"Middle of the Road" is a single that appears on The Pretenders' album Learning to Crawl.

"Middle of the Road"
Front cover of US single
Single by The Pretenders
from the album Learning to Crawl
B-side	"2000 Miles (US), Watching the Clothes (UK)"
Released	November 1983 (US), February 1984 (UK)
Genre	Rock, new wave
Length	4:14
Label	Sire
Songwriter(s)	Chrissie Hynde
Producer(s)	Chris Thomas
The Pretenders singles chronology
"2000 Miles" (1983) "Middle of the Road" (1983) "The Thin Line Between Love and Hate / Time the Avenger" (1984)
Audio
"Middle of the Road" (2007 remaster) by the Pretenders on YouTube
Back cover
Back cover of US single

History

The song peaked at #19 on the US pop singles chart[1] and #2 on the US mainstream rock chart in January 1984, where it stayed for four weeks.[2]

Singer-songwriter Chrissie Hynde has stated that "Middle of the Road" refers to Tao Te Ching, which she interprets as "the middle way."[3] According to Charles M. Young of Musician, the song is about "getting out there and mixing it up with the world."[4] The song lyrics include observations about the difference between wealth and poverty that Hynde had observed. The lyrics also refer to autobiographical details (i.e., the lyric “I got a kid, I'm thirty-three” although Hynde turned 32 shortly before the single was released). Hynde plays the harmonica solo near the end of the song.[5]

"Middle of the Road" uses a 4/4 time signature.[5] Hynde has acknowledged that "Middle of the Road" uses the same chords as the Rolling Stones' song "Empty Heart" and that it doesn't have much melody.[4] She says that it uses basic chords and that it is like "a regular R&B song," going on to say that "it's like taking a basic format, like the blues, and just giving it new lyrics."[4] She describes Robbie McIntosh's guitar solo as "nifty."[4] Audio Magazine compared the song's structure to that of Dobie Gray's "The 'In' Crowd."[6]

Allmusic critic Liana Jonas calls "Middle of the Road" a "classic example of pure, unadulterated rock music."[5] She ascribes this to the fact that the lyrics focus on people's innate desire to "get up and go" and the "driven" music backs up the sentiment.[5] Fellow Allmusic critic Mark Deming calls it a "furious rocker."[7]

In 1989, the song was donated to a double album for Greenpeace along with other songs that had environmental or other earth-sensitive subjects titled Greenpeace: Rainbow Warriors.

Charts

References