The Pretenders - "Tattooed Love Boys" (forgotten song)

For my final installment for Women's History Month, I'm focusing on a song whose video got a fair amount of play in the early days of MTV (the 196th video they played), but I don't recall ever hearing it on the radio.  Even though it had its own video, "Tattooed Love Boys" was the B-side to The Pretenders' 1979 single "Kid", from their eponymous LP. 

"Tattooed Love Boys" is a fast-paced, gritty song with an unconventional structure (i.e., no real chorus).  In 1981 I didn't know what all the lyrics were or exactly what the song was about, but the song (and Chrissie) had my full attention. 

Fast forward some 36 (!) years and I'm reading Chrissie's autobiography "Reckless", only to discover that the lyric "Stop snivellin' / You're gonna make some plastic surgeon a rich man" derives from "Shut up, or you’re going to make some plastic surgeon rich!", which was said to her while she was being gang-raped by bikers.  Chrissie faced significant backlash for this story and taking responsibility for the situation by acknowledging that she knowingly put herself into dangerous situations.

While I enjoyed reading "Reckless", Chrissie's detatched and obfuscated story-telling style made for a difficult read in which she recounts a lot and reveals little.   More importantly, I was aghast to learn that "Tattooed Love Boys", which had an outsized impact on my pre-teen sexuality, was based on a rape.  If I can't unread the book, can I least unread this chapter?

The Pretenders - "Tattooed Love Boys"

Bonus link:  The Pretenders - "Kid"

The Pretenders - "Stop Your Sobbing" (forgotten song) (the song remains the same)

Sure, this was originally by The Kinks, on their 1964 eponymous debut LP, but they never released it as a single so I'm going to credit it to The Pretenders. The take away lesson here is that Ray Davies is such an incredible song writer that a "filler song" for The Kinks can be a hit single for any other band.

"Stop Your Sobbing" was released as the first single by The Pretenders and was also featured on their 1979 debut LP, Pretenders. Despite doing well for their first single, few people probably remember this song because 1) there was no video for MTV (to the best of my knowledge anyway), and 2) "Brass in Pocket", also from their debut LP, pretty much overshadowed the rest of the band's songs, at least by The Pretenders Mk. I.

That's too bad, because "Stop Your Sobbing" is easily the band's best, or second best song (some days I think "Talk of the Town" deserves that honor). Ray Davies writing, Nick Lowe producing, and Chrissie Hynde singing... well, it is just hard to improve on that. This is one of the few cases where the cover surpasses the original.

The original lineup of the band produced two excellent LPs, and then bassist Pete Farndon and guitarist James Honeyman-Scott died of drug overdoses during a three day span in 1982. The Pretenders recruited new members and found greater commercial success with 1983's "Learning to Crawl", but I never cared as much for this version of the band. Hynde was always the principal song writer, but the sound just wasn't as good.

But none of that matters -- "Stop Your Sobbing" is a brilliant song and a testament to both The Pretenders and The Kinks.

The Pretenders: 1980 on the Kenny Everett Show, 1987 on the David Letterman Show, Live Aid (1985).
2016-04-15 Edit: I just now discovered the "official" video.

The Kinks: "Stop Your Sobbing"

B-Side Bonus Link: "The Wait" (live version from the 1981 LP "Concerts for the People of Kampuchea")

2010-11-15 Edit: A cover by Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson.

Obligatory Hynde/Davies fact: well after this song was recorded, they began a relationship (~81-84) and had a child together. This has no bearing on the song, of course, but I think there is a rule somewhere that states this fact must be repeated when discussing "Stop Your Sobbing".