"Phantom Limb" is a song by American indie rock band The Shins, and is the fourth track on their third album Wincing the Night Away.
The song was also released as the first single from that album in the United States on November 14, 2006 as a digital download and a week later on CD.
[1] Songwriter and lead singer James Mercer described it as "a hypothetical, fictional account of a young, lesbian couple in high school dealing with the shitty small town they live in.
"[2] The accompanying music video, directed by Patrick Daughters, includes dramatizations of the stories of Joan of Arc, the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire and the Donner Party, all played by children and the band themselves.
The vinyl version of this single features "Nothing at All" and "Spilt Needles" on the flipside as two separate grooves, similar to that of Monty Python's Matching Tie and Handkerchief.