Songfacts®:

• Fontaines D.C. frontman Grian Chatten drew inspiration for "Motorcycle Boy" from the 1983 film Rumble Fish. Mickey Rourke played the Motorcycle Boy.
  
  Rourke's character exudes rebellion and self-expression, embodying the restless yearning for a life untethered from the ordinary. The motorcycle is seen as a solitary vehicle, emphasizing themes of isolation and independence.
  
  "I love Rumble Fish," Chatten told Uncut magazine. "It's a really particular mood, a particular atmosphere. The desolation of it all. Like everyone else I was obsessed with Mickey Rourke. I even started walking like him when I first saw it. He grabs his sleeves and folds his arms; I used to do that for ages "
• Matt Dillon plays the Motorcycle Boy's younger brother in Rumble Fish.
  
  "I have a younger brother who has recently become very interested in poetry and literature," Chatten told Humo. "I see him as the character of Matt Dillon, in the film – the younger brother of Mickey Rourke, who tries to find his way into life while his older brother is always away. I see my brother's interest in poetry and literature as his way of getting in touch with me. I wrote 'Motorcycle Boy' for him. The line 'All the life I've shown you, will own you in time' is a warning for him, since at the end, the life you live is the only life you have."
• Chatten's voice weaves through a backdrop of acoustic guitars and '90s grunge-inspired textures, partly inspired by The Smashing Pumpkins. Recorded for their fourth album, Romance, "Motorcycle Boy" was a shift in Fontaines D.C.'s sound. Producer James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Blur) helmed the project, bringing a stripped-down sensibility.
  
  "We actually recorded it six months before the rest of the album," drummer Tom Coll told Apple Music. "This tune was the real genesis of the record and us finding a path and being like, 'OK, we can explore down here...' That was one that really set the wheels in motion for the album. It really informed where we were going."
• Several other songs have been inspired by S.E. Hinton's novel Rumble Fish and its film adaptation. Here's some notable examples:
  
  1992 "Motorcycle Emptiness" by Manic Street Preachers.
  Inspired by Hinton's Rumble Fish novel and the concept of biker freedom. "A six-minute song about alienation and despair," was how Wire described the song's message to BBC Wales.
  
  2012 "Rusty James" by Green Day
  Named after the main character of Rumble Fish. Billie Joe Armstrong described it as being about his old punk-rock scene and its survivors.
  
  1983 "Don't Box Me In" by Stewart Copeland and Stan Ridgway
  Featured in the Rumble Fish film soundtrack, this is a collaboration between The Police drummer Stewart Copeland and Wall of Voodoo vocalist Stan Ridgway.