The music video for the song was directed by Jonas Odell. It includes the band in the midst of a Dadaist animation involving quirky vintage figures and machinery reminiscent of Terry Gilliam's cartoon segments for Monty Python. The video is a blend of the live action band superimposed into a 3D environment with animated 2D elements. Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos described the video's influences as Dada, the films of Busby Berkeley, and Soviet propaganda, and praised Odell's direction. Kapranos commented:
Basically it's a pop video and it should entertain you, but not just once – there're certain things you stare at in life that is just fascinating to look at like a fish tank or an open fire, they're actually quite simple things but there's something fascinating about them. And I think pop videos should be like that too. There should be something there that just makes you want to come back and look at it.
Reception
In March 2005, Q magazine placed "Take Me Out" at number 41 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. In September 2005, the same magazine named it the 34th greatest track ever performed by a British band. Q made another list for its television channel, also named Q, of 100 greatest Indie Anthems, where "Take Me Out" featured on number 6. In May 2007, NME magazine placed "Take Me Out" on number 16 in its list of the 50 Greatest Indie Anthems Ever, whereas MTV2 placed it on number 7 in its version of the 50 Greatest Indie Anthems Ever, which was loosely based on NMEs list. In October 2011, NME placed it at number 27 on its list of 150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years. Pitchfork ranked the song number 44 of its top 500 tracks of the 2000s. Rolling Stone magazine ranked "Take Me Out" number 327 in the 2010 version of its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
Usage in media
"Take Me Out" was featured in the trailer for the 2008 film Hancock and in the soundtracks of the video games Madden NFL 2005, NHL 2005, and Shaun White Skateboarding, being playable in Guitar Hero, , the U.S. version of SingStar Pop, Just Dance 2, Dance Dance Revolution Universe 2 and Rocksmith. The song is also a downloadable content for the Rock Band series. In 2017, the song was used in an advertisement for Ralph Lauren's Polo Red fragrance. In 2018/19 in the UK, the refrain of "Take Me Out" was used in an video advertisement for the Kia Sportage.
Other versions
In 2006, an acoustic version of "Take Me Out" was recorded in Benton Harbor, Michigan, United States. This version of the song appeared as a B-side to the exclusive fan club release of "Swallow, Smile". The song was covered by the Scissor Sisters in 2004 on the B-side to their single "Mary" and "Filthy/Gorgeous". In Australia, the song received substantial airplay and was ranked number 44 on Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2004 while the original version was ranked number one. The Magic Numbers and Guillemots both covered the song for BBC Radio 1's The Jo Whiley Show. Biffy Clyro also recorded a very different take for Zane Lowe's show. Finger Eleven are known for playing "Take Me Out" live, usually in a medley of their "Paralyzer", Led Zeppelin's "Trampled Under Foot" and Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2". "Weird Al" Yankovic used a portion of the song for the polka medley "Polkarama!", from his 2006 album Straight Outta Lynwood. In 2008, Ryan Lewis produced a mash-up, combining "Take Me Out" with 2Pac's "Crooked Nigga Too". In 2019, Young Summer covered "Take Me Out". The version appears on the soundtrack for the Hulu TV series Looking For Alaska, which is based on the 2005 novel by John Green.
