Stephen Colbert Celebrates Christmas With Elvis Costello, Feist, Willie Nelson

Stephen Colbert will spend the holidays with Elvis Costello, Feist, John Legend, Willie Nelson and Toby Keith on the host's Comedy Central special A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All!. The one-hour special, scheduled to air on November 18th, has a plot about Colbert being snowed in in an upstate New York cabin, so he and his musical friends play tunes to pass the time. All the original songs were written by Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger and David Javerbaum, who also collaborated on the Broadway version of John Waters' Cry Baby. Jon Stewart will also be on hand, duetting with Colbert on "Hanukkah," while the entire ensemble will come together on "(What's So Funny About) Peace, Love and Understanding." A DVD of the special will hit shelves a week later, with proceeds benefiting the charity Feeding America.

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Song Stories

“The Pretender”

Foo Fighters | 2007

This song wasn't part of the planned track listing for 2007's Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, and was put together in a day. "It happened after we recorded a lot of stuff," said Dave Grohl. Yet it ended up as the album opener and the lead single. Grohl called it "a stomping Foo Fighters uptempo song with a little bit of Chuck Berry in it." The singer hinted at the lyrics' political overtones: "Everyone's been f---ed over before and I think a lot of people feel f---ed over right now and they're not getting what they were promised."

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