Everybody Knows

This song is about dealing with fame. The band talked about the song in a statement released by their publicist:
Natalie Maines: "I find the psychology of celebrity very interesting; the things people are willing to sacrifice to be famous. I think it comes from a sad place. Some are grounded and can keep it in perspective, and some let it take over."

Emily Robison: "It's a soap opera, something for people to watch that's bigger than life. And the people who are in the middle of it love that. They want to be perceived as being larger than life. It's like watching Richie Rich or Silver Spoons. Sometimes you do feel more claustrophobic. I've definitely become more reclusive and anti-social and suspicious of people, which sucks, but it does come with it."

Martie Maguire: "I'm very proud that when Brad and Jennifer broke up, I didn't know for a month."

The Chicks wrote this song with Gary Louris of Alt-Country band The Jayhawks. It was one of several songs they penned together. Louris told us that he enjoys the collaboration process. He explained: "It's an art form to learn how to sit in a room with somebody and tap into the emotions of the other person and learn how to create something not OK, but great. It's got to be great. You can sit there and check it off your list, 'Okay, wrote a song today, who cares?' If it's not good, it doesn't really matter how many songs you write. They have to be great."
"With co-writing, I like working off other people," he continued. "I'm not that great at working in a void. And so with the Dixie Chicks, it was great. It was difficult with them only because there were four people. Three of them and myself. And that's difficult, but it worked. It's easier one on one, two people together. To get four people to agree on ideas is always difficult."

Louris told us this is one of his favorite songs that he did with The Dixie Chicks. He explained: "In Time magazine, when they did an article on Rick Rubin, they named that song as one of the highlights of his career. And I was honored by that, just because he's done so many great things and it wasn't a single."