Songfacts®:

• Typical of The National frontman Matt Berninger's lyrics, "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks" is rather abstract, with swans and geeks and a cake. He shed some light on the meaning in a discussion with David Letterman, where he said: "It's about trying to be a professional and trying to buttoned-up and slick, but not knowing how to do that."
• Arcade Fire multi-instrumentalist Richie Reed Parry played guitar and standup bass on this track, whilst Justin Vernon from Bon Iver supplied harmonies. Vernon paid tribute to the band in an interview with The Guardian: "There was such a friendliness to them, a spirit that was way above any ego or mitigating vibe. There is a precision about their music that reaches places that only the National can scratch. High Violet is just making their arms longer."
• The song title is typical of the made-up names the National give to many of their songs. Frontman Matt Berninger told The Quietus: "Inventing, yeah. Like 'Squalor Victoria' – there's something in that word that sounds like something because every time you actually try to use real words to describe it, it doesn't sound like the thing you're talking about anyway. This character, Vanderlyle Crybaby – I can't tell you how long it took me to come up with the word 'Vanderlyle.' There's the Nirvana song, 'Pennyroyal Tea' – just the word 'pennyroyal' I loved, it sounded so great and it's just the name of a tea. I couldn't use that – maybe I should have, that would have saved some time – and so I started looking at the rhythm of the word, and the cadence. I probably have a book of a hundred different three syllable things."
• Berninger explained to The Quietus why he added the word "geeks" to the title: "Well it was always in the song, but the truth is, the reason I added it to the title was because a lot of people thought that I was saying 'geese' – people thought it was a reference to 'The Geese Of Beverly Road,' that the geese were back! In some ways that could have been cool, but that's not what it is. There was a time when we were mixing it where I kind of slur those lyrics a bit, and it sounds like I'm saying 'geese'. I asked Peter if I could re-record that one word, and he said no, it sounded fine, and it'd sound weird if there was suddenly this really pronounced 'GEEKS!' So I asked him to turn up the 'K' sound, just ride it up."
• The National's song often evolve when they play them live - the band thinks the studio versions of many songs are essentially first drafts, and once they play them to audiences for a while they can really take form. "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks" is one such song. When they first started playing it live, they tried it acoustic, and realized it worked really well. It quickly became a concert favorite in this style, which the band considers the definitive presentation.
• "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks" is The National's dramatic set closer. The band alighted on the approach during a show at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, home of the Grand Ole Opry.
  
  "There's all this history there," guitarist Bryce Dessner told Mojo magazine. "Johnny Cash and even Elvis Presley. I said, 'Guys, let's play this off-mike, just to use the resonance of the hall. Now we've done it in festivals, in front of 50,000 people and you start, and nobody can hear you. And then they start, collectively singing along."