Songfacts®:

• This is the opening track from the second album by Black Country Communion, an Anglo/American rock supergroup featuring vocalist/bassist Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Trapeze), drummer Jason Bonham (Led Zeppelin), keyboardist Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater) and blues rock guitarist Joe Bonamassa. As with its predecessor, the songs were recorded at Shangri-La Studios in California and were produced by Kevin Shirley (Black Crowes, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin).
• The song was originally going to be titled "Good Man," with a chorus that was supposed to be acoustic. Glenn Hughes told Musicradar.com how it transformed into this rocker: "When I first wrote it, it was more 'dramatic,' if you will. However, when we started to play it as a band – you've got Joe and Bonham really going for it, and I'm playing the same line as Joe, and then there's the Hammond organ on top of that – we really rocked it out. So it became more driving. I like to sing live with the band as we're playing, and as I did, I just tore into it and these new lyrics started coming to me. 'How the hell did that happen?' I said to myself. What was 'Good Man' went right out the window and it became 'The Outsider.'"
• Hughes (from MusicRadar): "The funniest thing happened during a break: I was showing Kevin another song called 'Little Secret.' As I did, he told Joe and Derek to go off and work out a solo to 'The Outsider.' Suddenly, I heard them in the other room doing a kind of Deep Purple Highway Star-slash-Burn thing, and I went, 'What?! Don't tell me they're going there!' I've already been down that road before, of course. But Kevin talked me down: 'Trust me, Hughsy, rock fans are gonna love it.'"