“Time To Play B-Sides”- “My City Was Gone”- The Pretenders. “My City Was Gone” originally appeared as the B-side to one of the greatest singles of the 80’s- “Back On The Chain Gang.” This was the first release by The Pretenders after the death of guitarist James Honeyman-Scott. The single came out in October 1982 and when I heard “Back On The Chain Gang” I had to go buy the single since there was no signs yet of an album coming out. After listening to “Back On The Chain Gang” a couple dozen times [it is still a song I haven’t gotten tired of- 37 years later} I flipped it over and upon first listen loved the “My City Was Gone” too. It would be a year and a half wait for The Pretenders Learning To Crawl -which would have both songs on it- to come out. “My City Was Gone” was given that title instead of Ohio because “Ohio” had already been taken by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young- a decade earlier. Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders who wrote the song was from Akron, Ohio before relocating to England in her early 20’s- and the song is about her returning to her home and seeing it changed- for the worse.
The instrumental part of the song is certainly familiar to listeners of Rush Limbaugh’s radio show- he has used it as an opening since 1984. One of the reasons he says he chose it is because of that great bass line- which Tony Butler {formerly of Big Country} came up with -he was with The Pretenders at that time. You would think Hynde who is certainly not a conservative would have been against Rush playing the song on his show but she said that her parents loved and listened to Rush and that she didn’t mind him using it. Also Chrissie Hynde is an animal rights activist and Rush had spoken out against a plan by the EPA to use chemical testing on over 3000 animals.
slicethelife 
Great B-side. My alternative radio station used to play it instead of Chain Gang.
Always considered the pretenders to be overrated…but they seem to still be quite popular
Love this song, and “Learning to Crawl” is one of my favorite albums of the 1980s. Sadly, the only Pretenders song radio stations seem to still play is “Brass in Pocket”, which is OK, but not one of their best, at least in my opinion.
Radio is pathetic- same songs over and over and over. No variety. I’d love to run a radio station where the bottom line was playing good music- and not repeating songs to death.
I agree. I’d love to be a DJ, but it would have to be my own station, as it would drive me nuts to have to play a set playlist determined by some corporate goons.
playing someone else’s list and trying to be enthusiastic about it when your not would suck. It would be great to own the station- be so wealthy it didn’t really matter if you made money or not- so you didn’t have to play the game- just do your thing. Radio has no imagination anymore. My brother still brings up- and this was in 1992- we were driving across Tennessee and had the radio on and this one station had the slogan- ‘sure radio sucks we just suck a little less.”
OMG, what slogan.
And, all of that nonsense has helped satellite radio become popular.
Sadly a lot of satellite radio is pretty much the same- some of those stations just repeat the same couple songs over and over by artists who have a vast catalog. There are some exceptions.
Dr. Hanspostcard Fever!!! I love it. Go for it.
LOL… What was the word that got Johnny fired from a station- Bugger?
Booger! LOL!
Completely agree!
Forgot to mention that I despise Rush Limbaugh
Oh. My. Gosh. I totally forgot about this Pretenders song! What a fabulous combo on one 45. Thank you for bringing it out of the membanks today, my head is tingling 🙂
p.s. never knew the title. I thought it was Ohio. CSNY should have named theirs Four Dead in Ohio.
My friend Dan had an art teacher in college who also taught Chrissie Hynde at Kent State–he asked him about her and as I recall the professor said that even at that young age she was quite the individual.
lol,when I first read this I thought you meant the art teacher taught Chryssie Hynde as a subject not as a student.
hmmm maybe it does sound that way… i mean he had her as a student. lol.
no, it was my mind that messed up but in a good way
p.p.s. Why was this not included on The Singles album????? A real bad oversight on someone’s part.
Hmmm I have the Singles album didn’t actually realize it wasn’t on there- that is a bad misjudgement not including it- one of their best songs I think.
I pulled my CD out of The Singles to confirm. They need to do a re-issue and include it. Who do we call? 😉
It’s not like they had a million hits… they have a box set- it has to be on that.. your L has everything it seems maybe they have that too! How many songs are on the Singles? There had to be room for that.
16 songs. The Brit Box is the only boxed set I’ve seen so far, but I will check 🙂
The Brit Box sounds good!
Classic bass line!
Hynde’s parents listen to Rush. How odd. I bet Rush pays mucho royalties for that.
She has a great rock voice but, she’s no Adele. 2000 Miles makes me hurt.
She’s a rock and roller no doubt- Adele has a great voice but I can’t vision her singing a rock song. The last Adele album was disappointing IMO>
Well. No. Adele isn’t ‘rock -n- roll’ material. She is a crooner. The comparison I made was strictly that, Hynde doesn’t have the vocal ability to shift her voice like Adele can. Hynde tries to croon in 2000 Miles and it’s painful to listen to. She doesn’t have the pipes for it. I call it “vocal gymnastics”. Soul singers are much better at it. Straight-up rock singers, not so much.
But, then again, not everyone can sing like Benatar, Bowie, Mercury, Orbison, Presley (even his daughter can’t match him) or Ronstadt…
Some of the singers with the so called voices- like Mariah Carey- I can’t stand- they overdo the singing. Some like the ones you mention were fine- but I was never a Carey or Houston fan.
Now, THAT, I agree with you. Carey, Houston, Aguilera, (Lauryn Hill destroying ‘Killing Me Softly’)…it’s WAY over done and it is also painful to listen to. Both ends of the spectrum…weak vocal control to over-done gymnastics…just stop, already.
Yes its almost like they were born with these voices and are just showing off- not singing the song.
A-MEN.
Gotta love The Pretenders!