I was loving the song, thinking it sounded a lot like Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders. Plus there were seeming references to Pretenders songs, like the title of the song (reference to "I'm special, so special", from "Brass in Pocket"?) and that line "the talk of the town" which is a Pretenders song title.
So I googled a bit and found this excellent quote from Shirley Manson:
"On one of the songs, called 'Special,' I took a line out of Chrissie Hynde's 'Talk of the Town,' and it was meant as an homage to her, because the song itself is a little Beatlesque and Pretendersy. I just thought it was a nod to her. But our lawyers were like, 'You have to take it out. You're going to get sued. They'll come after you for hundreds of thousands of dollars. It has to come out.' And I was like, 'I'm not, I want it in there!' So I called her up and she took our call immediately and she was like, 'Are you kidding? I want it in there. That's fantastic!' So the next day, we came into the studio and there was this fax from her lying on our desks, and it said, 'I, Chrissie Hynde, do hereby allow Garbage, the rock band, to sample any of my sounds, my voice, or indeed my very ass.' And it was so cool. She never asked for any money. She didn't ask for any credit. Nothing. She just sent us this great fax."
I was loving the song, thinking it sounded a lot like Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders. Plus there were seeming references to Pretenders songs, like the title of the song (reference to "I'm special, so special", from "Brass in Pocket"?) and that line "the talk of the town" which is a Pretenders song title.
So I googled a bit and found this excellent quote from Shirley Manson:
"On one of the songs, called 'Special,' I took a line out of Chrissie Hynde's 'Talk of the Town,' and it was meant as an homage to her, because the song itself is a little Beatlesque and Pretendersy. I just thought it was a nod to her. But our lawyers were like, 'You have to take it out. You're going to get sued. They'll come after you for hundreds of thousands of dollars. It has to come out.' And I was like, 'I'm not, I want it in there!' So I called her up and she took our call immediately and she was like, 'Are you kidding? I want it in there. That's fantastic!' So the next day, we came into the studio and there was this fax from her lying on our desks, and it said, 'I, Chrissie Hynde, do hereby allow Garbage, the rock band, to sample any of my sounds, my voice, or indeed my very ass.' And it was so cool. She never asked for any money. She didn't ask for any credit. Nothing. She just sent us this great fax."
How cool is that!?