Songfacts®:

• This is the lead single from The Color Before the Sun, which is the first non-conceptual album Coheed and Cambria have released. (All previous records took place in the band's fictional universe based around the storyline of The Amory Wars.) Instead, frontman Claudio Sanchez penned the songs from his own perspective. "I kind of want people to know that Coheed can write that sort of record," he said. "I've always said in the past that there's never been a limitation on the band. It makes no sense to me to draw a line in the sand and never cross it."
• This song finds a raging Sanchez denouncing his loud-mouthed online haters:
  
  You, you keep screaming from the top of your lungs
  Mister Who-gives-a-s--t, just shut up
• The song's music video was directed by Djay Brawner (Refused, Grouplove). An homage to '80s teen movies, the clip follows the band as they take down a group of school bullies through a series of pranks. "Our video for 'You Got Spirit, Kid' gave us a chance to showcase a relaxed side of the band's personality," said Sanchez. "With our love for '80s nostalgia, we decided to approach the treatment in a John Hughes or Steven Spielberg-type fashion, allowing the spirit of youth and camaraderie to shine in each frame."
• During the writing of The Color Before the Sun, Claudio Sanchez had to endure a number of difficulties including a minor identity crisis and the destruction of his country home. He told TeamRock: "My problems are no bigger than the next person's, and we're all in this race against time together, but the things that happen make us who we are. This song is about accepting that your problems are no bigger than the next, so accept the bad as part of the good and move forward. That's pretty much what You Got Spirit, Kid is about."