Songfacts®:

• This song was named after a real London nightspot. Located in Leicester Square, it opened in 1900 as "The London Hippodrome," and it hosted various circus acts, variety shows and musical performances. In 1958 is was renovated and reopened as "The Talk of the Town," becoming a cabaret restaurant where many artists would perform, including Frank Sinatra and The Temptations. It closed in 1982 and was revived as a nightclub called "The Hippodrome." In 2009, it was once again closed, this time with plans to make it a casino.
• The lyrics are filled with a longing for a seemingly unobtainable love. It is thought that they refer to Ray Davies, the frontman of the Kinks who later fathered Chrissie Hynde's child.
• Chrissie Hynde shared the inspiration for the song during a performance on the BBC Songwriters Circle program in 1999: "I had in mind this kid who used to stand outside the soundchecks on our first tour... I never spoke to him. I remember that the last time I saw him I just left him standing in the snow, I never had anything to say to him. I kind of wrote this for him, so, in the unlikely event that you're watching this, I did think about you." >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Jason - Ware, MA
• Garbage evoked this song in their 1998 hit "Special," where lead singer Shirley Manson sings "you were the talk of the town" a few times at the end of the song. Manson says she got Chrissie Hynde's emphatic approval. In various interviews, Manson explained that after sending the song to Hynde, the Pretenders frontwoman faxed her back a note saying, "I, Chrissie Hynde, swear that the rock band Garbage can sample my songs, my voice, or indeed, my very ass."