I’ve been a Pretenders fan since I heard Brass in Pocket when it was released. Although I would spend a long time tracking down the name of it. In the 1980s, you could count on them to release something good and not the standard top 40 music. Chrissie Hynde had more grit in her singing than most of her male and female peers. She wasn’t here to sing you a pretty song; she meant business.
The original band was something special. The members were James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), Pete Farndon (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Martin Chambers (drums, backing vocals, percussion)…and of course Chrissie Hynde. To convince guitarist James Honeyman-Scott to join The Pretenders, Chrissie Hynde hired one of his favorite recording artists, Nick Lowe, to produce the song Stop Your Sobbing, an album cut of The Kinks. Chris Thomas would go on to produce all the other songs on the album.
When the Pretenders burst onto the scene in 1979, they didn’t arrive with punk guitars (although the spirit was there). They were armed with mostly Hynde’s melodic songs. Chrissie Hynde was a new kind of female rock vocalist, vulnerable and dangerous all at once. She was/is a badass but still relatable. This song was the band’s second single in 1979 and was included on their 1980 debut album. It is a great slice of power pop that blends jangly guitars, melodic melancholy. I love James Honeyman-Scott’s intro guitar run; it makes the song for me. It’s very obvious why Chrissie wanted him in the band.
Hynde has stated the song is about a woman who works in “the game” (prostitution) to get by, and her sadness when her child learns the truth about what she does.Following the 1981 Pretenders album Pretenders II, two of the four band members, Pete Farndon and James Honeyman-Scott, died of drug overdoses, leaving just Hynde and drummer Martin Chambers, who remained the mainstays in the band amongst a rotating cast of guitarists and bass players through the 1980s.
The song peaked at #33 in the UK in 1979.
Kid
Kid, what changed your mood? You got all sad, so I feel sad too I think I know Some things you never outgrow
You think it’s wrong I can tell you do How can I explain When you don’t want me to?
Kid, my only kid You look so small, you’ve gone so quiet I know you know what I’m about I won’t deny it
But you forget You don’t understand You’ve turned your head You’ve dropped my hand
All my sorrow All my blues All my sorrow
Shut the light Go away Full of grace You cover your face
Kid, precious kid Your eyes are blue, but you won’t cry, I know Angry tears are too dear You won’t let them go
We are nearing the end of Max Picks…we still have one more year to go.
R.E.M. – What’s The Frequency Kenneth?
This song along with Fall On Me is my favorite REM song.
REM really let loose on their album Monster. I love the tone on Peter Bucks’s guitar and the loud in-your-face production. Peter Buck played the late Kurt Cobain’s Fender Jag-Stang, which he plays upside-down because Cobain was left-handed. This to me…is very close to having a REM and Replacements song all in one.
This song is about an incident that took place on October 4, 1986, when the CBS news anchor Dan Rather was attacked on a New York City sidewalk by a crazed man yelling “Kenneth, what is the frequency.” The man turned out to be William Tager, who was caught after he killed a stagehand outside of the Today Show studios on August 31, 1994. Tager, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison, said he was convinced the media was beaming signals into his head, and he was on a mission to determine their frequencies.
Lead singer Michael Stipe says this is an attack on the media, who overanalyze things they don’t understand.
After this song I lost contact with REM’s music for a long time…the same with The Replacements. Those two bands represented the best of the 80s for me.
Weezer – Buddy Holly
This was released to radio on September 7, 1994, which would have been Buddy Holly’s 58th birthday.
The video for this song hooked me for not only the mention of Buddy Holly, Mary Tyler Moore but also the Happy Days set… Plus its a fun song.
Spike Jonze directed the video. Vintage Happy Days footage was intercut with shots of Weezer performing on the original Arnold’s Drive-In set. Al Molinaro, who played the diner’s owner on the series, made a cameo appearance in the video. One of the most popular clips of 1995, it scored four MTV Video Music Awards, including Breakthrough Video and Best Alternative Music Video, and two Billboard Music Video Awards, among them Alternative/Modern Rock Clip of the Year.
Pretenders – I’ll Stand By You
Chrissie Hynde wrote this with Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg. “I’ll Stand by You” was released as the second single from the 1994 album Last of the Independents. It’s a beautiful song that has been covered a few times.
For Hynde, working with outside songwriters was different, as she was used to writing on her own. It ended up being a very positive experience that led to more collaborations.
Chrissie had said she was uncomfortable about having such a hit but felt better after Noel Gallagher said “he wished he’d written it.”
Chrissie Hynde:“When I did that song, I thought, Urgh this is s–t. But then I played it for a couple of girls who weren’t in the business and by the end of it they were both in tears. I said, OK, put it out.”
Green Day – When I Come Around
This was my first introduction to Green Day. The more albums they released the more I liked them. American Idiot is probably my favorite album but this song was a good introduction to the band for me.
Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tré Cool are listed as writers of this song. It was not released as a single, which was a strategic move by Green Day’s label Reprise to up the sales of the album.
When performing this song at Woodstock ’94, a fan threw a clump of mud on stage and Billie Joe stuck it in his mouth. This caused the fans to keep throwing mud and started the infamous mud fight. Many fans look back at Woodstock ’94 fondly, calling it “Mudstock ’94” largely because of this incident.
Nirvana – The Man Who Sold the World
This version has a charm about it I like. Cobain did a great job on this.
David Bowie liked this cover saying, “I was simply blown away when I found that Kurt Cobain liked my work, and have always wanted to talk to him about his reasons for covering ‘The Man Who Sold the World’.”
What he didn’t like were the kids that came up after his show and said, ‘It’s cool you’re doing a Nirvana song.’ And I think, ‘F**k you, you little tosser!”
Nirvana performed it on the MTV Unplugged episode a few months before Cobain died…it was released on the MTV Unplugged album in November of 1994.
I hope all of you are having a good week! This song gets me in the mood for Christmas; I can listen to it anytime, not just Christmas. It’s a wonderful song and Chrissie Hyde sounds great in it.
The guitar in this song is haunting…and for good reason. The song has an incredible depth and meaning.
2000 Miles is actually Hynde’s tribute to guitarist and founding band member James Honeyman-Scott, who died of a drug overdose in 1982 at the age of 25. In 1982, two days after lead singer Chrissie Hynde fired bassist Pete Farndon for drug abuse, the guitarist died of cocaine-induced heart failure. He was only 25 years old. Farndon himself passed away the following year.
“2000 Miles” was released as a single in December of 1983 and appeared as the 10th track of The Pretenders’ Learning to Crawl album. The single was popular in the UK, peaking at #15 on the UK Singles Chart. Learning to Crawl peaked at #5 in the Billboard 200 albums chart.
In 2014, while finishing up her album Stockholm, Hynde collaborated with Bjorn Yttling on an updated version of “2000 Miles. It was released as a Christmas single in the UK in December.
He’s gone two thousand miles It’s very far The snow is falling down Gets colder day by day I miss you The children will sing He’ll be back at Christmas timeIn these frozen and silent nights Sometimes in a dream you appear Outside under the purple sky Diamonds in the snow sparkle Our hearts were singing It felt like Christmas timeTwo thousand miles Is very far through the snow I’ll think of you Wherever you go
He’s gone two thousand miles It’s very far The snow is falling down Gets colder day by day I miss you
I can hear people singing It must be Christmas time I hear people singing It must be Christmas time
I hope all of you are having a good week! This song gets me in the mood for Christmas; I can listen to it anytime, not just Christmas. It’s a wonderful song and Chrissie Hyde sounds great in it.
The guitar in this song is haunting…and for good reason. The song has an incredible depth and meaning.
2000 Miles is actually Hynde’s tribute to guitarist and founding band member James Honeyman-Scott, who died of a drug overdose in 1982 at the age of 25. In 1982, two days after lead singer Chrissie Hynde fired bassist Pete Farndon for drug abuse, the guitarist died of cocaine-induced heart failure. He was only 25 years old. Farndon himself passed away the following year.
“2000 Miles” was released as a single in December of 1983 and appeared as the 10th track of The Pretenders’ Learning to Crawl album. The single was popular in the UK, peaking at #15 on the UK Singles Chart. Learning to Crawl peaked at #5 in the Billboard 200 albums chart.
In 2014, while finishing up her album Stockholm, Hynde collaborated with Bjorn Yttling on an updated version of “2000 Miles. It was released as a Christmas single in the UK in December.
Lisa covered this one last year on Tao Talk. Check it out.
2000 Miles
He’s gone two thousand miles It’s very far The snow is falling down Gets colder day by day I miss you The children will sing He’ll be back at Christmas timeIn these frozen and silent nights Sometimes in a dream you appear Outside under the purple sky Diamonds in the snow sparkle Our hearts were singing It felt like Christmas timeTwo thousand miles Is very far through the snow I’ll think of you Wherever you go
He’s gone two thousand miles It’s very far The snow is falling down Gets colder day by day I miss you
I can hear people singing It must be Christmas time I hear people singing It must be Christmas time
Good morning everyone and I hope you have a great Christmas.
The guitar in this song is haunting…
This song is actually Hynde’s tribute to guitarist and founding band member James Honeyman-Scott, who died of a drug overdose in 1982 at the age of 25.
“2000 Miles” was released as a single in December of 1983 and appeared as the 10th track of The Pretenders’ Learning to Crawl album. The single was popular in the UK, where it peaked at #15 on the UK Singles Chart. Learning to Crawl peaked at #5 in the Billboard 200 albums chart.
In 2014, while finishing up her album Stockholm, Hynde collaborated with Bjorn Yttling on an updated version of “2000 Miles. It was released as a Christmas single in the UK that December.
2000 Miles
He’s gone two thousand miles It’s very far The snow is falling down Gets colder day by day I miss you The children will sing He’ll be back at Christmas timeIn these frozen and silent nights Sometimes in a dream you appear Outside under the purple sky Diamonds in the snow sparkle Our hearts were singing It felt like Christmas timeTwo thousand miles Is very far through the snow I’ll think of you Wherever you go
He’s gone two thousand miles It’s very far The snow is falling down Gets colder day by day I miss you
I can hear people singing It must be Christmas time I hear people singing It must be Christmas time
Chrissie Hynde wrote this with Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg. “I’ll Stand by You” was released as the second single from the 1994 album Last of the Independents. It’s a beautiful song that has been covered a few times.
The song peaked at #16 in the Billboard 100, #12 Canada, and #10 in the UK.
For Hynde, working with outside songwriters was different, as she was used to writing on her own. It ended up a very positive experience that led to more collaborations.
Chrissie had said she was uncomfortable about having such a hit but felt better after Noel Gallagher say “he wished he’d written it.”
Chrissie Hynde: “When I did that song, I thought, Urgh this is s–t. But then I played it for a couple of girls who weren’t in the business and by the end of it they were both in tears. I said, OK, put it out.”
From Songfacts
“Tom and I never had a publisher, we both published ourselves. Jason Dauman was somebody who, for a commission, was willing to provide some of the service that a publisher would. He once said to me, ‘Who would you like to collaborate with?’ and it was sort of an annoyance to me. I didn’t take him all that seriously, but almost facetiously I said, ‘Prince, Bruce Springsteen and Chrissie Hynde.
I said those names because they were three of my favorite songwriters and he sort of took it seriously. He went off and I just thought, ‘Well I got rid of him, didn’t I.’ Then a little while later he called me up and he said, ‘Chrissie Hynde wants to write with you and Tom,’ and I thought, ‘Right.’ So anyway, I get a phone call and this woman said, ‘Billy, this is Chrissie Hynde,’ and I thought somebody was playing with me or something. I couldn’t imagine it, but then in a minute it was quite clear that Chrissie was on the other end of the telephone.
Chrissie is a very complicated person, a very no-nonsense person especially when she doesn’t know you. She was a little intimidating on the phone. The butterflies in my stomach were fluttering so much I could barely speak because I love The Pretenders. She said she’d like to get together and write some songs with Tom and me, and I went, ‘Woo Hoo!’ She came to Los Angeles and she was so determined. She said, ‘I want to write a hit.’ Over a period of about two weeks Tom and I wrote a handful of songs with her. The first one we wrote together was called ‘Love Colors Everything.’ Then we wrote ‘Night In My Veins’ which was also a hit single, and we wrote ‘977,’ ‘Hollywood Perfume’ and ‘I’ll Stand By You.'”
Ben E. King’s song “Stand By Me” was a big influence on this.
Steinberg: “‘I’ll Stand By You,’ like the other hits that Tom and I wrote, started out as a lyric that I had in a notebook. I had the title and the chorus lyric. Chrissie is a very, very strong songwriter in her own right. She’s very ruthless, she would get out her pen or her pencil and I remember I was fascinated the way she would write in the notebook because she wouldn’t write on the lines. I use a Mont Blanc fountain pen and I tend to write kind of neatly. She would just scribble across pages. Very few lines would fit on a page and they wouldn’t stay on the line. I remember she would just take a pen and she would cross out any lines I had written that she didn’t like, and usually the lines that she didn’t like would be ones that were too tender or too poetic. She would toughen up stuff I’d written. On ‘I’ll Stand By You’ she added lines and changed lines.”
This was written based on the piano. Tom Kelly played the piano on the record.
Steinberg: “I remember when we wrote it I felt two things: I felt one, we had written a hit song and I felt two, a little sheepish that we had written something a little soft, a little generic for The Pretenders. Whereas ‘Night In My Veins’ really felt like a great Pretenders rocker, ‘I’ll Stand By You’ felt a little generic. I know that Chrissie felt that way too to some extent. I don’t think she really entirely embraced it to begin with, but she certainly does now because when she plays it live, it’s one of the songs that gets the strongest response. It’s done really well for her and for us.” (Check out our Billy Steinberg interview.)
This song has returned to both the UK and US charts with different cover versions. In 2004 Girls Aloud achieved their second UK #1 with their version recorded for the annual BBC Children In Need charity telethon. Girl Aloud Sarah Harding explained in 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner & Spencer Leigh that the fivesome “were drawn to the lyrics straight away, we’ve all been in situations where we have needed someone or been there for someone.”
In 2007, Carrie Underwood achieved the highest chart entry by an Idol contestant for a song never performed on the show in competition when her version debuted in the Hot 100 at #6. Her record was later taken by David Archuleta, whose single “Crush” flew straight into the US singles chart at #2.
She added that this song was “really a cold-blooded attempt to write something to get on the radio.”
Other artists to cover this song include Rod Stewart (on his 2006 album Still the Same… Great Rock Classics of Our Time), and Shakira, who released it as a charity single for Hope for Haiti in 2010 to help with earthquake relief. In 2009, the Cast of Glee took the song back to the charts, reaching #73.
Hynde, a resident of England, didn’t know about the Rod Stewart or Carrie Underwood covers until we told her about them.
This was used in a 2013 commercial for Progressive Insurance where their spokesperson, Flo, sings the ballad. As with all songs written by Chrissie Hynde, PETA had to approve the use and royalties from it were sent to the organization.
I’ll Stand By You
Oh, why you look so sad? Tears are in your eyes Come on and come to me now Don’t be ashamed to cry Let me see you through
‘Cause I’ve seen the dark side too When the night falls on you You don’t know what to do Nothing you confess Could make me love you less
I’ll stand by you I’ll stand by you Won’t let nobody hurt you I’ll stand by you
So if you’re mad, get mad Don’t hold it all inside Come on and talk to me now Hey, what you got to hide? I get angry too
Well I’m a lot like you When you’re standing at the crossroads And don’t know which path to choose Let me come along ‘Cause even if you’re wrong
I’ll stand by you I’ll stand by you Won’t let nobody hurt you I’ll stand by you Take me in, into your darkest hour And I’ll never desert you I’ll stand by you
And when When the night falls on you, baby You’re feeling all alone You won’t be on your own
I’ll stand by you I’ll stand by you Won’t let nobody hurt you
I’ll stand by you Take me in, into your darkest hour And I’ll never desert you I’ll stand by you I’ll stand by you Won’t let nobody hurt you I’ll stand by you Won’t let nobody hurt you I’ll stand by you, won’t let nobody hurt you Take me in, into your darkest hour And I’ll never desert you I’ll stand by you
The “picture of you” Chrissie Hynde sings about is a picture she found in her wallet of Ray Davies, lead singer and songwriter of The Kinks. Hynde and Davies were a couple and had a daughter together. This song started off about him, but the meaning changed when Honeyman-Scott died.
The song turned into a tribute to James Honeyman-Scott, the Pretenders guitarist who died of a drug overdose in 1982 at age 26. Scott’s death was followed by bass player Pete Farndon’s 10 months later. Farndon had been kicked out of the band because of his drug problems and died of an overdose.
The song peaked at #5 in the Billboard 100, #5 in Canada, #14 in New Zealand, and #17 in the UK in 1983.
From Songfacts
This is a very emotional song. Chrissie Hynde would sometimes tear up when performing it.
A Chain Gang is a group of convicts who are chained together while they do manual labor, usually outside.
This was the first Pretenders single featuring Billy Bremner and Tony Butler, who replaced Farndon and Honeyman-Scott.
This was released as a single almost two years before the album came out.
Back On The Chain Gang
I found a picture of you, oh oh oh oh What hijacked my world that night To a place in the past We’ve been cast out of? Oh oh oh oh Now we’re back in the fight We’re back on the train Oh, back on the chain gang
A circumstance beyond our control, oh oh oh oh The phone, the TV and the news of the world Got in the house like a pigeon from hell, oh oh oh oh Threw sand in our eyes and descended like flies Put us back on the train Oh, back on the chain gang
The powers that be That force us to live like we do Bring me to my knees When I see what they’ve done to you But I’ll die as I stand here today Knowing that deep in my heart They’ll fall to ruin one day For making us part
I found a picture of you, oh oh oh oh Those were the happiest days of my life Like a break in the battle was your part, oh oh oh oh In the wretched life of a lonely heart Now we’re back on the train Oh, back on the chain gang
After watching the Pretenders on the Concert for Kampuchea I’ve been listening to Pretenders lately. The original band was something special. The original band was James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), Pete Farndon (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Martin Chambers (drums, backing vocals, percussion)…and of course Chrissie Hynde.
Following the drug-related deaths of Honeyman-Scott and Farndon, the band experienced numerous subsequent personnel changes. Hynde has been the band’s only consistent member.
Written by Ray Davies and recorded for The Kinks’ 1964 self-titled debut album, this was later covered by The Pretenders as their first single. The Pretenders’ recording of the song led to the relationship between Davies and the band’s frontwoman Chrissie Hynde.
In order to convince guitarist James Honeyman-Scott to join The Pretenders, Chrissie Hynde hired one of his favorite recording artists, Nick Lowe, to produce this song.
This song peaked at #65 in the Billboard 100 and #34 in the UK in 1980.
From Songfacts
In his autobiography, Ray Davies writes of a girlfriend who may have been the subject of this song: “Her sobbing was making me feel guilty and I told her to stop… there was something so desperately lonely about her.”
The Pretenders covered another Ray Davies penned track a couple of years later, “I Go To Sleep,” for another single release.
Stop Your Sobbing
It is time for you to stop all of your sobbing Yes it’s time for you to stop all of your sobbing oh oh oh There’s one thing you gotta do To make me still want you Gotta stop sobbing now Yeah yeah stop it stop it
It is time for you to laugh instead of crying Yes it’s time for you to laugh so keep on trying oh oh oh There’s one thing you gotta do To make me still want you Gotta stop sobbing now Yeah yeah stop it stop it
Each little tear that falls from your eyes Makes, makes me want To take you in my arms and tell you To stop all your sobbing
There’s one thing you gotta do To make me still want you And there’s one thing you gotta know To make me want you so Gotta stop sobbing now Yeah yeah stop, stop, stop, stop Gotta stop sobbing at all Stop, stop, stop, stop Gotta stop sobbing at all Stop, stop, stop, stop Gotta stop sobbing at all Stop, stop, stop, stop Stop, stop, stop sobbing Stop, stop, stop, stop Gotta stop sobbing Stop, stop, stop, stop Gotta stop sobbing at all Stop, stop, stop, stop Gotta stop sobbing at all
When I posted a Rockpile song last week… I heard from Sharon E. Cathcart talking about this concert. A few days later Val mentioned this concert on a Little Richard post. I haven’t thought of this concert in years so I thought it would be a great subject.
I did see a copy of this in the 80s at some point. I’ve watched it the last few nights and it is really good. A few facts about the show…The Pretenders debut album was released the day before they played, this was John Bonham’s last appearance on stage in England, and the Wings last concert appearance.
Concert for the People of Kampuchea was a series of concerts in 1979 featuring Queen, The Clash, The Pretenders, Rockpile, The Who, Elvis Costello, Wings, and many more artists. I’ll post the entire lineup at the bottom. These concerts had a great amount of British talent that would not be rivaled until Live Aid in 1985. The proceeds would be directed to the emergency relief work of the U.N. agencies for the civilians in Kampuchea.
The concerts were held at the Hammersmith Odeon in London over 4 days from 26-29 December 1979 to raise money for the victims of war-torn Cambodia (then called Kampuchea). The event was organized by former Beatle Paul McCartney and Kurt Waldheim (who was then Secretary-General of the UN, later Austrian president).
Waldheim initially approached McCartney, hoping his current band Wings would participate. But he also discussed a performance with George Harrison, and then the gossip wheel started turning. The Beatle reunion rumors started to overtake the press for the show itself. Paul had to completely deny it of course. He was quoted saying: “The Beatles are over and finished with,” “None of us is even interested in doing it. There’s lots of reasons. Imagine if we came back and did a big show that wasn’t good. What a drag.” None of the ex Beatles showed…except Paul
An album and EP were released in 1981, and the best of the concerts was released as a film, Concert for Kampuchea in 1980. The album wasn’t released until 1981 and it peaked at #36 and the song Little Sister by Rockpile and Robert Plant peaked at #8.
When Wings’ main set was complete on the last night, McCartney invited a Who’s Who assemblage of British rockers to the stage to play four songs as an encore as the “Rockestra”. The list included three members of Led Zeppelin (Plant, John Bonham and John Paul Jones), Townshend, former Small Faces/Faces bandmates Ronnie Lane and Kenney Jones, Procol Harum’s Gary Brooker, Wings, plus members of Rockpile and the Pretenders, among others.
Here is a complete list.
Piano: Paul McCartney
Keyboards: Linda McCartney, Tony Ashton, Gary Brooker
Guitars: Denny Laine, Laurence Juber, James Honeyman-Scott, Dave Edmunds, Billy Bremner, Pete Townshend, Robert Plant
Bass: Paul McCartney, Bruce Thomas, Ronnie Lane, John Paul Jones
Drums, Percussion: Steve Holley, Kenney Jones, Tony Carr, Morris Pert, Speedy Acquaye, John Bonham
Horns: Howie Casey, Steve Howard, Thaddeus Richard, Tony Dorsey
Vocals: Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney, John Paul Jones, Ronnie Lane, Bruce Thomas, Robert Plant
That is a talented bunch.
McCartney did assemble the above musicians with some more like David Gilmour to record a couple of songs on the Wings Back To The Egg album…So Glad to See You Here and Rockestra Theme.
Here is the complete list of acts who played during the concerts.
The Blockheads
The Clash
Elvis Costello
Ian Dury
The Pretenders
Matumbi
Robert Plant
Queen
Rockpile
The Specials
Wings
The Who
December 26
Queen
December 27
Ian Dury and the Blockheads (with guest Mick Jones on “Sweet Gene Vincent”)
Matumbi
The Clash
December 28
The Pretenders
The Specials
The Who
December 29
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Rockpile (with guest Robert Plant on “Little Sister”)
This song is actually Hynde’s tribute to guitarist and founding band member James Honeyman-Scott, who died of a drug overdose in 1982 at the age of 25.
“2000 Miles” was released as a single in December of 1983 and appeared as the 10th track of The Pretenders’ Learning to Crawl album. The single was popular in the UK, where it peaked at #15 on the UK Singles Chart. Learning to Crawl peaked at #5 in the Billboard 200 albums chart.
In 2014, while finishing up her album Stockholm, Hynde collaborated with Bjorn Yttling on an updated version of “2000 Miles. It was released as a Christmas single in the UK that December.
2000 Miles
He’s gone two thousand miles It’s very far The snow is falling down Gets colder day by day I miss you The children will sing He’ll be back at Christmas timeIn these frozen and silent nights Sometimes in a dream you appear Outside under the purple sky Diamonds in the snow sparkle Our hearts were singing It felt like Christmas timeTwo thousand miles Is very far through the snow I’ll think of you Wherever you go
He’s gone two thousand miles It’s very far The snow is falling down Gets colder day by day I miss you
I can hear people singing It must be Christmas time I hear people singing It must be Christmas time
What strong song by Chrissie Hynde after two of her band members die and leaving Ray Davies.
She wrote this song, which finds her coping with transition and approaching middle age. Following the 1981 Pretenders album Pretenders II, two of the four band members – Pete Farndon and James Honeyman-Scott – died of drug overdoses, leaving just Hynde and drummer Martin Chambers, who remained the mainstays in the band amongst a rotating cast of guitarists and bass players.
This song peaked at #19 in the Billboard 100 in 1984.
From Songfacts
“Middle of the Road” is Chrissie Hynde’s credo. She told the Austin American-Statesman: “My personal discipline has been to try to stay in the middle, always, no matter what I’m doing. If I buy a jacket and it comes in three sizes, I want a medium. You have to learn how to temper yourself and hold back till you get to the end.”
Toward the end of the song, Hynde sings about the media hounding her. She has always tried to keep her private life to herself.
On this track, Hynde sings, “I got a kid, I’m 33.”
She was actually 32 when the song was released as a single in late 1983. In January that year, she had a daughter, Natalie, who she was raising as a single mother after leaving the father, Ray Davies from the Kinks.
A little after the 3-minute mark, Hynde lets loose one of the most famous yowls in rock. The feline inflection plays to the line, “I’m not the cat I used to be.”
Middle of the Road
The middle of the road is trying to find me I’m standing in the middle of life with my plans behind me Well I got a smile for everyone I meet As long as you don’t try dragging my bay Or dropping the bomb on my street
Now come on baby Get in the road Oh come on now In the middle of the road, yeah
In the middle of the road you see the darnedest things Like fat guys driving ’round in jeeps through the city Wearing big diamond rings and silk suits Past corrugated tin shacks full up with kids Oh man I don’t mean a Hampstead nursery When you own a big chunk of the bloody third world The babies just come with the scenery
Oh come on baby Get in the road Oh come on now In the middle of the road, yeah
The middle of the road is no private cul-de-sac I can’t get from the cab to the curb Without some little jerk on my back Don’t harass me, can’t you tell I’m going home, I’m tired as hell I’m not the cat I used to be I got a kid, I’m thirty-three
Baby, get in the road Come on now In the middle of the road Yeah
This song was the first I heard from the Pretenders. When I think of The Pretenders I think of this song. it wasn’t their best song but it is memorable. Most Pretenders songs were written solo by Hynde, but the group’s guitarist, James Honeyman-Scott, is also a credited writer on this track. The song peaked at #14 in the Billboard 100 and #1 in the UK in 1979.
In a VH1 interview, Hynde admitted to loathing the song, and said that since so many fans love it, she continues to play it.
Lead singer Chrissie Hynde grew up in Akron, Ohio and was a student at Kent State University in 1970 when four students were killed by members of the US National Guard. She left for England in 1973, where she formed the group with three guys from Hereford.
Chrissie Hynde rarely explained what her songs were about, but she let on with this one in a 1980 interview with Sounds: “It’s very lightweight pop type of song, nothing heavy about it. It’s along the lines of the guy who is feeling very insecure, not about pulling a girl but, say, trying to be accepted by the guys down the pub. It’s a front he’s putting up. It’s like buying a pair of new boots and you feel great but then you get home and see you spots in the mirror. Or take a couple of dexies and you’re in gear for the evening but on the train home it’s different.”
She had clearly internalized the British argot. “Pulling a girl” means finding a companion for the evening; “dexies” are Dexedrine pills, which give the user a jolt of energy. At the time, dexy abuse was common in the UK, especially amongst musicians and clubgoers. The band Dexys Midnight Runners took their name from the pill.
The song’s title came about after The Pretenders first-ever UK gig, when they were in the communal dressing room with The Strangeways, who they were supporting. Chrissie Hynde wanted to know whose trousers were sprawled over the back of a chair. One of The Strangeways Ada Wilson said: “I’ll have them if there’s any brass in the pockets.”
When Chrissie inquired what he meant by brass, it was explained to her that brass is a northern slang term for money. Chrissie fell in love with the expression and was inspired to write the song.
It usually doesn’t show up in printed lyrics, but at the end of the song, Hynde coos the line, “Oh and the way you walk.” She says that’s an important part of the song; it’s her telling the insecure peacock that she approves of his offering.
In the video, directed by Mark Robinson, lead singer Chrissie Hynde plays a waitress, implying that “brass” was the change she got from tips. Hynde worked as a waitress in the US before moving to London.
This was the breakout hit from the first Pretenders album, which was a triumph by any measure. In the UK, three singles were released before the album appeared. The first was a cover of The Kinks song “Stop Your Sobbing,” which was released in January 1979 and reached #34 in March 1979. “Kid” followed in June, going to #33 in August. In November, “Brass In Pocket” was released; it rose to the top in January 1980, and stayed at #1 for two weeks.
The album was also released in January 1980, and went to #1 in the UK. In America, it took a while for the group to get noticed. “Brass In Pocket” was the first single there, going to #14 in May 1980. “Stop Your Sobbing” followed, reaching #65 in July. The album is consistently cited as one of the greatest debuts in rock.
In an interview with the Observer newspaper from December 12, 2004, Chrissy Hynde said, “When we recorded the song I wasn’t very happy with it and told my producer that he could release it over my dead body, but they eventually persuaded me. So I remember feeling a bit sheepish when it went to #1.”
Brass in Pocket
Got brass in pocket Got bottle, I’m gonna use it Intention, I feel inventive Gonna make you, make you, make you notice
Got motion, restrained emotion Been driving Detroit leaning No reason, just seems so pleasing Gonna make you, make you, make you notice
[Chorus:] Gonna use my arms Gonna use my legs Gonna use my style Gonna use my side step Gonna use my fingers Gonna use my, my, my imagination
‘Cause I gonna make you see There’s nobody else here No one like me I’m special so special I gotta have some of your attention give it to me
Got rhythm I can’t miss a beat Got new skank it’s so reet Got something I’m winking at you Gonna make you, make you, make you notice
[Chorus]
‘Cause I gonna make you see There’s nobody else here No one like me I’m special, so special I gotta have some of your attention Give it to me ‘Cause I gonna make you see There’s nobody else here No one like me I’m special, so special I gotta have some of your attention
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