Songfacts®:

• "Sha-la-la" is an homage to the 1970 Nilsson song "Me And My Arrow." In Nilsson's whimsical tune, "Arrow" is a dog; Elizabeth And The Catapult's song also stars a dog, this one named "Tokyo."
• Elizabeth And The Catapult is the performing name of Elizabeth Ziman, who began scoring films after attending the Berklee College of Music with Esperanza Spalding and St. Vincent. This song is based on one of her childhood memories.
  
  "This was a true story of a can collector who used to sing and wander the streets of Minetta Lane when I was a kid," she said on the Songfacts Podcast. "She would walk around with her dog and she always sang, 'Day-o, day-o, daylight come and me wanna go home,' and she had this cute little bulldog with her. Every time I would say hello, she was so kind to me.
  
  I wanted to show the melancholy and the hardship of life but also against the backdrop of someone just owning where they are and saying, 'Screw it, I love my dog and we are parading around this city.' I really like the celebration of New York as well.
  
  It's a rub of melancholy and hope that all of the songs on the album have because we're always fighting for more hope right now and constantly boomeranging between the two feelings. Sometimes there's a sweet spot at that rub, and I feel like I got that sweet spot on this one."
• Elizabeth Ziman brought in a bass player for this track - Adam Minkoff - but instead of having him play the instrument, she had him sing the bassline. His girlfriend, Gabby Sherba, ended up doing backup vocals.