British Civilisation Analysis
God Save the Queen by the Sex Pistols
Guns of Brixton by the Clash
by Mary Macleod
God Save the Queen by the Sex Pistols, 1977
Introduction"God Save the Queen" is a song by the English punk rock band The Sex Pistols. The members of this band belong to the working class and come from the suburbs of London. The song was released as the band's second single and was featured on their only album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. On Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee on 27 May 1977, the band attempted to play the song from a boat named The Queen Elizabeth on the River Thames, outside the Palace of Westminster. Nevertheless, the band had to stop playing and after a scuffle, eleven people, including several members of the band's entourage, were arrested when the boat docked. The trash record's lyrics, as well as the cover, were controversial at the time, and this was banned by the BBC for what it called "gross bad taste."
Jonny Rotten, the singer of the band, said in an interview: "You don't write a song like 'God Save The Queen' because you hate the English race. You write a song like that because you love them, and you're fed up of seeing them mistreated."
So how did this song symbolize the breakdown of the British society of the late 70s?
It would be interesting to focus on three different collapses: the end of deference, of establishment, and of a general understanding of society.
- The end of deference
- A shocking caricature of the Queen
The single was released on 27 May 1977, and was regarded by much of the general public to be an assault on Queen Elizabeth II and the monarchy. The title is taken directly from "God Save the Queen," the national anthem of the United Kingdom.
The first cover of the single showed a picture of The Queen with a safety pin through her lip, serving to anger the establishment even more. The second cover was designed by Jamie Reid, who went to Croydon College of Art with Malcolm McLaren. The lettering was designed to look like a ransom note on the official portrait of the Queen. The colours are those of the Union Jack and red lines seem to come out from her head as if she was a demonic figure. The safety pin has been replaced by a kind of gag. Even though, we cannot see her eyes and mouth, everyone can recognise Elizabeth II because it was the picture used on the £10 notes.
But just to see the band is enough to understand the caricature. The song is more yelled than sang and it is to show their anger. When Jonny Rotten is insisting on some words as in “we love our Queen” (v.16), he is underlining his own irony. Rotten embodies a “spastic pantomime villain when he is singing with evil for real” wrote Jon Savage, in his book Time Travel (p.14).
The song is a big parody of the Queen. The idea to mock the British monarchy is to represent the Queen as she is in fact. The Queen is seen as a caricature of her own society. She seems to live in a fairy tale as “she is not a human being” (v.6). In “God save your mad parade” (v.23), it implies all the very archaic traditions as all the formalities and so the Jubilee Day which was the key moment to celebrate her reign. All these formalities are seen as useless and out of time.
A lot of young people felt alienated by the stifling rule of the old-fashioned royal monarchy. The Queen (Queen Elizabeth) was their symbol. But a month after this was released; some members of the band were attacked by men who supported the British monarchy. Johnny Rotten's hand was permanently damaged. So, what was the message addressed to her?
- The end of the general support for an old hierarchy
At the time this song was highly controversial, firstly for its equation of the Queen with a "fascist regime," (v.2). The word “fascist” denotes the form of hierarchy, the rule of law and the concept of personal property according to Wilson in Our Times.
Although many believe it was created because of the Jubilee, the band denies it, Paul Cook saying that, "It wasn't written specifically for the Queen's Jubilee. We weren't aware of it at the time. It wasn't a contrived effort to go out and shock everyone." His intentions were apparently to evoke sympathy for the English working class, and a general resentment for the monarchy.
In addition, in the first verses it says “God save the queen, she ain’t no human being.”(v.6). The Queen is not seen as a person but as a national entity and this idea is underlined with the word “figurehead”. It is not the person who is directly attacked but the royal system. This is why we cannot see Elizabeth’s face but we recognise her crown. “She is not what she seems” (v.21) means that she looks nice but the system is rotten. This is a reason the song was thought of as offensive and caused uproar amongst the high officials in England.
The chorus says “God Save the Queen, We mean it man, We love our queen, God saves.” These lines show that they want England to succeed but that can only be achieved through a new system of government. They seem to be praying to God because they have no other choice as nobody is listening to the Youth. It leads to the criticism of the establishment and the clash between the system and the youth.
- The end of establishment
- The non understanding of the system: an elite in politics & in society
This song is about rebelling against British politics. When it is said “don’t be told what you want [...] what you need”, the “you” repeated several times in all the song refers to the youth of the time. In “We love our Queen”, “We” and “Our” means us the British, so the youth of Britain. Via this direct approach, the listener feels automatically concerned by the lyrics. The verses are really short as the sentences: this way the lyrics strike more.
The first metaphor says “We’re the flowers in the dustbin” which means they are the only good things in a group of terrible things i.e. a society made of a small elite. Very quickly, the Sex Pistols became the symbol of “us against them”.
Furthermore, what they throw into relief has been made true. The song reached number one on the NME charts in the United Kingdom, but quickly moved up the British charts and was at number two at one point before being banned from the radio because it was thought of as a stab at the Queen.
The band claimed it was not directed at her but merely a warning to all of England that if they keep living the way they are they will fall and not be able to keep living the way they do. The Sex Pistols stand on the direction of England in “God Save the Queen” and side with youth, especially the Poor, against the system. But why do they stand with them?
- “No future for YOU and ME”:
Regarding to the social background they belong to, the members of the band come from poor areas. For example, Sid Vicious’ mother was a junky. It seems that they come from a dark past, so they are looking for the future.
But from 1973 with the oil crisis, the country is falling down. There is no job, unemployment has reach one million and there is no place to settle down for people who have no money. Young have to fight others in this financial crisis: it is an old system stuck in different crises, high taxes and labour disputes. It is also the time of economical humiliation when the IMF injected some money to British economy during Callaghan’s government.
On the picture, the Queen is muzzled. She is forced to stay quiet and is taken hostage just as Youth feels being taken hostage in society.
The phrase "no future", the song's closing refrain, became emblematic of the punk rock movement. It expressed the anger young people felt toward the establishment. This shows that the time may have passed to fix England and they will not have a future because the time to act has past. The chorus of this song is sung with anger and annoyance because the singer is fed up with the government.
This is why the first verses show rebellion and independence. It says “There is no future, In England’s dreaming.”(v.8). The country is in a mere illusion. The Sex Pistols sang this because they wanted to express the fact that if England does not change there will not be anymore triumph for the country.
In “When there’s no future, how can there be sin” (v.23): the question is that with no possible future prospects, rioting becomes legitimate. The other metaphor of the song is “We’re the poison in your human machine” (v.30) which means they are the reason England has gone downhill. The chaos made of the basses and of Jonny Rotten’s strident voice surrounding this record symbolises the chaos in society. So one can wonder if the Sex Pistols were the only way to protest against establishment and if rioting was the solution to the problem.
- May the counter culture give the solution?
- Things are changing: the counter-culture is spreading
In the song, when Jonny Rotten sings: “they make you a moron” (v.3): he is alluding to censorship but it should not be forgotten that deference has always existed: it can be found many caricatures of Kings before that as it was the case with Queen Victoria and her ministers.
Besides, the end of the 70s were a time of new developments in arts, novels, music etc. There was a cultural rejection of establishment and all the values inside establishment. It was the beginning of a new culture. Jon Savage novels can easily illustrate the idea.
The whole of the second half of the century, a lot of protest songs appeared, some of them in Northern Ireland where there were many troubles. The punk band Stiff Little Fingers is a good example. In fact lot of punk groups grew up. Feeling of no future: being young in the 70s meant there was no place. It is the counter culture appearance as a reaction towards society in crisis. Many of them had ideologies but were not always sincere. Was the Sex Pistols completely sincere in their criticism?
- Protest of commercialism: hypocrisy?
In fact, The Sex Pistols had the desire to make the leading elite recognise the gap between “have and have not”. When Rotten sings “The tourists are money” (v.19): they are no people but just the money they pay to visit the United Kingdom. This is a criticism of commercialism. By saying that the regime was “fascist”, their desire was to attack and defame the “fascist” world of privilege.
But when “God Save the Queen” was released the song was received as an attack and it is what made it so popular to the punk crowd because they loved the defiant lyrics that went against the norm. A.N. Wilson adds in Our Times that it was a “high accolade of banning it” from any media. It is also the time where “Punk chic” appears and so when the punk movement becomes fashionable. Ironically, with fame, the ideas of being anti commercialism disappeared.
Likewise, before the group signed to Virgin, a small number of first copies of "God Save the Queen" are now among the most valuable records ever pressed in the UK, with a resale value of between £500 to £13,000 a copy, depending on condition of the disc. If you look at the shop online of the official website of the Sex Pistols, the copy of the flag of the queen with the safety pin is sold for £100 today. So one can wonder if the Sex Pistols have ever believed in this idealology.
Conclusion
After the “sex, drugs and rock n roll” aim of the Swinging 60s, it seems that rock bands became more mature and bitter. The Sex Pistols’ originality was that they were shocking but had wit as quick as shooting pistols. They were dealing about a collapsing country they loved where there is no more landmarks, no any “future”.
In one hand, the band has achieved its aim: they are now known as an icon of the genre. Of the punk rock songs that showed rebellion, none had the impact that “God Save the Queen” had because of its controversial lyrics and the controversy it caused. “No future” became an anthem for the Punk movement in England. “God Save the Queen” is a song that to this day is regarded as one of the most ground-breaking and bold songs in history. The effect of this song change rock forever and paved the way for almost all punk bands since then. Q Magazine ranked it third in their list of "100 Songs That Changed The World" in 2003. In 2010, the New Statesman listed it as one of the "Top 20 Political Songs".
On the other hand, it did not achieve its goal as the political and social situation was worse two years later with Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister. But she was attractive as the Sex Pistols as she seemed to issue a cry of rage. She embodied the opposition to Callaghan as the Sex Pistols embodied the opposition of establishment.
Moreover, by criticising the society, it seems that the system is no longer respected. The counter culture has left long scars which will reappear in the 80s. It didn’t help the situation as it left a general negativism. Youth can no longer believe what the government officially says.
One can make a parallel with rap and other protest songs of nowadays. They are now very common and it is not surprising to see people sing these tunes. For example the band Anti-Flag with their tune Power To The Peaceful, is very similar to the Sex Pistols. This song was played in 2003 to protests against the system in general but most of all of the entrance of Great Britain in Iraq War. There are still problems to protest against.
Guns of Brixton, The Clash, 1979
“The Sex Pistols may have been the first British punk rock band, but the Clash were the definitive British punk rockers. Where the Pistols were nihilistic, the Clash were fiery and idealistic, charged with righteousness and a leftist political ideology. From the outset, the band was more musically adventurous, expanding its hard rock & roll with reggae dub and rockabilly among other roots music.” (Quote from the official website of The Clash). The Guns of Brixton was originally released on the album London Calling on 14 December 1979, recorded from August to November 1979 at Wessex Studios, London.
"The Guns of Brixton" was the first song recorded by the band and to be composed by Paul Simonon and to feature him as lead vocalist.
This song is about urban violence and sounds like a gangster song. It is set in a poor district of London called Brixton, probably the first established and most famous black neighborhood but was also the scene of much racial tension in the late 70s with police and the black community. The theme is basically a warning of the catastrophic consequences of violence if the police brutality continued unchecked.
But how did this song symbolize people’s anger?
It would be interesting to focus on different criticisms (political and social) and to see if they are efficient.
- The "emigration problem", police and policy
- The impractical laws
Brixton is a neighbourhood in southern London which is overwhelmingly poor, overcrowded, and rife with both crime and an inherent distrust of law enforcement. Following migration from the West Indies in the 1950s, Brixton encompassed a large number of ethnic minorities as compared with other parts of England. The “us” repeated in all the song of Guns of Brixton refers to black people in this area. Even if the band’s member were all white, it is where they come from and so can imagine being in the shoes of some Black people.
For the Immigrants, it was the time for acute changes and not always for the best: if the doors were opened for them, men would come for low jobs, they were just tolerated. As soon as they wanted to bring back their families, they were no more accepted. They were leading difficult lives, the racial disturbances from the end of the 60s was the sign that immigration had to be tackled. A lot of people asked for limitation: because a lot of white were racists and were losing their jobs. So it became rather clear that a tackling racism was there. And clearly, one could feel a clash between people and the voted laws.
In fact, three types of acts restricted immigration:
- The Commonwealth Immigration Acts: they were not positive but they decided to be integrated
- The Raise Relations Act: relations of different races
-The Raise Relations Board: in 1968 against racism but was not efficient
But what is highly criticized in this song, is how the law has been applied towards Black people, most notably with the role of the police.
- Police criticism
The lyrics depict the feelings of discontent that were building due to heavy-handedness of the police that led to the riots. In response to the abundance of crime, police forces began to enforce an obscure segment of an 1824 law. The context for the slow scale revolt of Brixton was the "stop-and-search" policies under this law, the 'sus law', whereby young black men were stopped and searched by the police without any reason being given. This led to a feeling of oppression amongst some residents of the area. Although the Brixton area subsequently saw pioneering community policing initiatives, the continued death of young black men in police custody.
In the song, writer/bassist Paul Simonon urges revolt against the sus laws. The Clash song is full of a fiery rage. Simonon demands listeners to make a choice. He presents a bleak decision – either comply with the unjust sus laws or die in a hail of bullets, “shot down on the pavement.”(v.6) “How you gonna come? With your hands on your head or on the trigger of your gun” are direct questions meaning if they accept to be treated by the racist police or if they fight it back. It seems to be like in a gangster movie, the rule is to kill or to be killed.
These codes which can be compared with Jim Crow laws in the USA, were in a massive violation of civil liberties and due process as it could send to prison many innocents.
“Black Maria" (v.23) also spelled "Mariah is an archaic British nickname for a paddy wagon, or a bus used to transport prisoners. “Good bye to the Brixton sun” (v.24) also represents jail as prisoners cannot see the sun in cells.
But this unfair law also implies that the police can be excessive in its interventions. In the song people are treated like hunted animals when it is said: “The game is called survivin’ / at the end of the harder they come” (v.19). The police is mob killing and tracking down people as in a hunt. “Waiting in a death row” (v.8) is a clear allusion to mass extermination as a death camp.
Besides, with the sentence “But you’ll have to answer to” (v.27): in the end, murderers will be judged in Heaven when they will die. It means that the law is wrong, and that if you are right, you'll get "crushed" and "bruised". But police will have to answer to the people's anger. By singing this, the Clash embodies the role of a God, having an external overview and judging souls.
Guns of Brixton represent the anger of the people against a society which make them live in misery; the police incarnating this society. As a result of the economic conditions and police harassment, Brixton became a volatile district waiting to explode. It is not insignificant that this song has been made in 1979 just at the end of the Winter of Discontent. Does this song symbolise a general social anger?
- The Winter of Discontent, for a social and cultural ideal
- A social anger: strikes of the time
Guns of Brixton continued to stir unrest and discontent in Brixton, which erupted into the most vicious riots Britain had ever seen and sparked further rioting on a national scale.
The "Winter of Discontent" is an expression, popularised by the British media , which refers to the winter of 1978–1979 in the United Kingdom, during which there were widespread strikes by local authority trade unions demanding larger pay rises for their members, and because the government of James Callaghan sought to hold a pay freeze to control inflation. While the strikes were largely over by February 1979, the government's inability to contain the strikes earlier helped lead to Margaret Thatcher's Conservative victory in the 1979 general election and legislation to restrict unions.
"The Guns of Brixton" has been recorded in one or two takes. It has been revealed that while recording the lead vocals for the song, Simonon sang the song while staring directly at a CBS executive, giving Simonon the desired amount of emotion and anger in his voice. Doing so, the band was clearly angry at any form of society.
There is still a problem of establishment: in “Money feels good” (v.13), it is the criticism of a material society based on profits and not on morality. It is unclear to whom this sentence is addressed. Money feels good for everybody but it can also be easy money when killing someone. It can be guessed that it is addressed to the police but also to a class elite which can still enjoy having money while it is the crisis. A parallel can be seen between a rioter in Brixton and the very few people who take profit in business.
It says that society is made is such a hypocritical way that if you're poor, you sometimes have no choice but illegality, and you'll be judged for that like Ivan. Ivan is a character from the film "The Harder They Come", a Jamaican movie on Black gangsters. With this kind of reference, it may be seen a need of a new cultural background.
- A cultural need of change
“The Guns of Brixton” is completely original punk song. It is made of an archetypal reggae bass line. The song possesses a Jamaican influenced reggae beat with a prominent bass-line and reggae-style upstrokes on the guitar Reggae comes from the West Indies, where most of migrants come from. It is a slow tune which contrasts with the violent lyrics.
Massive feeling in the songs that there was anger at the heart of youngsters which you can find in the lyrics in The Clash: an anger which was not listened to and came out in 70s. It was a mistake because the establishment didn’t understand them. In those songs, it can be felt despair as politicians do not care and also violence among youngsters.
This is why Guns of Brixton is a punk song, a genre which endorses anti-establishment beliefs and attacks the traditional. It is the tale of defiant gangster straight out from The Harder They Come, shifting the location from Kingston, Jamaica to Brixton, his own childhood neighbourhood. “Black Maria” is also shocking as it may refer as well to Virgin Mary who has always been represented as White. Furthermore, it can seen as a representation of the Voodoo culture which mixes Catholicism and other beliefs in the Caribbean’s isles.
There is the need of a cultural change with new inspiration but one can ask oneself if the British society has already changed.
- But society has already changed
- Multiculturalism has already started
In “Oh, Guns of Brixton”, the “oh” is stressed as if the one singing is praising God. His last resort is God. This vision is very pessimist as if there was no possible solution or no salvation.
However, politicians wanted to find a solution about integration. Somebody like Roy Jenkins presented a new way of presenting immigrants integration: multiculturalism. This idea is very different to the French one: in Britain, the country integrates people, whereas in France, they have to adopt the Republic way of life.
Roy Jenkins thought there was a need and invented the notion of multiculturalism: opening itself to new identities and being more tolerant; Britons must encourage these people through education, law, and constitution was a duty ‘cause it could prevent racism. He said (1966) “we do not need a melting pot (as in the USA), I define integration as equal opportunity with cultural diversity in mutual tolerance”. In school, cultural diversity was saved. However with Thatcherism, immigration will be limited again. At the time of the song, it is the beginning of her mandate. It seems the only way to fight back the law is to riot.
- Generation Thatcher: violence by violence?
This song captures the alienation many citizens of Brixton felt leading up to the riots. It has been premonitory as The Guns of Brixton pre-dates the race riots that took place in the 1980s in Brixton. It has been: “Decried as yet more self-serving glorification of violence (and Simonon who loved guns could hardly argue the fact” (p.41, The Clash, the Complete Guide to their Music). The band is on a social unrest as it was in a key period for rioting. They have many other well known songs about riots as London Calling, I fought the law, White riot, English Civil War...etc.
Racism and violence are the everyday of most of all coloured people. But one can ask if answering violence by violence is efficient. Is that the right solution to face problems?
Conclusion
Guns of Brixton is known as one of the major punk and so protest songs of the time. It has been covered by numerous bands over the years, including the Arcade Fire, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the German punk band Die Toten Hosen, The Libertines, and the Italian singer Enrico Ruggeri. We could compare it with the band UB 40, a British reggae band which played in 2005: "Who are you fighting for?" a protest song about the UK entrance in war of Iraq. Protest songs are still actual.
Even though Guns of Brixton and fights police injustice and racism in society and politics, there are still problems nowadays. There is still the question of emigrant’s integration into society. There should be a middle way between multiculturalism and the French integration considered as too severe. Multiculturalism has proved to be inefficient especially when it has been questioned in 2005 with the terrorist attacks in London made by British citizens. After having fought racism, too much tolerance has bred racism again. The question of National identity can be asked.
Bibliography
Books, diaries and criticisms:
Jon Savage: Time Travel: from the Sex Pistols to Nirvana: pop, media and sexuality, 1977-96, London: Vintage, 1997 p.14-15; 35-37; 83-88
Mick O’Shea: Only Anarchists Are Pretty, London: Helter Skelter Publishing, 2004, p.221-246
Tony Fletcher: The Clash: The Complete Guide To Their Music, London: Omnibus Press, 2005, p41; 94
Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain, Please Kill Me: the Uncensored Oral History of Punk, London: Grove Press, 2006, p.227
A.N. Wilson: Our Times: the Age of Elizabeth II, New York: FSG First American Edition, 2010, p.261-264; 271-279
Professor John Mackenzie Lancaster University and Dr Roger Middleton Bristol University wrote an article about the “Winter of Discontent” in: The Penguin Illustrated History of Britain and Ireland from Earliest Times to the Present Day, London: Penguin Group, 2004, p.272-275
John Cannon, Oxford dictionary of British History, Oxford University Press, 2001, p.110
Yves Delmas and Charles Gancel: Protest Song: la chanson contestataire dans l’Amérique et l’Europe des Sixties, Evreux : Les éditions Textuel, 2005, p.254; 273; 295
Philippe Lacoche and Jean-Yves Legras : Les trésors du Rock, Paris : Jacques Grancher, 1984, p.102
François Gorin and Hugo Cassavetti: Rock’n’roll, les incontournables, Paris: Filipacchi, 1992, p.45; 186
Primary source documents:
Unknown author, « The Filth and the Fury », Daily Mirror, 2 December 1976, n°22654, front-page
“Sex Pistol Banned” poster: GSTQ "Banned" Press Advert June 1977 © courtesy Virgn Records, found on the official website of the Sex Pistols:
Online articles and official websites:
UNCUT MAGAZINE: Allan Jones, “The Sex Pistols' Jubilee Boat Trip”, www.uncut.co.uk, 4 June 2007 http://www.uncut.co.uk/blog/index.php?blog=5&title=the_sex_pistols_jubilee_boat_trip&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
NEWSTATESMAN: Ian K. Smith, “Top 20 Political Songs: God Save The Queen | The Sex Pistols | 1977”, www.newstatesman.com 25 March 2010, http://www.newstatesman.com/music/2010/03/sex-pistols-god-queen
THE GUARDIAN: Rosy Swash, Crass’s political punk is as relevant now, www.guardian.co.uk, Sunday 24 October 2010, history article, http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/oct/24/crass-penny-rimbaud-steve-ignorant
BBC NEWS: Unknown author, Bragg attacks Pistols' royal views, BBC NEWS, Monday, 27 May, 2002: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2010060.stm
BBC – MUSIC: Chris Jones, “Don't be fooled, just because John Lydon seems to have swapped irony for greed”, BBC Music Review©, 20 November 2002, http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/mhf9
The Sex Pistols official web page: ©2010 Sex Pistols Residuals. http://www.sexpistolsofficial.com/
The Clash official web page: ©2010 Sony Music Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. http://www.theclashonline.com/
Video Documentary:
Julien Temple, The Filth and Fury, History of the Sex Pistols, English documentary by BBC Arena documentaries, 2000 (108 min). You can watch part 9 of 10 on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2IUzssdPjc
