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Catcher N' The Rye is credited to Axl Rose and Paul Tobias, it was first performed on December 16, 2009 at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Japan

Brian May of Queen was originally called in by GnR to lay down guitar parts for the track, after he left Sean Beavan and Axl stitched together a completely different solo from Brian's different takes, when called back to the studio to listen to the final track,  Brian was reportedly a bit flabbergasted "but that's not what I played" tho after a time he must have warmed to it, as he was quoted as saying "it's a shame I was proud of the song", when interviewed about his parts being removed from the final studio track. The removal of his solo caused a bit of a rift within the online education fanbase, thereally is a leak of Brian's version available if u know where to look for that sort of thing...from what I can remember it was a poor recording and I didn't listen to it too much...perhaps I should listen again

On the surface it would appear that the song title refers to J.D. Salinger's novel Catcher in the Rye. Some may suggesg that Rose is questioning in this song why some notorious killers, such as Mark Chapman, the murderer of John Lennon, appear to be motivated by the book and it's anti-hero Holden Caulfield.

From the MyGnR chat, Axl claimed that the song was inspired by what's referred to sometimes as Holden Caulfield syndrome and that the lyrics lines are just venting, blowing off steam, humor or some type of entertainment where it may be how others seriously live in their minds. Appatently When when the title of the song became public he got a call from the director of Imagine wanting a bunch of money to make a documentary and had a guy sending him strange packages about Lennon and serial killers

I read Salinger's book a couple years ago and I absolutely loved it, I can't believe I didn't read it sooner...I highly recommend the book...for those interested in the books symbolism you can visit this page:

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/catcher/themes.html

Personally I think the lyrics are amazing...perhaps the best on the album...I also feel they touch on much of what is presented in the above link

Themes

Alienation as a former of self protection

- the main character in the book often alienates himself to avoid dealing with others...sound familiar?

Phoniness in the adult world

- Axl's struggles with false information in the media is legendary

Painfulness growing up

- while not necessarily connected with growing up, the idea of change, whether the death of Lennon or the death of the original band or axis own personal struggles,  there was a massive change experienced for him and just getting thru it was probably very trying for him.

Between the last 2 passages from the song that I quoted...I wonder if this is an admittance that some of the crazy Axl we've seen over the years is being presented as misconstrued and/or fabricated by himself or the media..people think he is crazy so he might as well act the part

Motifs

Loneliness
Relationships, intimacy, sexually
Lying and deception

Symbols

The catcher in the rye
The red hat
Museum of natural history
Ducks in the lagoon

I think the song content is very deep...I could go on and on...great song