Songfacts®:

• Riddled with nostalgia, this song finds LCD mainman James Murphy recalling his crazy younger years, which were filled with excitement and bad decisions. But in middle age, priorities change and friendships fade, leaving him to wonder where is friends are tonight. He was 37 when the song was released.
• Propelled by piano with a disco groove, this song runs 7:42. The vocals don't come in until 1:20.
• This was picked by journalists of both Mojo magazine and the Pitchfork Media music site as the best track of 2007. It was also selected by readers of the Guardian Unlimited website as the best single of 2007.
• James Murphy was asked by Mojo magazine January 2008 why he felt this song struck a chord with people. He replied: "I don't know. It's sad-ish and people are old. I was purposefully trying to chase a feeling I got from Joy Division's 'Transmission,' which starts off so gentle, and becomes so f--king overwhelming. By the time he's going, 'Dance, dance, dance to the radio!' your head's exploding. And that Arthur Russell song, Dinosaur L's Go Bang (where) I don't know who did the vocal but it's just like, 'I just wanna see all my friends at once, I'd do anything to get the chance to go back.' It's the simplest thing I could imagine and it's f--king beautiful. It's always been a really important theme for me and it's nice to write a song that comes from it."
• James Murphy coated his studio in silver foil when recording the Sound Of Silver album.
• Both the Guardian newspaper and Uncut magazine named Sound Of Silver as their album of the year.
• The line, "We set controls for the heart of the sun," is a reference to the 1968 Pink Floyd song "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun."
• LCD Soundsystem didn't make a video for this song.