Robertson had started writing "4% Pantomime" and finished it with Morrison when Morrison dropped by to visit the Band at Bearsville Studios near Woodstock, New York before Morrison moved to California. Morrison and Richard Manuel sing the lead vocals as a duet, with Manuel taking the first verse and Morrison taking the second. Among the lyrics, Morrison calls to Manuel as "Richard" and Manuel calls to Morrison as the "Belfast Cowboy", a nickname Robertson came up with for Morrison. The song tells the story of two drunk musicians stuck in Los Angeles with only a bottle of whiskey. The lyrics also make references to the two men gambling at playing cards. Rolling Stone Magazine critic Jon Landau described the theme of the song as being about "being a working artist". Berwyn Life critic Steve Sparacio stated that the lyrics work even though the lines sometimes seem to be strung together in ways that don't make sense, giving as an example "And I don't know whether to call or to check/But right now I feel like I got a royal flush/And my lady didn't show from 'Frisco/But we had to go on with the show." Geoffrey Cannon of The Guardian praises the internal rhymes in some of Morrison's lines, such as "Oh Richard tell me who's got the joker and is it poker."
