And so, hence, “Brass in Pocket” is, I guess, a big lie. The nature of the stage – where you are already seven feet higher than everyone and they have to look up at you – you have to use that to your advantage. You’re not supposed to, and probably you don’t have much confidence, and you do think you’re a little piece of shit or else you wouldn’t have gotten a rock band together in the first place. You’re not supposed to go on stage and say, “I’m small and I have no confidence and think I’m a shit.” Because you just can’t do that on stage. Like I said, I got away from it in that song.Īnd the other thing about “Brass in Pocket,” the tradition of it is that you’re supposed to be kind of cocky and sure of yourself. And, well, this is just fucking me rambling. There’s also reference to Robert Crumb in there, where I go, “It’s so reet.” Another one of my heroes, Robert Crumb. So you say, “That guy has a lot of bottle.” In England, to say somebody has a lot of ass they have a lot of funk. The way Cockney rhyming slang works is the word you’re really saying rhymes with the second word. The title came because I heard a guy from a band up north who had taken his suit to a dry cleaner and – I can’t do the accent – but he said, “Was there any brass in pocket?” I hadn’t heard that before and I thought it was a good turn of phrase. It wouldn’t occur to me that somebody wouldn’t know thatĪnyway, Brass in Pocket, it’s all right I like it I think they’re so obvious when I do that. ![]() And then when no one mentions that, I think someone out there will think I just plagiarized this person and tried to get away with it. And I always think everyone’s going to see that straight away. I always want to pay tribute to my heroes. Like “2,000 Miles” came from Otis Redding. So I wrote “Message of Love,” and I took the title “Message of Love” from Jimi Hendrix. There’s a kind of tradition, like Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders’ “The purpose of a man is to love a woman. See, the thing about rock is there are rules but there’s no rules. Although I loved the anti-establishment nature of rock & roll – that’s why I got into it, because I didn’t want to be part of the establishment. ![]() People did think I was the character in the song but I was not, really. I shouldn’t be saying all this negative stuff because if people hear me saying all this negative stuff, they’ll start to believe it too. I was kind of a new singer, and listening to my voice made me kind of cringe. That’s how I did it with him a few times.īut now I like that song because it’s one of those songs that served me well. He was playing that in the studio and I thought, “ Wow, that’s awesome.” And I just happened to have a little tape recorder and I taped it. I thought it sounded like it was trying to be a Motown song, but it didn’t quite get it. I didn’t like it because I didn’t think it knew what it was. I said that would go out over my dead body.That was my famous quote. Here, in her own words, is Chrissie on “Brass In Pocket.”Ĭhrissie Hynde: I did not like it at first. ![]() So when given the opportunity to go to the source – Chrissie Hynde, interviewed for this magazine – we asked about the meaning and history of this song. Never reaching the top of the charts in America (it went to 14), it was a number one hit on the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in January 1980, which gave it the distinction of being the first number-one single of the 1980s. “Brass” was the band’s third single, but their first hit. It was featured on their debut album, The Pretenders, which also had “Kid” and “Stop Your Sobbing.” ![]() Written by Chrissie to a riff played by her late-great guitarist-friend-co-writer James Honeyman-Scott which she recorded, it was produced by Chris Thomas and released as a single in November, 1979. It became a hit despite its enigmatic title, one which few on this side of the Atlantic, oblivious to the meaning of Cockney rhyming slang to this day, ever understood.īut so great is the song, the performance, the guitars, the groove, the visceral vibe and her attitude, that didn’t matter. It’s a beloved rock standard, a radio hit which resonated in the season of its creation and persists powerfully through the decades. Chrissie Hynde on the meaning and origins of this rock classic she wrote with the late James Honeyman-Scott
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |