The song was voted the best single of 2004 by The Village Voice Pazz & Jop poll, and number one on Australian youth radio network Triple J's Hottest 100 of the same year.

Songwriter Alex Kapranos said the idea for the song's theme came from watching a snipers' duel in Enemy at the Gates and that "it felt like a very good metaphor for the kind of romantic situations that we sometimes find ourselves in".

The call and answer guitar riff and vocal melody were inspired by blues musician Howlin' Wolf.

I had this idea that we’re going to take all of the verses, put them at the beginning of the song, and then we’re going to slow it down and play all the choruses, which is kind of the wrong way to do it.

"[11] The song was recorded at Gula Studion in Malmö, Sweden with producer Tore Johansson.

It includes the band amid a Dadaist animation involving quirky vintage figures and machinery reminiscent of Terry Gilliam's cartoon segments for Monty Python.

Frontman Alex Kapranos described the video's influences as Dada, the films of Busby Berkeley, and Soviet propaganda, and praised Odell's direction.

Q made another list for its television channel, also named Q, of 100 greatest Indie Anthems, where "Take Me Out" appeared at number six.

[16] Rolling Stone magazine ranked "Take Me Out" number 327 on the 2010 version of its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

This version of the song appeared as a B-side to the exclusive fan club release of "Swallow, Smile".