PRETENDERS – Back On The Chain Gang (1982)

“Back on the Chain Gang” is a song written by American-British musician Chrissie Hynde, originally recorded by her band the Pretenders and released as a single by Sire Records in September 1982. The song was included on The King of Comedy soundtrack album in March 1983 and was later included on the Pretenders’ third album, Learning to Crawl, in January 1984.

“Back On The Chain Gang” was originally released as a standalone single in the fall of 1982, a year after their second album Pretenders II. It became the band’s first of two top 10 US hits. It also reached the top 40 in the UK, New Zealand, Belgium and The Netherlands. The song was then later included on their third album Learning To Crawl, which came out more than a year after this single.

“Back On The Chain Gang” was written about the passing of James Honeyman-Scott, English rock guitarist, songwriter and founding member of the band the Pretenders. It was released 3 months after his death. When asked how she could return to releasing music so quickly after the loss, Hynde told Rolling Stone in 1984:

What else were we going to do? Stay at home and be miserable, or go into the studio and do what we dig and be miserable?

So for every song on the 1984 album Learning to Crawl, if it sounds like Hynde’s singing about a dead friend, then she probably is.

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