Songfacts®:

• In "Pin," Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O offers cryptic verses with a wordless percussive chorus. The song could refer to drugs, sex, dependency, or any number of things, which is how she likes it. The band name is mean to be malleable in this way as well, taking on a different meaning depending on how you say it.
  
  The chorus is a great example of how Karen O will write lyrics that simply sound good with the tracks her bandmates Brian Chase and Nick Zinner put together.
• This 2-minute flamethrower was the second single from Yeah Yeah Yeahs's debut album, Fever To Tell, following "Date with the Night." It was released on Interscope Records, which won the bidding war after the band built a buzz in New York City with two independent EPs and a trail of memorable live shows.
  
  Interscope apparently thought "Pin" was more marketable than the ballad "Maps," which was issued as the next single and became Yeah Yeah Yeah's breakthrough hit.
• "Pin" is one of Yeah Yeah Yeahs most popular live songs, providing Karen O with lots of opportunities to express herself by writhing around on stage, hiking up her skirt, chewing on the microphone, or any number of other antics that make her one of the most engaging frontwomen in rock.
  
  In their early years, O would put suffer for her art, often putting herself in danger. At a show in Sydney in October 2003, she took a tumble off the stage and had to go to the hospital. Two nights later she was back on stage with the band, but singing from a wheelchair.
• The music video uses claymation to show Karen O getting trapped by an entomologist and pinned like an insect, then mounted for display. It was directed by Tunde Adebimpe, lead singer of TV On The Radio.