Songfacts®:

• Miranda explained to The Sun February 19, 2010: "'Waves' is a love song in a way. But it's also about enduring unnecessary pain and suffering and what happens to the waves we make in our lives. How far they go, who we touch, we'll never know - so do your best to make the good waves. Help those in pain, help those less fortunate than you, ya dig?"
• According to an article in The Guardian, The Magician's Private Library got its unusual title from Holly Miranda's schizophrenic uncle. The two of them were listening to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon on a boat one day and when it got to the part on Brain Damage where the man starts laughing, Holly's uncle, who had been in a mental asylum since he was 23, turned to her and said, "I think it sounds like the magician's private library!"