Songfacts®:

• The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett finds the Eels mainman ruminating about a lost love. Everett told Q magazine the album is, "about being an idiot in relationships. And I worked out a way of making a musical version of that. It's one of the reasons why I called it The Cautionary Tales of... The good people might be able to learn from my mistakes. Why do so much stupid stuff yourself when I can do it for you?"
• The Sun asked Everett whether he harbors hopes of ever winning his estranged lover back? He replied: "It's probably a case of what happens in this song, 'Agatha Chang,' where I say, 'I know it's just a song and would probably long gone.'"
• Everett's former lover is described in this song as, "beautiful, with long black hair and aching eyes." The Eels frontman confessed to The Sun: "That was the case of changing the name and their hair color to protect the innocent. The song is about a real person. About 20 years ago, I did actually meet someone named Agatha Chang."
  
  "I wrote it down, thinking, 'One day baby all write a rock song called Agatha Chang,' he continued. "Recently I discovered that piece of paper when I was looking to change someone's name."