Songfacts®:

• "Off You" is a slow ballad with a subdued, atmospheric arrangement and introspective lyrics. It was released by The Breeders as the lead single from their third studio album, Title TK, in March 2002 on the 4AD label. The track was written by The Breeders' frontwoman Kim Deal and produced by Steve Albini, with recording taking place at Electrical Audio in Chicago in 2001.
• While much of the media in the '90s focused on The Breeders bassist Kelley Deal's heroin addiction, Kim Deal was quietly battling her own demons with alcohol and marijuana. By 2002, she checked herself into rehab and later shared that she hasn't smoked or had a drink since.
  
  "Off You," she told Mojo magazine, was about the exhaustion - not just physical, but psychic - that comes from long-term substance use. "I was pretty beaten up by the lifestyle of using," she said.
• In crafting the song's sound, Kim deal sought a vibe that evoked the narcotic haze of Free's 1969 track "Lying In The Sunshine," a song sent to her by 4AD co-founder Ivo Watts-Russell, who often mailed her records he thought she'd appreciate.
• One of the most distinct features of "Off You" came from what could easily have been tossed in the studio trash bin. After the core elements - guitar and bass - were recorded, Kelley Deal began fiddling with bass pedals. What emerged was, in Kim's words, "so obviously not a noise that would go with the song."
  
  It sounded alien and yet, it worked. The sound's jarring contrast to the otherwise sparse and subdued arrangement added texture and unpredictability, and the band decided to keep it. "It sounded cool," Kim shrugged. And she was right. It does.
• "Off You" appears in Spike Jonze's 2013 film Her. It plays early on as Joaquin Phoenix's character, Theodore, returns to his empty apartment and settles into his solitary routine.