Guitarist Mike Einziger mentioned that the song was conceived very late in the album creation process, being written spontaneously while already working on recording sessions in the studio.

The slightly subdued introduction gives way to a bobbing energy that crashes into the positively sublime chorus" and concluding that "Soaring hooks dominate 'Nimble Bastard', making it one of the catchiest songs in the band’s discography.

I've known a handful of people in my life who've come into the most horrific circumstances whether it's physical injury or psychological or failure and they'll be as low as you could possibly be and you're like, 'Dude, this guy's done.'

It could be construed as a political statement in that the left took a massive hit over the past few months so maybe now's the time to learn from those failures... but that's not what I had in mind when I wrote the lyrics.

[3]Radio.com pointed out that similar misconceptions had arisen from the band's 2004 single "Megalomaniac", of which many listeners misinterpreted its lyrics to be about then-president George W.