Songfacts®:

• The song features the rather disturbing line, "We can do it to each other. We're like a sister and a brother." Vocalist and lyricist Karen O insisted to NME the lyric wasn't inspired by incest. She said: "I have no idea where that came from. I just throw things in."
• Karen O described Yeah Yeah Yeahs as "very serious people in an un-serious band." This is one of their songs that exemplifies that ethos. It's a very loud, libidinous song that runs a compact 2:16 and provided a great platform for O's kinetic stage presence. All good fun.
• "Cold Light" is part of the debut Yeah Yeah Yeahs album, Fever To Tell. By the time it was released on Interscope Records in 2003, the band had already released two independent EPs and built a following in New York City, where they formed. Their outrageous live shows and frantic rock songs were their calling card, but they ended up finding fame for the ballad "Maps," a very personal emotional song about Karen O's breakup with another NYC musician: Angus Andrew of the band Liars.