The song started out as an instrumental track that Aaron Dessner sent to Matt Berninger, who went on a writing frenzy with the track on repeat. This first rough draft included 17 more stanzas than those present in the final song. The track includes an excerpt from ‘Noble Experiment’, a song by ‘90s indie-rock group Thinking Fellers Local Union 282, which was reworked into a choral arrangement featuring Lisa Hannigan, Kate Stables and Gail Ann Dorsey.