those sort of stacked '60's style vocals"). After the initial riff, at the beginning of each verse line, the pronounced word "I" was sung as a sample from the Beatles' "All I've Got to Do" song. While experimenting with various phrasing over the outro to "Special", group vocalist Shirley Manson ad-libbed "We were the talk of the town" from the refrain of the Pretenders' song "Talk of the Town". The band were keen to keep the lyric, and to circumvent any potential legal problems, Manson contacted Chrissie Hynde by telephone to ask for permission to use the lyric. Hynde agreed to let Garbage use the lyric without even hearing "Special" first (and did not ask for any credit or royalties); Manson felt that she should send Hynde a copy of the song just to be sure, but before she could do so, Hynde sent a fax to Smart Studios giving her written consent. Manson was reluctant to let people think that "Special" was simply a paean to Hynde; her lyrics concerned a friendship Manson had moved on from after her friend had let her down. Manson: "Ultimately it's about those feelings of betrayal you have for people when you set your sights too high and expect too much and how that can lead to disappointment in the end." Release and promotion Garbage debuted "Special" live on May 15, 1998, at a concert at Ryan's Ballroom in Combined Locks, Wisconsin, which was the first date of the Version 2.0 World Tour. In advance of the UK release, Garbage promoted "Special" in early September 1998 with a live performance of the song on TFI Friday, a pre-record of both "Special" and "When I Grow Up" for Pepsi Chart Show, and also performed a three-song set consisting of "Special", "You Look So Fine" and "I Think I'm Paranoid" for broadcast on MTV Europe. Promotional discs and 12-inch remix packs were distributed across Europe from September 21 to nightclubs and DJs, which enabled the featured Brothers in Rhythm remixes to reach number six on the pre-release industry Buzz Chart. "Special" was A-listed at Radio One and XFM and B-listed at Virgin, and also made the playlists of 52 regional radio stations. "Special" was released by Mushroom Records in the United Kingdom on October 5, 1998, on three formats. The cassette single and first CD single contains the B-side "13 × Forever"; the CD also