Back on the Chain Gang

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“Back on the Chain Gang”

Single by The Pretenders
from the album Learning to Crawl

Released

The Pretenders singles chronology

"I Go To Sleep"
(1981)

"Back on the Chain Gang"
(1982)

"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."

1 Charts
2 Selena version
- 2.1 See also
3 Notes
4 External links

[edit] Charts

Chart (1983)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks	4
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	5
UK Singles Chart	17

“Fotos y Recuerdos”

Single by Selena
from the album Amor Prohibido

Released

February, 1995

Format

Recorded

Length

2:45

Label

EMI

Producer

AB Quintanilla III

Selena singles chronology

"No Me Queda Mas"
(1994)

"Fotos y Recuerdos"
(1995)

"I Could Fall In Love"
(1995)

[edit] Selena 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"): 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^[1].

Chart Performance

Chart (1995)	Peak position
US Billboard Hot Latin Tracks ^[2]	1
US Billboard Latin Regional Mexican Airplay ^[3]	1
US Billboard Latin Pop Airplay ^[4]	12

Preceded by "Toma Mi Amor" by La Mafia	*U.S. Billboard* Hot Latin Tracks number-one single** April 15, 1995 – May 27, 1995	Succeeded by "Una Mujer Como Tú" by Marco Antonio Solís and Los Bukis