"Taps" is the song that is typically played on a bugle at United States military funerals. It was originally composed by the Union Army Brigadier General Daniel Butterfield, an American Civil War general who wrote the tune at Harrison's Landing, Virginia, in July 1862.

Wayne often explained when he introduced "Taps" in concert that because of the large amount of military deaths due to the United States' involvement in armed conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, there are not enough skilled bugle players around to play all of the military funerals for fallen soldiers. To compensate, a company created an autobugle that looks like a normal bugle but has a preloaded unit that plays a synthesized version of "Taps." The Lips acquired one of the autobugles and began using it to play "Taps" in honor of fallen troops and advocate the United States' withdrawl from the aforementioned conflicts. Wayne vowed that the band would try to play it at every show until the end of the Iraq War. He said he hopes that one day, the Flaming Lips will be the only ones to play the sad instrument.

The autobugle was used to create the "Taps" portion of the mashup cover "Tapsmir." It also had its internal synthesizer unit reworked to add autobugle parts to "Mountain Side," "The Sparrow Looks Up At The Machine," and "The Process."