[2] In the liner notes of the deluxe edition of The Red Album, Cuomo stated that the song did not originally have the subtitle "Variations on a Shaker Hymn", but when guitarist Brian Bell's mother came into the studio to see them, she mentioned that the melody from the song sounded similar to a Shaker hymn that the choir sang in her church.

[5] In a January 21, 2009, interview on the NPR program Fresh Air, Cuomo stated that "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)" is his favorite Weezer song.

[7] The song includes piano, police sirens, and Rivers Cuomo singing in falsetto,[8] and it contains 11 segued verses in total.

Joan Anderman of The Boston Globe called the song "A sprawling folk-metal chorale that squashes wildly assorted references into epic musical settings.

[12] Although Marc Hogan of Pitchfork Media was critical of the album as a whole, he praised "The Greatest Man", calling it "[T]he warped genius let loose.

"[3] NME's James McMahon likened it to "Mr. Blue Sky" by the English rock band Electric Light Orchestra, writing "[It] is without question the most ambitious song Cuomo has ever penned, cramming a rapped intro, barber-shop harmonies and ornate music box twinkling into a six-minute geek-pop rewrite of ELO's Mr Blue Sky.

Jeffrey Canino of Tiny Mix Tapes criticized the introductory rap section of the song, "[It] brings forth an unpleasant memory of Fred Durst.

All throughout, the band is experimenting with disparaging sounds, and the only thing that ties them together is Rick Rubin and Jacknife Lee's glossy production."

[21] Professional wrestler Austin Aries adopted the song as his ring entrance music, while also beginning to refer to himself as "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived".