Songfacts®:

• The bassline that underpins this ecologically themed song is made up of samples of Gotye playing The Winton Musical Fence, which is a musical instrument installation consisting of five huge metal strings attached to fence posts, and connected to a wooden resonant chamber. The fence is located in Winton, Queensland and Gotye took the opportunity to record sounds from the unusual instrument on his portable stereo recorder while on tour in the Australian outback with his rock'n'roll band The Basics. The singer recalled on his website: "I was on the outskirts of Winton in near pitch-darkness beside a vast, flat expanse with only blurry truck stop lights sleeping in the distance, marvelling at the musical instrument described above. A piece of plastic pipe conveniently left nearby was all I needed before I was bashing away on various strings, wooden beams and fixings, capturing samples."
• Gotye used the fence samples as the foundation for the song. He added his own keyboards and percussion, whilst Michael Hubbard (pedal steel guitar), Gareth Skinner (whale-like harmonic sound effects on cello) and Lucas Taranto (bass guitar) added additional instrumentation. Gotye produced the track with the help of Francois Tetaz.
• The song was the first single from Gotye's third album Making Mirrors. Released on November 5, 2010, it peaked at #55 on the Australian Singles Chart.