John Berryman died when he jumped off the Washington Avenue bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1972. Also, People Who Died by the Jim Carroll Band includes the lyric ""Hey," Herbie said, "Tony, can you fly?"/ But Tony couldn't fly, Tony died". It's possible the music and poetry of Carroll influenced this song, as well as the poetry of John Berryman. The song is on the 1980 album Catholic Boy, which of course relates to many of The Hold Steady's lyrics referencing catholicism.