Back on the Chain Gang

Infobox Single
Name = Back on the Chain Gang


Artist = The Pretenders
from Album = Learning to Crawl
B-side =
Released = 1982
Format =
Recorded = 20 July 1982, AIR Studios, London
Genre = Rock
Length =
Label =
Writer = Chrissie Hynde
Producer =
Certification =
Last single = "I Go To Sleep"
(1981)
This single = "Back on the Chain Gang"
(1982)
Next single = "My City Was Gone"
(1983)

"Back on the Chain Gang" is a song by The Pretenders from their third studio album "Learning to Crawl" (1984). It was released as the album's first single in 1982 (see 1982 in music), two years before the album was released, and reached number five on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 as the band's highest charting single, number four on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and number 17 in the United Kingdom.

The song was originally going to be about Ray Davies, leader of the band The Kinks. Hynde and Davies were a couple and had a daughter together, but the meaning of the song changed after James Honeyman-Scott, the Pretenders guitarist, died of a drug overdose at the age of 25 in 1982.

The memorable chain-gang chant heard during the chorus of the song echoes a similar chant on Sam Cooke's song "Chain Gang."

Charts

Infobox Single
Name = Fotos y Recuerdos


Artist = Selena
from Album = Amor Prohibido
Released = February, 1995
Format = CD Promo single
Recorded = 1993
Genre = Latin
Length = 2:45
Label = EMI
Writer =
Producer = AB Quintanilla III
Last single = "No Me Queda Mas"
(1994)
This single = "Fotos y Recuerdos"
(1995)
Next single = "I Could Fall In Love"
(1995)

elena version

The late Mexican-American singer Selena included a cover version with all-new Spanish lyrics on her album "Amor Prohibido". The song was retitled "Fotos y Recuerdos" (which translates as "Photos and Memories"), and even though there were no references to prisoners in the Spanish lyrics, Selena's version still used the chain-gang chant hook in the chorus. The song became very successful on the "Billboard" Hot Latin Tracks charts, peaking at number 1 for seven weeks [cite web |title="Hot Latin Tracks" on Billboard.com |url=http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/esearch/chart_display.jsp?cfi=363&cfgn=Singles&cfn=Hot+Latin+Songs&ci=3020263&cdi=6944336&cid=05%2F27%2F1995|accessdate=1995-04-27] .

;Chart Performance

See also

Number-one hits of 1995 (U.S. Hot Latin Tracks)

Notes

External links

* [http://www.pretenders.org/lyback.htm Lyrics to "Back on the Chain Gang"]
* [http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000E1ZBHC/ Listen to sample of "Back on the Chain Gang"]