Songfacts®:

• Lead singer Julian Casablancas told the NME: "We had guitars on it originally, but it just sounded better to me without them. It definitely has a different vibe for us. There's a lot of weird stuff on that song; most of the weird sounds are drums that have been messed around with."
• The song's ending originates from a piece of music that The Strokes came up with around the turn of the century (once titled "E Minor Madness") and features guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. playing lines "inspired by Daft Punk's Veridis Quo."
• Hammond described the song to NME as "cold, strange, new, unique and fascinating."
• Nick Valensi, who co-wrote the track with his bandmates Casablancas and Hammond, was dismayed by the guitars being dropped in favor of synths. He told Rock & Folk in 2011: "I couldn't find the perfect guitar for it. I tried my hand on a few synths and then Albert threw out all the guitars and kept all my synths. They all loved it. Except me. I didn't want synths on a Strokes album! I thought it was crazy! But they convinced me. Let's try this Yamaha, bring on this Juno! and the Moog! and the Mellotron! Now how are we going to do this live? Play backs, loops? S--t like that? I hate this idea."