Songfacts®:

• Singer Hamilton Leithauser told Rolling Stone magazine that this song originated when the band were "just screwin' around." Then the band's drummer Matt Barrick kicked off a breakneck groove, and the others joined in. He concluded: "We threw some chords on it, I wrote the words in five minutes, and then we all started slammin'!"
• The song captures the raw emotions of heartbreak and the desperate attempts to cling onto a past love. Hamilton Leithauser starts off each verse with a veneer of indifference, but crumbles every time.
  
  Leithauser's palpable desperation to emotionally connect with his ex-lover is palpable in the latter half of each verse, drawing the listener into his emotional journey.
  
  The track's bridge portrays the consequences of getting too caught up in a relationship, as Leithauser laments the loss of friendships and his own sadness, which keeps him from going out as often.
  
  Some interpret the song as a metaphor for addiction, underscoring the complex, multifaceted themes that "The Rat" explores.
• "The Rat" had a long gestation period before it was properly recorded. The song had been a staple in the band's live performances for at least two years before it was finally released as a single in 2004.
  
  Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig, who once worked as an intern for The Walkmen, confirmed that he had heard an earlier version of the song over a year before they laid it down, back when it was still titled "Girls at Night."
• The Eva Aridjis-directed music video for "The Rat" features a live performance of the song by The Walkmen. She shot the visual in black and white and used chiaroscuro, a technique of using strong contrasts between light and dark, to create a dramatic and atmospheric effect.
• The track received highly positive critical acclaim, with Pitchfork Media voting it #6 in their list of best singles of 2004. It later featured in many end-of-decade lists, including NME's 13th best song of the 2000s and Pitchfork's 20th favorite of the decade.
• The song features on the soundtracks of:
  
  The 2005 open world action-adventure video game True Crime: New York City
  The 2007 baseball simulation video game Major League Baseball 2K7
  The 2009 racing video game Colin McRae: Dirt 2
• When The Walkmen performed this song on the April 18, 2023 episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, it was their first performance in 10 years. The live rendition of "The Rat" came a week ahead of their 2023 reunion tour.
  
  Despite having not played the song for a decade, they didn't rehearse at all beforehand.
  
  "Ever since we started the Walkmen, we've done everything by the seat of our pants. We don't 'plan' much. So during our Zoom 'planning' meeting, we decided the best way to play together for the very first time would be on national television without a single rehearsal," the band tweeted prior to the performance. "I guess there will be a soundcheck but we don't even know if this equipment works."
• The British rock band Lonely the Brave covered "The Rat" as part of their Diamond Days EP in 2017. Their cover version is a heavier and more intense take on the original, with a more distorted guitar sound and a more aggressive vocal performance.