the song was set for release as a single which needed a b-side, and in response, O’Hagan penned Cropduster, one of the Llamas’ most ambitious songs, one that bridged the gap between Gideon Gaye and the widescreen opus that would follow.

O’Hagan wrote Cropduster on a piano while visiting the home of journalist Dave Clifford, founder of the seminal Vox Magazine, in Inichcore, Dublin. In an interview with Paul McDermott, O’Hagan calls the song “pure Morricone”; a cinematic departure from the west-coast FM pop the band honed on Checking In, Checking Out and a sign of things to come on 1996’s follow-up Hawaii.

Cropduster is a true-blue epic, and one of the band’s longest songs, clocking in at nearly eight minutes. O’Hagan states the lyrics were inspired by his uncle Kenneth O’Mahoney, a civil engineer hailing from Dundalk, Ireland who told O’Hagan stories on the history of the London Underground, specifically an American engineer who played a key role in it’s development. O’Hagan hasn’t stated if a specific historical figure is the inspiration(s) for the song’s central character, though potential figures include Charles Yerkes, an American financier who helped fund the Underground’s initial construction and planning, or William Graff-Baker, an American engineer who served as the London Underground’s chief mechanical engineer in the 1930’s.

Cropduster later appeared on the bonus disc included with the American release of Hawaii, which compiled songs taken from releases unavailable in the US including the Checking In, Checking Out single. All tracks from the Hawaii Bonus Disc were also released as a promo cassette simply titled Bonus Tracks, as well as the Retrospective, Rarities & Instrumentals compilation from 2003.