track

My City Was Gone - 7" Version; 2009 Remaster

2008Released
4:27

Did You Know?

Interesting facts and trivia about My City Was Gone - 7" Version; 2009 Remaster. By Songfacts®.

This song is about Akron, Ohio, where Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders was raised. Akron was an industrial city known as the "Rubber Capital of the World," which despite the smell of burning rubber, was a place Chrissie enjoyed growing up. In the '70s, it was gritty but vibrant, and it had a thriving rock scene with bands like Pere Ubu, Devo, The Bizarros, and Jane Aire & The Belvederes. Hynde would augment her musical education with the R&B she could find on Detroit radio stations, and would seek out rock music from the likes of Lou Reed and The Rolling Stones. She did a lot of traveling and played in a lot of bands before forming the Pretenders in 1978 when she relocated to England. Returning to Akron in the '80s, she was disappointed in what the city had become: shopping malls and segregation. "Everything's just huge masses of granite blocks, and everything's outsized. It might look good on a drawing, but it doesn't seem to apply to human life," said Hynde.

The conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh uses the opening riff of this song as theme music for his radio show. Limbaugh and Hynde have radically different political views, but she cannot stop him from using the song as long as the show continues to pay royalties, and has no interest in doing so. In a 2017 Songfacts interview with Chrissie Hynde, she explained that she has never heard Limbaugh's show, and being a resident of England, she wasn't even aware of him. When she learned about it, she made sure that any royalties from Limbaugh's use of the song go to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). "So many people told me to stop him, that it kind of irritated me," said Hynde. "I don't like being told what to do. I'm sure they had good reason for it, although I still haven't heard his show and I think he's off the air now." When we informed her that Limbaugh was still broadcasting, she said, "A lot of shock jocks, I guess that's what they're called, they stir up a certain dialog with people and I think we're going to see that now with the current president [Donald Trump]. It's certainly not a good time for people to be complacent."

This was released as the B-side of "Back On The Chain Gang."

Song Analysis

Key, BPM (tempo) and time signature of My City Was Gone - 7" Version; 2009 Remaster.
AKey
MajorMode
4/4Time Signature
108BPM

Album

The album My City Was Gone - 7" Version; 2009 Remaster is released on.

Released By

The record label that has released My City Was Gone - 7" Version; 2009 Remaster.
Rhino/Warner Records
© 2009 Warner ESP
℗ 2009 Warner ESP. Marketed by Rhino Entertainment Company, a Warner Music Group Company.

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