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Pretenders - Back On The Chain Gang

Pretenders - Back On The Chain Gang Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Learning To Crawl
Released: 1982

Back On The Chain Gang Lyrics

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
Writer/s: HYNDE, CHRISSIE
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Back On The Chain Gang Song Chart

This is 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 "picture of you" Chrissie Hynde sings about is a picture she found in her wallet of Ray Davies, leader of the band 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.

This is a very emotional song. Chrissie Hynde sometimes tears 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 2 years before the album came out.

Pretenders - My City Was Gone

Pretenders - My City Was Gone Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Learning To Crawl
Released: 1984

My City Was Gone Lyrics

I went back to Ohio
But My City Was Gone
There was no train station
There was no downtown
South Howard had disappeared
All my favorite places
My city had been pulled down
Reduced to parking spaces
A, o, way to go Ohio

Well I went back to Ohio
But my family was gone
I stood on the back porch
There was nobody home
I was stunned and amazed
My childhood memories
Slowly swirled past
Like the wind through the trees
A, o, oh way to go Ohio

I went back to Ohio
But my pretty countryside
Had been paved down the middle
By a government that had no pride
The farms of Ohio
Had been replaced by shopping malls
And Muzak filled the air
From Seneca to Cuyahoga falls
Said, a, o, oh way to go Ohio

Writer/s: HYNDE, CHRISTINE
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

My City Was Gone Song Chart

This song is about Akron, Ohio, where Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders was raised. Akron was an industrial city known as the "Rubber Capital of the World," which despite the smell of burning rubber, was a place Chrissie enjoyed growing up. In the '70s, it was gritty but vibrant, and it had a thriving rock scene with bands like Pere Ubu, Devo, The Bizarros, and Jane Aire & The Belvederes.

Hynde would augment her musical education with the R&B she could find on Detroit radio stations, and would seek out rock music from the likes of Lou Reed and The Rolling Stones. She did a lot of traveling and played in a lot of bands before forming the Pretenders in 1978 when she relocated to England. Returning to Akron in the '80s, she was disappointed in what the city had become: shopping malls and segregation. "Everything's just huge masses of granite blocks, and everything's outsized. It might look good on a drawing, but it doesn't seem to apply to human life," said Hynde.

The conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh uses the opening riff of this song as theme music for his radio show. Limbaugh and Hynde have radically different political views, but she cannot stop him from using the song as long as the show continues to pay royalties.

This was released as the B-side of "Back On The Chain Gang."