Letter From Britain
COUNTING FLOWERS ON THE WALL
"Kid" drove us crazy.
April 1, 1980
"Kid" drove us crazy. The first time I heard the Pretenders it was on “Stop Your Sobbing,” the angle Nick Lowe produced that made lead singer Chrissie Hynde sound like a short let from the Phil Spector Christmas album. It was okay, but it was "Kid" that got me. Nothing like ascending chords for getting inside your brain and the way Hynde slowly climbs an emotional ladder: “You think it's wrong/I can tell you do/How can I explain/You don’t want me to” with Martin Chamber's steel-steady drum beat. I’d break into it all over the place—bathroom, supermarket, you name it...met Jerry one day and drove around shopping, unconsciously bursting out into that break at the same time until we both yelled at ourselves to shut up.