Singer-songwriter Chrissie Hynde is the soul of her group The Pretenders. She worked at Vivienne Westwood's boutique in Chelsea and knew The Sex Pistols before starting her own band in 1978. She has written some truly stellar songs that rightly live in the rock n' roll canon. But this song from the group's sophomore album, "Pretenders II" has always touched me. The world weary sense is palpable as our narrator circumnavigates the globe in a state of perpetual night, while the wistful closing, looking forward to the end of a war, is even more wearying. Feels like a bit like 2024.
"Day After Day"
by The Pretenders
Way up in the sky
Over the city, over Tokyo
Silver light, summer moon
You'll be over somebody's winter this afternoon
While the dolphins swim in the sea
You're going grey, my baby
Still the war is waging endlessly
Day after day, day after day
Way up in the sky
Over the city and Lake Erie
You remember the flats, you were there
Out every night Mr. Moonlight
Round and round and round we go
Just like yesterday
Way up in the sky
Over the city where you sleep tonight
The light outside your window blinks
Hotel, hotel, hotel
Open the blind and dream in a moonbeam
When the war's finally over
We'll meet again
And pick up where we left off
https://thepretenders.com/
3 comments:
I love almost every Pretenders song - all the way up to the Relentless album of 2024. This one though, that you describe so well. They're all poetry of course. But the last few seconds have always sounded to me like a plane crash. She knew Farndon was crashing and omg then Honeyman Scott. How she pulled out of that and created Learning to Crawl only the gods k own. And Martin... I've often enjoyed thinking they could have put out a record called Two Virgoes, which they are. As daughter in law says every group needs a Virgo.
YES Chrissie fan, omg, I have always flashed on a plane crashing as well, the way the sound sort of does that sound of a jet pulling. The way she gently speaks those last three lines and then we get that subtle sound, it always makes me tear up a little bit...really. It is powerful. I did not mention this in my post because I try to center on the lyrics, but so many songs I post about for each Poetry Month every April really need to be HEARD as well to get the full impact.
Thanks for reading and for leaving your comment, I appreciate it.
Best,
JEF
Sorry about the typos. I hope we can be friends in Chrissiedom.
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