• The line 'The Loneliness of a Middle Distance Runner' is a reference to Alan Sillitoe's short story 'The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner.' In the story the protagonist is sent to a borstal (prison school) and while winning a cross country meet stops to defy his captors.
• Christopher Thomas Geddes, Richard William Colburn, Stephen Thomas Jackson, Stuart Lee Murdoch, Isobel Campbell, Sarah Ann Martin, & Michael Cooke share writing credits on the song.
• Impeached Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich referred to the story saying on 1/9/2009 'Let me simply say, I feel like the old Alan Sillitoe short story ‘The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner'