My City Was Gone
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"My City Was Gone" is a song by rock group The Pretenders. The song originally appeared in 1983 as the B-side to the single release of "Back on the Chain Gang"; the two-sided single was the comeback release for the band following the death of founding bandmember James Honeyman-Scott. The song was included on the album Learning to Crawl released in early 1984 and became a radio favorite in the US.
The song was written by Pretenders leader Chrissie Hynde, and reflected her growing interest in environmental and social concerns; the lyrics take the form of an autobiographical lament with the singer returning to her childhood home of Ohio and discovering that rampant development and pollution had destroyed the "pretty countryside" of her youth. The song makes a number of specific references in and around Akron, Ohio, including South Howard Street (line 5), the historic center of Akron, which was leveled to make way for an urban plaza with three skyscrapers and two parking decks (line 8).
The powerful riff from this song is used as theme music for Rush Limbaugh's popular American talk radio program. The message of the song, interpreted by conservative listeners as a stab at the problems associated with changing American values, was used without permission for many years. After some negotiating Hynde decided to let Limbaugh continue to use it, with Hynde donating royalties received from Limbaugh to the animal rights organization PETA. [1]
