Learning to Crawl

Learning to Crawl is the third studio album by British-American rock band the Pretenders. It was released on 13 January 1984 by Sire Records after a hiatus during which band members James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon died of drug overdoses. The album's title of "Learning to Crawl" was given in honour of Chrissie Hynde's then-infant daughter, Natalie Rae Hynde. She was learning to crawl at the time that Hynde was trying to determine a title for the album.

Learning to Crawl
Studio album by
the Pretenders
Released13 January 1984 (1984-01-13)[1]
RecordedMid-1982 to late 1983
StudioAIR Studios (London)
Genre
Length39:21
LabelSire
ProducerChris Thomas
The Pretenders chronology
Pretenders II
(1981)		 Learning to Crawl
(1984)		 Get Close
(1986)
Singles from Learning to Crawl
  1. "Back on the Chain Gang"/"My City Was Gone"
    Released: 17 September 1982[2]
  2. "2000 Miles"
    Released: November 1983 (UK)
  3. "Middle of the Road"
    Released: November 1983 (US), February 1984 (UK)
  4. "Show Me"
    Released: March 1984 (US)
  5. "Thin Line Between Love and Hate"/"Time the Avenger"
    Released: May 1984
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
The Austin Chronicle[4]
Chicago Tribune[5]
Mojo[6]
PopMatters10/10[7]
Rolling Stone[8]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[9]
Spin Alternative Record Guide8/10[10]
Uncut8/10[11]
The Village VoiceA−[12]

Learning to Crawl was a critical and commercial success, reaching number 11 on the UK Albums Chart. In the United States, it peaked at number five on the Billboard 200, making it the band's highest-charting album in the US.

Production

After Farndon's dismissal from the band and Honeyman-Scott's death, Chrissie Hynde and Martin Chambers initially recruited Rockpile's Billy Bremner and Big Country's Tony Butler to fill in a caretaker line-up of the band in 1982. Bremner played guitar and Butler played bass on the band's September 1982 single "Back on the Chain Gang" and its B-side "My City Was Gone", both songs which were later included on Learning to Crawl. As the album sessions got underway, Bremner, Graham Parker's bassist Andrew Bodnar, and Paul Carrack (formerly of Squeeze, Ace and Roxy Music) played guitar, bass and piano respectively for the track "Thin Line Between Love and Hate".

Finally, Robbie McIntosh (guitar) and Malcolm Foster (bass guitar) were recruited to join Hynde and Chambers, and the band was now officially a quartet. It was this line-up that recorded the rest of the tracks featured on Learning to Crawl.

The November 1983 single "2000 Miles" was the newly reconstituted foursome's first release, followed shortly by the full Learning to Crawl studio album in January 1984.

Song origins

Hynde noted in the booklet for the expanded edition of Learning to Crawl that guitarist Robbie McIntosh came up with the opening guitar riff for "2000 Miles". She stated that she probably should have credited McIntosh as co-writer of the song.[13]

"2000 Miles" became a popular Christmas song in the UK. The lyrics are a tale of two lovers apart during Christmastime.[14]

In "I Hurt You", dubbing was used to overlap two lead vocal parts with conflicting melodies and emotional pitches in order to express the narrator's tangled emotions.[14]

"My City Was Gone" is largely an autobiographical song written about the changes that Hynde observed when she went back to her native city of Akron, Ohio.[13] The instrumental introduction of the song would later be adopted as the theme of the EIB Network radio brand, originally Rush Limbaugh and later Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.

"Thumbelina" is a country rock song about a mother and daughter traveling across America, with the last line suggesting that the mother is leaving her husband.[14]

"Watching the Clothes" was an older song written before the band's debut album. Hynde was inspired to write the song after a close friend died.[13]

Track listing

All songs written by Chrissie Hynde, except where noted.

  1. "Middle of the Road" – 4:08
  2. "Back on the Chain Gang" – 3:44
  3. "Time the Avenger" – 4:47
  4. "Watching the Clothes" – 2:46
  5. "Show Me" – 4:00
  6. "Thumbelina" – 3:12
  7. "My City Was Gone" – 5:14
  8. "Thin Line Between Love and Hate" (Richard Poindexter, Robert Poindexter, Jackie Members) – 3:33
  9. "I Hurt You" – 4:27
  10. "2000 Miles" – 3:30

2007 re-release

  1. "Fast or Slow (The Law's the Law)" (Martin Chambers) – 3:15
  2. "Tequila" – 3:35
  3. "I Hurt You" (Denmark Street demo, August 1982) – 4:06
  4. "When I Change My Life" (Denmark Street demo, August 1982) – 4:43
  5. "Ramblin' Rob" (Denmark Street demo, August 1982) (Robbie McIntosh) – 3:32
  6. "My City Was Gone" (Live) – 4:53
  7. "Money (That's What I Want)" (Live at US Festival, May 1983) (Berry Gordy Jr., Janie Bradford) – 4:39

Personnel

The Pretenders

  • Chrissie Hynde – lead vocals (all but "Fast or Slow" and "Ramblin' Rob"), rhythm guitars, harmonica [uncredited], backing vocals
  • Robbie McIntosh – lead and rhythm guitars, backing vocals
  • Malcolm Foster – bass guitar, backing vocals
  • Martin Chambers – drums, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Fast or Slow", percussion

Additional personnel

  • Billy Bremner – lead guitars on "Back on the Chain Gang" and "My City Was Gone", rhythm guitar and backing vocals on "Thin Line Between Love and Hate"
  • Tony Butler – bass guitar on "Back on the Chain Gang" and "My City Was Gone"
  • Andrew Bodnar – bass guitar and backing vocals on "Thin Line Between Love and Hate"
  • Paul Carrack – piano and backing vocals on "Thin Line Between Love and Hate"
  • Steve Churchyard – engineer
  • Peter Barrett – art direction
  • Paul Cox – front cover photography

Charts
Chart performance for Learning to Crawl
Chart (1984) Peak
Position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[15] 18
UK Albums Chart[16] 11
Billboard 200[17] 5

Certifications
Certifications for Learning to Crawl
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[18] Gold 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[19] Platinum 1,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References
  1. "BPI".
  2. "Pretenders - Back on the Chain Gang".
  3. Deming, Mark. "Learning to Crawl – Pretenders". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 March 2006.
  4. Hernandez, Raoul (15 June 2007). "Reissues". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  5. Kot, Greg (12 August 1990). "The Best Of The Pretenders". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  6. McNair, James (May 2006). "The Pretenders' snaggle-toothed pop perfection". Mojo. No. 150.
  7. Besenyodi, Adam (11 July 2007). "Pretenders: Learning to Crawl". PopMatters. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  8. Loder, Kurt (16 February 1984). "Pretenders: Learning To Crawl". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 6 November 2007. Retrieved 29 March 2006.
  9. Considine, J. D.; Skanse, Richard (2004). "The Pretenders". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 653–654. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  10. Powers, Ann (1995). "Pretenders". In Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (eds.). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. pp. 309–310. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
  11. Pinnock, Tom (April 2017). "Golden Hynde". Uncut. No. 239. p. 83.
  12. Christgau, Robert (21 February 1984). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
  13. CD booklet, "Learning to Crawl" expanded edition, 2007, Rhino Records
  14. Pareles, Jon (22 January 1984). "Chrissie Hynde Makes Peace with the Past and Moves On". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  15. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 238. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  16. "Official Albums Chart Top 100 | Official Charts Company". OfficialCharts.com.
  17. "Billboard 200 Chart". Billboard. 23 May 2020.
  18. "British album certifications – The Pretenders – Learning to Crawl". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  19. "American album certifications – The Pretenders – Learning to Crawl". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
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