Songfacts®:

• Keane pianist and chief-songwriter Tim Rice-Oxley said on his record label's website that he thought that this song, that discusses the futile distractions of the human race, "might be the best song I've ever written."
• This song socks it to the jihadists, who believe it is their religious duty to murder those who don't share their beliefs. Rice-Oxley told The Sun October 3, 2008: "Perfect Symmetry says, 'Instead of blowing yourself up, why don't you spend your time on this planet with the people that you love and make it a positive experience?'"
• In an interview before the album had been completed, Rice-Oxley told Qmagazine February 2008: "'Perfect Symmetry' sounds like something off (Bowie's 1973 album) Aladdin Sane.
• Rice-Oxley explained to The Sun why Keane chose the album title Perfect Symmetry. He said: "It's about the extremes of the human condition. The way that people have this capacity for real greatness and achievement, yet also this ability to sabotage and destroy everything. I think that this album explores all of those themes - terrorism, people's love of power, celebrity culture, society's funny traditions and foibles."
• Rice Oxley explained the album's cover art on the band's website: "The basic pattern is a combination of ideas - namely the decidedly imperfect symmetry that's one of the main themes of the album, and the design concepts of the Bauhaus movement that we fell in love with while we were recording in Berlin. Looking through the gaps in the pattern you can see glimpses of sculptures of us specially made by the brilliant Korean artist Osang Gwon."
• After this was released as a single in December 2008, Rice-Oxley told the Daily Record why this song means so much to the band. He said: "It's a sprawling epic with a hint of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody to it. The subject matter is quite dark, but the message is very much about hope, and a belief that mankind can continue to produce beautiful things. A lot of people are having a hard time at the moment and I want people to be moved by it."