Welcome to Season 3 of According to Doyle. If you are just joining us, feel free to read the About This Project page for information about what else I’ve ranked (and am going to rank) here as well as statements about hubris and my cat. All songs here are ranked based on the guiding principle of “do I like each song more than the last song?” No science was harmed (or employed) in the creation of these lists. I welcome editing feedback because Doyle brain too fast for Doyle fingers.
40. The Windows of the World
Single from the soundtrack for the film 1969 (1988), Released as a single in 1988
Cover of a song by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, originally performed by Dionne Warwick.
I was alive in 1969, so I didn’t have to watch the movie. It was a time of Fisher Price people, spinning tops, and having meltdowns over bedtime. I’ve heard the movie doesn’t even attempt to recreate my reality. As far as this cover goes, well, I’ll say this a bunch but Chrissie Hynde knows with absolute certainty which songs best match her singing (i.e. All of Them) and she sounds great. Other than the “everybody knows” hook at the chorus, this song isn’t one that really sticks in my head. Oh, and I’ve read that Johnny Marr (formerly of The Smiths) plays on this track. Marr was with The Pretenders during this period – I don’t know the full story, but I do know he was heavily influence by original Pretenders’ guitarist. James Honeyman-Scott.
39. Never Do That
First Single from Packed! (1990), Released as a single in 1990
As I mentioned when I wrote about “Hold a Candle to This” (#45), I didn’t even know Packed! existed prior to this project, even though I was a College Radio DJ at the time and, in theory, would have been all over this album. “Never Do That” was the first single from the album and was a minor radio hit (it reached #81) which, again, demonstrates that it’s exactly the sort of tune that would have ended up on my show. I am a sucker for championing songs that don’t make it into the top 40. By the time Packed! came around, Hynde was the only original member of the group left – in fact, drummer Blair Cunningham was the only member left from the previous album, Get Close. Wikipedia suggests that some people regarded this as a Chrissie Hynde solo album at the time, but I tend to think that if she wanted to retire the band’s name, she had enough name recognition at the time to do so. Hynde chose to call this a Pretenders album, so this is a fucking Pretenders album. Damn the haters!
38. The Losing
Fourth single from Loose Screw (2003), Released as a single in 2003
From 1994’s Last of the Independents through 2003’s Loose Screw, The Pretenders had a stable line-up – Chrisie Hyde on rhythm guitar and lead vocals, her fellow original Pretender Martin Chambers on drums, Adam Seymour on guitar and Andy Hobson on bass. This was the final album with that line-up, so they’re a pretty tight unit by this time. Guitarist Seymour and Hynde co-wrote most of the songs on the record – he had written a few with her prior to this one, but this was their first full album song writing effort. “The Losing” is sort of an anthem to perseverance (specifically persevering through the titular losing because otherwise you’ll never be able to win) and it’s terrific in many ways – my only caveat is that it feels a little (I don’t think this is the right word) overproduced. Like it almost sounds a little unnatural at times. Can’t put my finger on it. However, it sounds fantastic live and had a live take been the single, it would have been way further up my list.
37. Goin’ Back
Single from the Soundtrack to the Film Fever Pitch (1997), Released as a single in 1997
Cover of a song by Gerry Goffin and Carole King , originally performed by Dusty Springfield.
It is possible that there are Americans who are only familiar with Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch due to the 2005 Drew Barrymore/Jimmy Fallon film about one man’s obsession with the Boston Red Sox (#1). As it happens, the original Hornby essay was about his own obsession with Arsenal F.C. See, in Football (what the rest of the world calls football – you know, the game where you actually manipulate the ball with your feet), the pitch is the place where you play a game. In baseball, of course, “pitch” is how you throw the ball at the batter. So not only is “Fever Pitch” a pun in and of itself, but it is also a bi-cultural pun. One of my favorite movies is the American version of Hornby’s novel “High Fidelity” (I wrote this) which also features a great titular pun (and a reference to an Elvis Costello song – #33). Thank you for sticking with me through that, assuming you did. This particular cover of “Going Back” is from the 1997 Colin Firth/Ruth Gemmel movie that first dramatized Hornby’s story. It is a really good cover of Dusty Springfield’s hit. Worth your time.
36. Louie Louie
Seventh Single from Pretenders II (1981), Released as a single in 1981
This is not a cover of the Richard Berry song, best known as a single by The Kingsmen. I am amused to no end that The Pretenders wrote an original song with the same name and released it as a single. I feel kind of guilty placing any song from Pretenders or Pretenders II on the lower half of this list, so I do need to stress the song is a banger with a fantastic guitar part by James Honeyman-Scott. Martin Chambers sounds like he’s going to bash a hole through his drums (in the best rock and roll way possible). And original bassist Pete Farndon contributes an especially memorable bass line. It’s just great, but since this list is all about my weird opinions, I like 35 songs more than this one. Please see that as a compliment about the next 35 songs and not a put down for this one.
35. Show Me
Sixth Single from Learning to Crawl (1984), Released as a single in 1984
“Show Me” got a ton of airplay on our local rock radio station – in fact, nearly every song from Learning to Crawl was featured at one point or another. WRKI – I-95 – had been in a weird new wave adjacent period (they were more typically classic rock and butt rock) and The Pretenders bridged the new wave and classic rock stuff pretty effectively. I can’t recall hearing much of Pretenders or Pretenders II on that station (other than “Brass in Pocket”) so maybe they were just playing a bunch of tracks from a hot record. WHO KNOWS. The point is, I had picked up my copy of Learning to Crawl the month it was released in the U.S. and felt like an ABSOLUTE GENIUS for knowing a bunch of these songs before they were hits. The lyrics of “Show Me” are a lovely, optimistic welcome to the world song for Hynde’s first baby. That era’s Pretenders line-up – Robbie McIntosh on guitar, Malcolm Foster on bass and the great Martin Chambers on drums – are lovely and polished. Chambers’ drumming in particular is stellar.
34. Break Up the Concrete
Third Single from Break Up the Concrete (2008), Released as a single in 2008
The title track of Break up the Concrete is something of a spiritual successor to “My City Was Gone.” (Coming soon) The lyrics detail how her hometown was destroyed to make way for the Interstate (and “modernization) and include these lines:
We were so busy worrying about them dropping the bomb
From Genius
We didn’t notice where our enemy was really coming from!
(Wow WordPress makes Pull Quotes really big)
So, I mean, basically we’re our own worst enemy. Hey, we continue to be our own worst enemy. The song is a catchy as hell rockabilly number with a great early false ending. I absolutely love trying to sing along with the “deck deck degga degga” scat and enjoy the song more every time I hear it. Give me two months and I’d rank it much higher.
33. Sense of Purpose
Third Single from Packed! (1990), Released as a single in 1990
When I first started trying to rank The Pretenders’ singles 5 or so years ago, I placed this tune in the top 20. I’ve not 100% convinced myself that moving it this far down the list was the right choice, but I also feel like I enjoy the songs after this one more than this one. Maybe it didn’t move down in my opinion so much as other stuff moved up? This is the last single I’ll be addressing from Packed!, which is a relief because I’m still stressing about the fact that this album snuck by me in my youth. “Sense of Purpose” is a catchy mid-tempo rocker that, in my brain, features a harpsichord (sort of like the sound of the keyboard on “Manic Monday” by the Bangles) but, in reality, no such harpsichord part exists.
32. I Think About You Daily
Second Single from Relentless (2023), Released as a single in 2023
The most recent Pretenders album Relentless, is centered around Chrissie Hynde and her recent songwriting partner, guitarist James Walbourne. One of the highlights of this track is the orchestration by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead – a lovely, hypnotic swirl of sound that compliments Hynde’s mournful lyric. She sings that “you can never get over losing those you’ve did unkind,” which leads me to read this song as a sort of apology to somebody (maybe somebody specific, maybe several people in general) that Hynde feels she wronged when she was younger. Wow, this song kind of hits hard – as I’ve gotten older, I also have a gnawing ache about how I treated people, particularly in my 20’s. It’s impossible to mend a relationship after a certain amount of time, and it kind of feels like both the person who needs to apologize and the person who is owed the apology both stopped existing at some point. Great piece of music and an ideal addition for your “wow I’m getting old and don’t know how to feel about that” playlist.
31. Thumbelina
Seventh Single from Learning to Crawl (1984), Released as a single in 1984
“Thumbelina” is a straight up banger of a song about a woman whose left her husband and is driving out west to get away from him. Between the chika-boom rhythm, the rockabilly guitar and the “traveling across the west” subject of the lyrics, I have always heard this song as a shout out to the great Johnny Cash. Thinking about that now, I’d love to hear Hynde cover a Cash song, but it doesn’t appear as if that ever happened. This, in turn, has gotten me to think how cool it would have been for Cash to have covered a Pretenders song – I imagine his “Back on the Chain Gang” might rip your heart out as efficiently as the original. Oh, anyhow, as I think I’ve mentioned, I owned Learning to Crawl on vinyl (am old) and played it to death. It’s one of the records that, given a couple of hours to review, I could probably sing from start to finish – not as well as Chrissy Hynde sings it, but I’d still have a blast. If anyone in Honolulu wants to do a one-off Pretenders cover band show with me singing, drop me a note.
Coming Soon: Some covers, some soundtrack songs, etc.
The Pretender’s Singles Ranked – 51-55 – 41-50 – 31-40 – 21-30 – 11-20 – 1-10