The song was released on 2 April 2007 as the band's third single in the United Kingdom. The single debuted—and peaked—at #51 in the UK Singles Chart on 8 April, substantially lower than "Kingdom of Doom" which had reached the Top 20 upon release in January.

In the album's review for NME, Hamish MacBain called the song "the best thing Damon's ever written." Seeing references to The Beatles, The Sun noted that the song has the ability to "cast [Albarn] as a latter-day Lennon and offers wistful, woozy psychedelia as Strawberry Fields are replaced by green ones."

Damon Albarn wrote the original version of the song following a night out with Blur bassist Alex James and Marianne Faithfull. That demo was recorded in a studio on Goldhawk Road, Hammersmith and Albarn gave the tape to Faithfull. It was later recorded by the singer/actress with different lyrics in the verses and released on her 2005 album Before the Poison as "Last Song." The demo of the song resurfaced "late in the proceedings of recording [The Good, the Bad and the Queen]" when Albarn played it for the rest of the band. The band decided to record the track and Albarn decided to "finish it by explaining how I lost this song and now it's come back to me. So it’s a song about a song."

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