26 January 1980
I know ‘Brass In Pocket’ from overhearing it on the radio fairly regularly throughout my lifetime, and each time it’s a pleasant experience, or at least I’ve never felt the urge to change station. However, this may actually be the first time I’ve listened to it up close, as it were, and applied it some scrutiny. And I must say that I’m surprised how sedate it sounds; the guitar riff isn’t nagging or grinding, but more of a gentle reminder that you’re listening to That Big Chrissie Hynde Hit. (When I was young I knew the song for ages before I became aware of its rather clunky title.) Calling its bass and drums a rhythm section suggests an urgency and impetus that really aren’t there.
This matters little, since the selling point of ‘Brass In Pocket’ has always been Hynde’s star-making performance. I doubt the majority of those in the UK and Ireland who put it at number one were aware of Patti Smith or of Hynde’s cribbing of her style and attitude. But ‘Brass In Pocket’ is really a showcase of Hynde’s pop smarts; those cryptic fragments of lyrics (“Detroit leaning” and the like) don’t make much sense but they sound great, and the sheer swagger of Hynde slinking her way around the song’s payoff line of “I’m special / So special” is irresistible. It’s that touch of personality that, while not enough to make it a great record, at least separates it from the also-rans and makes it likeable enough for a whole lifetime of radio listening.
