Songfacts®:

• Conrad Keely stole the song's title from the book A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates, which was an important twentieth century work in the field of statistics and random numbers. The Trail of the Dead frontman found it on a shelf in a guest house where backpackers are supposed to leave a book when they take one. He told Drowned in Sound: "Fortunately I'm not a backpacker so I'm not obligated to leave anything if I take one — which is also how I got a copy of Balthazar Gracian's Art of Worldly Wisdom (in it Gracian recommends allowing yourself one vice, and mine is stealing useful things like books)."
• The lyrics were inspired by the History Channel's historical drama television series Vikings. Keely explained: "I felt a sense of connection to the idea of the Northmen being away from family while going a-raiding, similar to being away from family while working on a record — you end up killing about the same amount of people as well."
  
  Judas Priest's 2014 track "Halls of Valhalla" was inspired by the same TV series.