Pretenders – Back on the Chain Gang (Official Music Video) The official music video for ‘Back on the Chain Gang’ by The Pretenders.
Pretenders II album cover

Pretenders – Back on the Chain Gang (Official Music Video)

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
Pretenders BMG 2020 image

Back on the chain gang is lyrically brilliant and sonically suggestive of the period, time, and place you heard it first or the first time you truly listened to Chrissie Hynde belt out the lyric. Do you know another voice close to Chrissie Hynde’s vocals? How about the passionate sneer she employs to deliver the punch line on so many of the Pretender’s best songs?