Songfacts®:

• This is an ode to Girl Scout cookies, which are sold to raise funds for the Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA) youth organization. When he was a teenager, NRBQ keyboardist, Terry Adams, resided close to the bakers in Louisville, Kentucky, where these sweet treats were made. Adams told Shirley Haun that the lingering scent of the cookies inspired this song: "You could smell the cookies being baked. You also could smell whiskey being made down there (laughs), so it was a combination. And sometimes if the wind was blowing the wrong way you could smell Dupont on the river. That wasn't a good thing. But the cookies was always a good day, smelling the cookies. So that's one of my Louisville songs."
• In 1989, NRBQ supported R.E.M. on their US arena tour. This resulted in widespread exposure for NRBQ and the band subsequently signed a deal with Virgin Records. This song was originally slated to appear on an album that NRBQ recorded for the label, but Virgin ended up dropping the band before it was released. NRBQ drummer, Tom Ardolino, told Discoveries magazine: "They didn't want it. 'Girl Scout Cookies' would have been on it. I think we recorded one or two songs for that. What usually happens is we get signed, then the person that signed us leaves the company, then the company doesn't know what to do."
• Message for the Mess Age was the final NRBQ album to feature Al Anderson, marking the end of the guitarist's 23 years with the band.