Songfacts®:

• King's X frontman Dug Pinnick confronts his mortality head-on in "Give It Up," a track the band started working on in 2020 during the pandemic.
  
  "I had turned 70," he told Songfacts. "It just hit me. I was like, 'Damn. It's almost over. What are you going to do?' And I thought, 'I'm going to ride it out and enjoy my life.' 'What's my biggest fear? I might not like what's over there.'
  
  So, I'm not going to rush to get there. I'm not thinking about suicide or anything like that – I'll just do what I can to be as healthy as I can until that time comes.
  
  There's a line that says, 'Some people call me wise, born today, soon you die.' And it's that simple. That ain't wisdom – that's just truth. 'So live another day, that's the battle it's true, and if you find your groove, hang onto whatever keeps you.' It's sort of an encouraging song."
• The song is ultimately a celebration, a vibrant rocker that fits the YOLO theme of the lyrics.
  
  "I wanted to write a song that you could dance to, you can bounce around to," Pinnick explained. "Something simple. Nothing complicated or hard. And I love simple songs. And throwing the key changes in was a lot of fun – the half-steps, for the musical people that like to hear those changes. I've never heard a song change and go a half-step up three times. 'My Generation' went up one time. And a lot of songs will do that 'half-step lift.' It was a fun song."
• "Give It Up" was released as a single from Three Sides Of One, the first King's X album in 14 years. It was issued with a lyric video made by Christian Rios.
  
  The band - Pinnick on vocals and bass, drummer Jerry Gaskill and guitarist Ty Tabor - never broke up and did plenty of touring during those 14 years, but just didn't get motivated to make new music. They're one of those bands whose influence exceeds their popularity - Pearl Jam are fans and even took them on tour. One reason they weren't more popular is that they didn't fit into a specific format. Pinnick told Songfacts: "People have said that to me all the time, 'How do you describe your band?' And I say, 'Can you come up with something? Because there's nothing that defines us.' Because all you can say is we're a little bit of everything, and not too much of nothing."