Songfacts®:

• Frank Turner recalled the inspiration for this song to NME: "I was staying at my sister's house in Lancaster and I had this dream about the name Josephine being whispered in my ear," he said. "I thought I didn't know anyone called Josephine until the song was finished when my friend Jo, or Josie, went 'Um, hello?'"
• This rock anthem was the second single to be taken from Positive Songs For Negative People. "It's a song about the search of the elusive perfect other, if he or she even exists," said Turner, "and it's also my favorite set of lyrics on the new album."
• Turner told Songwriting magazine how "Josephine" began as a collection of different pieces. "They all had the same core feeling, but I couldn't figure out what that feeling was," he said. "Sooner or later you had a song, so there was definitely something that made me put those fragments together."