The Pretenders song Chrissie Hynde hated
After becoming infatuated with classic rock and some of its most notable progenitors, including The Rolling Stones and The Stooges, Chrissie Hynde set her sights on a music career in the early 1970s. Realising her ambitions might not materialise in Ohio, Hynde moved to the UK in 1973. Here, she would bump shoulders with Sex Pistols and Vivienne Westwood, ultimately forming a punk-inspired group of her own, Pretenders.
Pretenders came out of the trap on a strong note with their 1980 self-titled debut album. The record was emblazoned with high-calibre hits, including the singles, ‘Stop Your Sobbing’, ‘Kid’, ‘Brass in Pocket’ and ‘Precious’. Of these singles, ‘Brass in Pocket’ was the most successful, reaching number one in the UK and 14 in the US, and remains the group’s most famous hit to this day.
While it ultimately brought fame and fortune, Hynde initially despised ‘Brass in Pocket’. “I did not like it at first,” she told American Songwriter in 2019. “I said that would go out over my dead body. That was my famous quote.”
Hynde later said that she “didn’t think [‘Brass in Pocket’] knew what it was”, adding: “I thought it sounded like it was trying to be a Motown song, but it didn’t quite make it for me.”
James Honeyman-Scott, the band’s original lead guitarist who tragically died from a drug overdose in June 1982, wrote the song’s catchy riff. “He was playing that in the studio, and I thought, ‘Wow, that’s awesome’,” Hynde recalled. “I just happened to have a little tape recorder, and I taped it. That’s the one time I did that. I wish I’d done it more.”
Beyond the bridge lyrics, “I’m special”, the song relies on Honeyman-Scott’s riff as a chorus of sorts. Hynde explained the song title’s inception in the sleeve notes for the Pretenders’ Pirate Radio box set.
“We supported a band on our label called Strangeways, on tour in the north of England,” Hynde wrote. “We had dinner afterwards, and one of their guys leaned across the table and said to another, ‘Did you take my trousers to the dry cleaners? Was there any brass in the pocket?’ It was a turn of phrase that describes someone who is doing alright financially. If I’d imagined it was going to be such a hit, I might have been a little less abstract.”
“In terms of my career, ‘Brass In Pocket’ was about as big as it got, but globally speaking, it was more like a B-movie. I don’t remember it having any huge impact in terms of us playing bigger venues,” Hynde reflected in a 2020 conversation with Classic Rock.
“I enjoy singing it these days,” she admitted. “If someone wants to hear it, it’s always a pleasure. And my new band likes playing it, too. But the best thing about the song is that it always reminds me of Jimmy Scott. He was a fantastic guitar player. He was only 25 when we lost him.”
Watch Pretenders perform ‘Brass in Pocket’ during their emphatic set at Glastonbury 2023 below.
