"Passenger" was also featured as the opening song performed by Powderfinger while supporting Crowded House's Farewell to the World charity concert in November 1996.

[2] "Passenger" was released on 9 August 1999 in Australia, and was one of two Powderfinger songs that were actively being played on commercial radio at the time; the other being "These Days", which also appeared on the soundtrack for Two Hands.

At the time, Powderfinger were performing in clubs and universities around Australia on their P2K tour, and the release of the single resulted in a large boost in ticket sales.

When asked about this, Fanning offered no direct explanation, saying it wasn't a conscious theme, but did suggest that it could be a "part guilt-complex" because of his relatively care-free lifestyle.

[8] Powderfinger's Drummer Jon Coghill described some elements of "Passenger", including the horn section, as being based on the work of Elvis Presley, and his big band.

[3] Powderfinger's bass guitarist, John Collins, jokingly noted in an interview with Rod Yates of Massive Magazines that "the guitars are out of tune at the start of Passenger", whilst guitarist Darren Middleton explained that "there are not regrets with any of that sort of stuff, it’s part of who we are and what we’ve done", in reference to the out of tune guitars.

[11] Upon its release, "Passenger" was hailed as one of the songs on Internationalist to come close to "the big FM radio hits of Double Allergic", according to lead singer Bernard Fanning.

[12] Juice's Simon Wooldridge agreed with Fanning, stating that "Passenger" "demonstrated their flair for the big hook was no longer being suppressed".