Songfacts®:

• This song takes place at the end of a night out, when the singer meets a girl who he knows is too good for him, but he tries to be with her anyway. It's the follow-up to The Fratellis' biggest hit, "Chelsea Dagger."
• The Fratellis credit their songs to the band, which is the Glasgow trio of Jon, Barry and Mince Fratelli (in the tradition of the Ramones, they assume the same last name, which in their case is taken from the bad guys in the 1985 movie The Goonies). Jon Fratelli writes the lyrics, and tends to use characters in his songs much like some of his favorite authors, including Charles Bukowski. "Whistle For The Choir" is a great example of a song lifted from his imagination. "Fiction is very underrated," he told Songfacts.
• The song had the working title "Knickers In A Handbag," a reference to the Scottish comedian Billy Connolly, who had a bit called "The Mechanics of Incontinence Knickers." The Fratellis' record label made them change the title, but the artwork for the single shows a woman holding a pair of knickers (underwear) above a handbag, a nod to the discarded name.