 "Cities" is a fast-paced bass and keyboard-led song.Tina Weymouth's bass playing in the song is described by AllMusic as both "melodic" and "funky", while David Byrne's guitar is said to be jittery, but clean-sounding.The song fades both in and out with a very aggressive funky rhythm and the fade-out serves as a build-up to the next song, "Life During Wartime".