The Fireman is the moniker given to electronic music experiments created by Paul McCartney and Youth. In 1993, the duo released its first album, Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest, and followed that with Rushes in 1998. In 2000, Youth also took part in McCartney's similarly styled Liverpool Sound Collage.

In June 2008, McCartney's official Web site announced that a track called "Lifelong Passion (Sail Away)," from the album Electric Arguments would be issued as a limited-edition download to fans who donated to the charity Adopt-A-Minefield.[1] The album was released on the label One Little Indian on November 24, 2008.[2] The new album features more traditional songs, in which there are vocals (the first time on any of their albums). The majority of the album's vocals come from McCartney.

The duo borrowed the title "Electric Arguments" from the poem "Kansas City to St. Louis" by Allen Ginsberg. Ginsberg describes driving along the highway in a "white Volkswagen" (i.e., a "beetle") while listening to music and call-in shows on the radio and looking at signs and billboards:

"Michelle, John Lennon & Paul McCartney / wooing the decade / gaps from the 30s returned / Old earth rolling mile after mile patient / The ground / I roll on / the ground / the music soars above / The ground electric arguments / ray over / The ground dotted with signs for Dave's Eat Eat"

Thus, "electric arguments" refers both to the radio waves carrying talk-show arguments and also to illuminated billboards and neon signs.