Songfacts®:

• The music of is towering track was written a couple of years prior to the recording of Backspacer by guitarist Stone Gossard. He told Billboard magazine: "'Supersonic' was old; the chorus was old and the bridge section, but I reworked the whole verse and re-imagined the whole thing."
• The Billboard interviewer commented that this song is like "Mankind" [from 1996's No Code] on steroids. Gossard replied: "Yeah, that's probably not too crazily far off. I wrote the riffs. The verses are what I wrote last. The original arrangement was overly complex. When I first heard Ed start singing it, I thought it had this Ramones or Springsteen thing going on. It feels very New York."
• Frontman Eddie Vedder added the lyrics about living life on full, and his love of music. He told the Toronto Globe and Mail: "There's something about this infusion of energy. It's a tangible thing that gives you as much energy as a drug. It can change the shape of your mood. I think [rock music] is the greatest art form there is, because there's so many elements to it, volume being one of them. But momentum, and rhythm, and the literary side of a good lyric, it can really transport you."