Songfacts®:

• In this song the lead guitar and backup vocals are provided by ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Martin - Rostock, Germany
• This song is based on the Witch Trials in Salem, Massachusetts, where people accused of witchcraft were imprisoned and sometimes executed.
• The theme of the album Lullabies To Paralyze is that of a child's fairytale book. The album booklet and songs depict this. The video for the song features people hunting a witch. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Marc - United Kingdom
• Josh Homme felt victimized because of the flak he received for sacking his longtime friend, bassist, vocalist, and co-songwriter Nick Oliveri. The song's lyrics about the Salem Witch Trials acted as a metaphor for the hostility Homme was getting at the time. He explained to Spin magazine in a 2013 interview: "I felt a little persecuted because I fired my best friend and it was really hard and it wasn't about music. And I didn't say anything, thinking that people would respect that decision. But instead, I felt these social rocks hitting me. Instead of saying, 'I feel persecuted,' I wrote 'Burn the Witch.' I thought, 'Well this is clear as day' and it's more interesting than writing 'What the f--k is your problem?' But people didn't pick up on it."
  
  Josh Homme and Nick Oliveri first played together in the seminal desert-rock band Kyuss in the early '90s. Oliveri then joined his pal in Queens Of the Stone Age, shortly after they recorded their debut album in 1998. According to Homme he ordered Oliveri to leave the band in 2004, after he had been physically abusive to his girlfriend. Ever since Oliveri was fired, fans have clamored for his return to the band and their wish was partly granted when he contributed backing vocals to a couple of tracks on ...Like Clockwork in 2013.