Pack It Up Lyrics
Burnin' down the interbelt, from jacuzzi to jacuzzi
It's all right for you man
Gettin' smashed, gettin' suntanned
But I know my place
Where's my suitcase?
What I can't carry, bury
Oh you remember me, I remember you
But that was a long, long time ago
When I was passin' through
I got to find them
My enemies, my new family, my new friends
My future enemies, I got to flush them out
I'm burnin' every bridge
Burn, baby, burn
I see your dog got shot
Well, hell, never mind
That's show biz, big boy
You've got to be cruel to be kind
I've been tearing down the interstate
Like some kind of bleeding cat
It's all right for the boss
His gain's my loss
That gets me down, it really gets me down
When the clock starts talkin', I start walkin'
When you pass in your Porsche
Please don't offer me a ride
I may be a skunk
But you're a piece of junk, and furthermore
I don't like your trousers
Your appalling taste in women
And what about your mind
Your insipid record collection
That dumb home video center
The usual pornography
And all you scumbags around the world
You're the pits of the world!
Pack It Up-my favorite Pretenders song! Chrissie Hynde is mad as hell and she's not gonna take it anymore. She is an activist rocker-the last of her kind! Hail Hail Rock
Total agreement about Chrissie. :) And great song too,but I'm shocked you're not commenting on Madonna....
Total agreement about Chrissie. :) And great song too,but I'm shocked you're not commenting on Madonna....
I think the song is about Nick Lowe. I think she hated him and couldn't wait to get out of his orbit after he produced the first Pretenders album. Using the title of his most famous song as a line in this song ("That's show biz big boy, you've got to be cruel to be kind!") was a dig at him. The song is a first-rate sneer on Hynde's part. Love it!
Wow, I recognized that "cruel to be kind" might be a reference to Nick Lowe, but I never thought the song might be about him! The lyrics make more sense if they're addressing the music industry rather than an ex.
Wow, I recognized that "cruel to be kind" might be a reference to Nick Lowe, but I never thought the song might be about him! The lyrics make more sense if they're addressing the music industry rather than an ex.
I have a version of this song called the "Radio Mix" and it just removes the vocals. Without them, you hear that the entire song is backed by a set of cheesy radio ads. (You can hear that at the beginning and end of the original too.) I hadn't been able to figure out why...
I have a version of this song called the "Radio Mix" and it just removes the vocals. Without them, you hear that the entire song is backed by a set of cheesy radio ads. (You can hear that at the beginning and end of the original too.) I hadn't been able to figure out why they made that choice, but now it seems perfect as a critique of commerciality in rock.
“You’re the pits of the world”. Tonight I saw The Pretenders, who were still so great in 2024! Back at home, on PBS I watched a tennis documentary. This episode showed American John McEnroe at Wimbledon in 1981 and he screamed at the officials, saying, “You guys are the absolute pits of the world”. This made me think about Chrissie saying basically the same thing in “PACK IT UP”, which was released in August, 1981, only a month or so after Wimbledon. I don’t believe McEnroe could’ve heard the song, which had not been released yet. And obviously Chrissie had written that lyric probably a year earlier at least. So it must just be a coincidence, just like me seeing her tonight and then the coincidence of hearing McEnroe say that when I got home. I don’t think I ever heard anyone else say that phrase back then.