There’s an old adage, adopted from the title of a 1940 Thomas Wolfe novel, that states, “You can never go home again.” “My City Was Gone” by the Pretenders certainly ratifies that sentiment. The song was originally released in 1982 as the b-side of the single “Back on the Chain Gang.” Two years later both songs would show up on Learning to Crawl; the band’s third album and the first after the death of founding member James Honeyman-Scott. When Chrissie Hynde composed “My City Was Gone” about her hometown of Akron, Ohio, she bemoaned that all her favorite places had been reduced to parking spaces and Muzak filled the air from Seneca to Cuyahoga Falls (Lori’s hometown!). Three years earlier the Pretenders had kicked off their debut album with “Precious,” a blistering shout-out to Cleveland loaded with lyrical memorabilia like references to Howard the Duck, the Hotel Sterling, E. 55th and Euclid Avenue, and the Mr. Stress Blues Band. And just last month Chrissie provided the narration for this moving salute to Northeast Ohio’s resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic:
Clearly you can take the woman out of Ohio, but you can’t take Ohio out of the woman which is why “Precious,” by the Pretenders, is the rousing Happy Medium Song of the Day. (Please use the comments box below to share your thoughts.)