WCSX Classic Cuts : Brass in Pocket

WCSX Classic Cuts

The Pretenders: "Brass in Pocket"

The Hook: The title comes from something Chrissie Hynde overheard someone from another band saying after the first concert The Pretenders ever played.

Album: The Pretenders

Year: 1980

Writer: Chrissie Hynde and James Honeyman-Scott

Stats: The band's first U.S. single peaked at number-14 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Background: Ever wonder about why the title "Brass in Pocket" was used for a song that doesn't contain those words in it. Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders explains how it came about.

Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders on the origin of the title “Brass in Pocket.” OC:…very poetic. :26

“’Brass in Pocket’ was we did our first ever show, we supported this band in Wakefield – North of England. It’s an English thing, so if you’ve been to England you’ll know what I mean, it’s a kind of Northern thing. And these guys were sitting around, we had a meal together after the show, and the one guy was asking one of the other guys in his band if he’d taken his trousers to the dry cleaners and he said, ‘Oh, was there any brass in pocket?’ That’s their way of saying, ‘Had I left any money in the pockets?’ There’s the title of the song. I just thought it was very poetic.”