Songfacts®:

• This is about a social worker friend of the band named Geraldine Lennon. The song describes the relationship between Geraldine and one of her clients, for whom she'll be "the angel on your shoulder."
• Glasvegas are: James Allan (lead singer / guitarist and songwriter), Paul Donoghue (bass), Rab Allan (Guitar) and Caroline McKay (drums). This was their debut single with Columbia. They signed with the label after picking up the prestigious Philip Hall Radar Award at the 2008 NME Awards.
• Frontman James Allan told the Daily Mirror August 8, 2008: "Geraldine is a friend I met through my sister. She sells our merchandise now. I wanted to write about two people showing compassion to each other. It's not revealed that it's about a social worker until the end – it could be about two lovers. I could have called it Denise after my sister who was also a social worker, but there was the Blondie song with a similar name."
• Allan told the Daily Record August 5, 2008: "I wanted to write a poem about a person showing another person compassion."
• Geraldine Lennon said in The Guardian, December 13, 2008: "I worked for Glasgow city council social work department, on the addiction side. It was a thankless job, but very rewarding at times, too. You learn very quickly that if you expect people to change their life overnight, you'll be let down. But you learn not to judge. James's sister Denise worked in the same office as me. I think a lot of the lyrics come from her going home and talking about difficulties in her relationships with clients. Usually the only time you hear about social workers is when something's f--ked up and has been horrendous. I've spoken to social workers who've said, 'That song gets me to work in the morning,' and it was the same for me. Somebody has put value on what we do.
  When James said he was writing a song called 'Geraldine,' I thought he was taking the piss. When I heard it I was blown away. A lot of tears. It's probably one of the most special things anyone will ever do for me."