> JOHN LYDON THE SEX PISTOLS’ JOHNNY ROTTEN: A FOLK MUSICIAN?
Former punk rocker reconnects with emotions — and his collection of lyrics — in a new personal songbook
The wild-eyed rock star who first came to prominence telling his listeners that they had no future has been spending a lot of time lately thinking about the past. John Lydon, frontman of Public Image Ltd. — who also goes by the alias Johnny Rotten when he performs with his punk band the Sex Pistols — sat down last year and wrote out the lyrics for all the songs he has composed over a musical career of some four decades. Now, Lydon is publishing the results from this guided tour of his psyche, which took him about six months to complete, as a book called Mr. Rot
ten’s Songbook. The book, which will be released Friday, contains his handwritten lyrics for bluntly powerful Sex Pistols songs like “God Save the Queen” and “Anarchy in the U.K.,” as well as more nuanced Public Image tracks like “Death Disco,” accompanied by Lydon’s scabrous cartoon artwork and other illuminations. Lydon, 61, said that Mr. Rotten’s Song
book helped him reconnect with emotions he has felt at various stages of his career. “I’m a great seething ball of everything I’ve learned in my life,” he explained in a phone interview from Los Angeles. Here, Lydon talks further about the making of Mr. Rotten’s Songbook.
Where did you get the idea for this project?
The offer came up to tour China. We thought, “Fat-chance hotel on that one.” Because they insisted on a copy of every lyric I’d ever written, to analyze it. And then, shock horror, they actually approved us. So, I immediately thought, “Where have I gone wrong?”
Is it tedious to have to revisit your work with the Sex Pistols again?
I don’t blame people for wanting to focus on that first, initial burst. The big bang. But I’ve done ever so much more important work since. That’s what Public Image does. I would have loved to have been a writer, but the written word on its own was never satisfying enough.
You wrote some very angry songs as a young man. Can you still tap into that anger now?
It’s the same thing. It’s a young person and now a slightly older, asking questions. What is this for? Does that work? How? Explain it to me. Educate me. That’s all I’m doing, is asking questions.
Do you ever want to tell your younger self, “Wait until you’re older, then you’ll really find things to be angry about”?
Oh, no. I understand where you’re going, but believe me, I was fully angry. There was a whole world out there that was sacrosanct and untouchable, like the royal family. Excuse me! I have a valid opinion on these things. Shall I stand up and be counted? Look where that got me.
What soured you on punk rock?
It went horrible when it started to feel packaged and sold as a commodity, rather than a do-it-yourself act of independence. I found that I was really quickly being turned into a pop star there and I was really uncomfortable with that. For want of a better word — and I’ve tried to explain it, but even this seems to confuse people — I view myself as a folk singer.
Wait, really?
I’m one of the folk and I’m writing about what us folk feel. Thank God for Bob Dylan going electric — it’s his fault.
You’re a United States citizen now, but do you still keep an eye on the political tumult in the country where you were born and raised?
Frankly, I came to America because, yes, it (Britain) might have been the country I was raised in, but it was very fast becoming the country I was being erased in. The censorship, the police raids, it was absurd, and America seemed to have welcomed me.
If you weren’t answering questions, what would you be doing on a day like today?
Hard work, because I’ve got a boiler repairman coming over and I’m supposed to know something about it. I hate the idea of someone doing something that I could’ve done myself. Then again, I don’t have a plumber’s licence. I could put a toilet in, but as soon as there’s any wiring, it’s like, John, you’re making a bomb! (laughs)