Favorite Female Lyricists #1 - Chrissie Hynde

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It's no-brainer time here at Team Freak Headquarters. Whoever had Chrissie Hynde as #1 in the pool for my Favorite Female Lyricists series, please claim your winnings. Ohio-born Chrissie Hynde is the leader/vocalist/guitarist/lyricist of British rock band The Pretenders. As a member of that band, Hynde is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and is also a member of the band J.P., Chrissie, and the Flatland Boys. She has worked with numerous acts, including the Specials, INXS, Morrissey, Frank Sinatra, and UB40. She was once in a band called Masters of the Backside (soon after which became punk legends The Damned,) and appeared in an episode of the television sitcom Friends. Hynde's lyrics are often of a personal nature, and sometimes, sex (the band's first big hit, "Brass in Pocket," is the anticipation of a first sexual encounter with a particular individual, while "The Adultress" is fairly self explanitory.) The death of original Pretenders guitarist James Honeyman-Scott hit Hynde particularly hard (both "Back on the Chain Gang" and the "Christmas" song "2000 Miles" are about the original Pretender,) while "My City was Gone" is a protest song of sorts, with Hynde lamenting the pollution and land development that had ransacked her childhood home of Akron, Ohio. Chrissie Hynde is first in this countdown because she has written a hell of a lot of songs that I've loved over the years, songs that don't sound dated all these decades later. I know, a no-brainer, but what can I say? She's my favorite. (Want a good read? Check out her memoir, Reckless: My Life as a Pretender, sometime.) (Info verified by Wikipedia)