Sometimes I think of Chrissie Hynde. She’s one of those people you know, even if you don’t know her name.
“Talk of the Town”
“Brass in Pocket”
“Don’t Get Me Wrong”
“Stop Your Sobbing”
“Middle of the Road”
“I’ll Stand by You.”
And by far her greatest song, “Back on the Chain Gang”
Chrissie Hynde was of course lead singer and song-writer of the Pretenders. Their albums were uneven. But their hits, still on the radio, were perfect pop-gems. They were clearly an 80’s band with that recognizable 80’s guitar sound, but they tended to stay away from the ever-present synthesizer. Great hooks. A decent rhythm section. And Hynde’s passionate and muscular voce. That’s what they did. Rock and Roll. That’s what the Pretenders were doing. And rock and roll wasn’t easy in the 80’s. Not many got out alive. Ask Bowie–the 80’s were not kind to the man. (nor Dylan, McCartney, the Dead, Young, …) Sure you had Bon Jovi and Guns and Roses. But where were the heirs of pop-rock? There weren’t many–maybe Springsteen, the Police, the Talking Heads, and the Pretenders.Hynde wrote “Back on the Chain Gang” in ’82. The Pretenders had just let go of their bassist for drug addiction And then a founding member, the lead guitarist James Honeyman-Scott, died from an overdose. And Hynde wrote “Back on the Chain Gang.”
“I found a picture of you,
Those were the happiest days of my life,
Like a brick in the battle was your part,
In the wretched life of a lonely heart.”
Over the bridge she goes to war with the very heavens for taking her friend:
“The powers that be
That forces us to live like we do
Bring me to my knees
When I see what they’ve done to you
But I’ll die as I stand here today
Knowing that deep in my heart
They’ll fall to ruin one day
For making us part.”
I don’t listen to a lot of Christian Music. Often it’s too easy. It says that God’s working, blessing, loving. And that’s all true. But it skips over whole years and decades of my life, when things were not clear; when things I had built fell apart; people I loved were lost; when I couldn’t see God no matter how hard I looked. I knew he was there, but it wasn’t easy.
David said in Psalm 44, “Awake! Why are you sleeping Lord?” I imagine that David and Chrissie would have understood each other.
The Lord is not asking you or I to pretend that everything is always simple and clear. The Lord is not a child. He knows how complex and hard the world can be. Like any marriage relationship though, you could find reasons to leave if you want. And so he too wants to know: “Will you be faithful to me, when you can find reasons to leave? If I take things away from you, if I am hidden for a season, will you still be faithful to me?” And why would He do that to us? It forges within us true love. True love endures through all.
So, yeah, sometimes I think of Chrissie Hynde.
Tom+