THE CLASS OF '79 (Part 21)
This was a really tough call. Do I feature the debut single, the one that was a cover version of something by The Kinks, or do I feature the follow-up? Or I could even go with their third single, which although it was January 1980 when it hit #1 was in fact released towards the end of '79 and thus eligible for inclusion in this series
The picture sleeve that I've used gives it away mind you...
mp3 : The Pretenders - Kid
There's loads been written about The Pretenders over the years, and I've really nothing original to add to all those words. There's an excellent wikipedia article that can be read right here.
I chose Kid partly because its probably the least well known of the triumvirate. In my innocence at the age of 16, I assumed this was a sort of lullaby from a mother to a child. Only as I got older and began to understand the complexities of relationships and realise that life and love can never be run on a truly smooth path, did I see this song in its full majesty. At times I've been the one who could be singing this vocal, but all too often, I've been the one behaving and reacting like the kid in question...
This single spent just two weeks in the Top 40 , peaking at a criminally low #33
Oh and I also chose Kid just so that I link it to a great cover version tomorrow....
5 comments:
Have always loved this track.
Likewise, me too. It's just lovely and melancholy. And one of Johnny Marr's favourite bands of all time. Which makes perfect sense when you compare jangles.
Great choice jc.
I once wrote about the Kinks / Pretenters connection following a Ray Davies concert ..
Between songs, Ray mentioned how so many of his old forgotten tunes seem to be appearing on adverts these days – often without his knowledge.
“Picture Book has become known as the ‘Hewlett Packard song”! He went on saying how he’d seen an ad for French railways recently, and swore he thought he knew the background music. His publisher wasn’t aware, but Ray persisted and then remembered that it was a song he wrote about love when he was 19.
He then played the most haunting delicate version of ‘I Go To Sleep’ with the band. It was just breathtaking. (Perhaps he’d forgotten that ex-wife Chrissie Hynde had had a hit with it with The Pretenders?) He then played hit after hit - with the odd forgotten lyric! (He made a joke about it being a night to tell people “you were there the night Ray Davies forgot the words to ‘Sunny Afternoon.” ("It must be my dementia!" he quipped).
If you are a bit bored today, the rest of the review can be found at
http://lastnightanmp3savedmywife.blogspot.com/2005/09/ray-davies-york-grand-opera-house.html
Great choice! The one thing you always need to keep in mind with early Pretenders IS the Ray Davies connection. It informs a lot of the early recordings... The Pretenders have always been one of those bands that I can go back to and both feel comfortably nostalgic and still excited by discovery. I don't believe that Chryssie Hind has EVER conpromised at anything. Oh and as for great cover versions of Kid - there is only one that I would ever give that distinction to...not gonna be a spoiler, but I hope we concur.
A great song by a great band! my favourite by them though is 'Precious'.
Cheers,
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