Greetings community! Hope you´re all doing well. I´m happy once again to be here to bring you a new edition of The Lyrics of Rock and grateful for those more than 400 votes that had the #2 edition.
Para el día de hoy les traigo una letra transgresiva y polémica (como debe ser la esencia de cualquier letra del rock), de una banda que aunque no duró mucho, supo generar un fuerte impacto en la sociedad de su época, no sólo a nivel musical sino también en la estética del rock. Si bien es cierto que muchas de sus canciones se las traen, ninguna les ocasionó tantos problemas y a la vez popularidad como esta, les hablo de God Save the Queen de la banda punk inglesa Sex Pistols.
For today I come with a transgresive and polemic lyric (as the essence of any rock lyrics should be), of a band that although didn´t last long, knew how to generate a strong impact in its time society, not only musically but also in rock´s aesthetic. While it´s true that many of their songs are irreverent, none caused them so many troubles and also popularity as this, I´m talking about God Save the Queen from english punk band Sex Pistols.
God Save the Queen (Dios salve a la Reina) forma parte del único disco de estudio que grabaron los Sex Pistols, el polémico (tanto por su título como por el contenido de sus letras), Never Mind the Bollocks, Here´s the Sex Pistols (Me importa un huevo, Aquí están los Sex Pistols), producido por Chris Thomas y Bill Price y que salió al mercado en el Reino Unido el 28 de Octubre de 1977 bajo el sello Virgin Records. La canción que nos trae hoy aquí fue el segundo sencillo promocional del disco y comenzó a escucharse en las radios cinco meses antes de la publicación del álbum, concretamente el 27 de Mayo de 1977, esta canción de 3:20 minutos de duración causó un completo revuelo en la escena musical y hasta social de su país. Pero, vayamos al origen de toda esta historia.
God Save the Queen belongs to the only studio album that Sex Pistols recorded, the polemic (from the title to the lyrics), Never Mind the Bollocks, Here´s the Sex Pistols, produced by Chris Thomas and Bill Price and released in the United Kingdom on October 28 of 1977 through Virgin Records. The song that brings us here today was the second promotional single of the album and started to be in the radio stations five months before the released of the record, exactly on May 27, 1977, this 3:20 minutes song caused a complete stir in the musical and even social scene of their country. But let´s go to the origin of this story.
Viajemos atrás en el tiempo a la Inglaterra de mediados de los ´70s. El país esta sumido en una profunda recesión económica, el desempleo, la delincuencia y las huelgas son el pan nuestro de cada día para la desesperanzada clase obrera inglesa que es violentada constantemente y va perdiendo hasta la más mínima esperanza de que su calidad de vida mejore. Las ciudades son un caos, hay basura por todas partes producto de las mismas huelgas de sectores como el aseo urbano. O sea, nada que ver con la elegante y pulcra Inglaterra que conocemos hoy en día. El descontento es generalizado y la miseria se va apoderando poco a poco de todo. Si a esto le sumamos que hay que mantener a la parasitaria monarquía y a la Reina, bueno, imagínense como estaba el pobre pueblo inglés. Como ya sabemos, el ser humano, de alguna manera se las arregla para darle nombre a cada una de estas situaciones y a su vez, transformar cada escenario que surja en una nueva tendencia cultural, social, ideológica y hasta musical. De todo este desastre, surgió el punk y tras él o junto a él o antes que él, según como se mire todo, surgieron los Sex Pistols.
Let´s go back in time to the middle of the 70´s in England. The country is immersed in a deep economic recession, the unemployment, the delinquency and the strikes are our daily bread for the hopeless english working class that is constantly under policy violence and already losing every hope to see their lives get better. The cities are a chaos, rubbish everywhere because of the many strikes, urban cleanliness sector included. You know, nothing to do with the elegant and neat England we know today. The discontended is generalized and misery is taking possession of everything little by little. If we add that you have to maintain the parasitic monarchy and the Queen, well, imagine how was the poor english people. As we all know, the human being always finds the way to give a name to every situation and also to transform every stage that spurts up in a new cultural, social, ideological and even musical trend. From all this disaster emerged punk and after him or with him or before him, depends on how you see it all, the Sex Pistols appeared.
Los Sex Pistols se formaron luego que Steve Jones, Glenn Matlock y Paul Cook, guitarra, bajo y batería respectivamente, invitaran, a petición de su mánager Malcolm McLaren, a un tal John Lydon para una audición. Lydon, que no estaba muy convencido de la idea, accedió ir al pub a conocer a los chicos e improvisó cantando “I´m eighteen” de Alice Cooper. La manera tan terrible como la cantó aderezada con su actitud y su aspecto (el cabello verde, una cara psicótica y una ropa diferente) llamaron poderosamente la atención de Jones. McLaren, les sugirió ensayar con Lydon y a partir de ese momento y tras varias propuestas de nombres, la banda se quedó con el de Sex Pistols y John Lydon fue bautizado por Jones como Johnny Rotten (Juanito podrido o asqueroso) ya que según él Lydon tenía siempre los dientes sucios. Matlock se retiró de la banda en Febrero de 1977, siendo sustituido por Sid Vicious que era amigo de Rotten.
The Sex Pistols was formed after Steve Jones, Glenn Matlock and Paul Cook, guitar, bass and drums respectively, invited, by request of their manager Malcolm McLaren, a guy called John Lydon for an audition. Lydon, who wasn´t convinced with the idea, agreed to go to the pub to meet the guys and he improvised singing Alice Cooper´s song “I´m eighteen”. The terrible way he sang it and his look (green hair, a psychotic face and a different kind of clothes) caused a strong impressed on Jones. McLaren suggested to the band to practice with Lydon and from that moment and after many name proposals, the band choose Sex Pistols and John Lydon was baptized by Jones as Johnny Rotten because of his dirty teeth. Matlock left the band in 1977 and his substitute was Sid Vicious, who was Rotten´s friend.
Steve Jones, Glenn Matlock, Paul Cook and Johnny Rotten
Hablar de la monarquía es hurgar en un largo y profundo hoyo de desigualdades, abusos e historias truculentas. Quizás los que nunca hemos vivido bajo ese “dominio” no podemos entender muy bien todo lo que implica, lo que si es cierto es que a estas alturas de la humanidad, el simple hecho que siga existiendo debería ser una vergüenza, una ofensa y hasta algo como pasado de moda. Pero bueno, no es Las Letras del rock que vamos a discutir eso jejeje.
Talk about monarchy is search into a deep and long hole of inequalities, abuse and horrifying stories. Perhaps those of us who have never lived under this "domain" cannot understand very well all that it implies, the truth is that at this stage of mankind, the simple fact that monarchy keep existing should be a shame, an offence and even an old-fashioned thing. Anyway, it´s not here in The Lyrics of Rock that we´ll discuss about that hehehe.
La precaria situación por la que estaba pasando Inglaterra durante los años 70, terminó por darle explosión al movimiento punk. Según el propio Rotten, la letra de God Save the Queen giraba en su cabeza mucho antes de estar en una banda, ya que como muchos ingleses de esa época, trabajaba de obrero y sufría en carne propia las penurias de la crisis económica y social que se vivía en su país. Ya con los Sex Pistols, esa idea cobró vida. Rotten terminó por escribir una letra que se convertiría en toda una declaración de guerra a la monarquía, al Estado y a cualquier tipo de poder que exige obediencia absoluta al pueblo sin ofrecer ni respeto ni interés por ellos. El mismo Rotten diría: "La idea de estar enojado, la indiferencia de la Reina con el pueblo y la lejanía e indiferencia hacia todos nosotros. Tuve que trabajar como obrero en construcciones para poder pagar mi universidad, por querer una educación, y me cobraban impuestos. ¿Por qué tenía que financiar a esa vaca que no se preocupa una mierda por mí?".
The precarious situation of England in the 70´s, helped to give force to the punk movement. According to Rotten, the lyrics of God Save the Queen were in his head long before being in a band, because as many english people of that time he was part of the working class and he was suffering the penuries of the economic and social crisis the country was passing through. Now with the Sex Pistols that idea came to life. Rotten wrote a song that would turn into a complete war declaration against monarchy, the State and every kind of power that demands absolute obedience from the people without giving any kind of respect neither interest towards them. Rotten said: “The idea of being angry, the Queen's indifference to the people and the remoteness and indifference to all of us. I had to work as a construction worker in order to pay for my university, wanting an education, and they charged me taxes. Why I had to finance that cow that doesn't give a shit about me?"
God Save the Queen, que en un principio se iba a llamar “No Future” (Sin futuro),tiene varios elementos irreverentes, pero probablemente el más irreverente de todos fue el de tomar el título del mismísimo himno nacional británico, todo un sacrilegio para el estado y para la monarquía ya que por si no lo saben, ese himno es prácticamente una oda a la Reina. Con el simple hecho de gritarle a la soberana Isabel II que no es un ser humano, que vive del pueblo y que le importa un pepino la vida de la gente ya los Sex Pistols estaban metidos en serios problemas jajaja pero no les importó mucho. Su llamado era a revelarse contra el conformismo de tener que vivir para mantener ese sistema monárquico que los empobrecía y a la destrucción de toda esa falsa imagen que mostraba un reluciente Palacio de Buckingham donde todo parecía perfecto mientras que en las calles de toda Inglaterra la realidad era otra y esta, era imposible de tapar con un dedo, el caos, la pobreza y el desempleo. Como diría Rotten en otra ocasión: "No se escribe una canción como “God Save the Queen” porque odies a los ingleses. Se escribe una canción así porque los amas y estás cansado de que los maltraten".
God Save the Queen, which was originally going to be called “No Future”, has many irreverent elements but probably, the most irreverent of them was to take the british title of the very national anthem, a complete sacrilege for the State and the monarchy because if you don´t know it, that anthem is like an ode to the Queen. Just with the fact to scream to the sovereign Elizabeth II that she´s not a human being, that she lives at the expense of the people and that she didnt´t give a damn about people´s lives, well, the Sex Pistols were in serious troubles hahaha but they didn´t care much. Their call was to reveal against the conformism to live for keep the monarch system that was making them poorer and to the destruction of that false image that was presenting a shining Buckingham Palace were everything was perfect while in the streets of all England the reality was different and was impossible to cover the sun with a finger, the chaos, the poverty and the unemployment. As Rotten said once: “You don´t write a song like “God Save the Queen” because you hate the english. You write a song like that because you love them and you´re tired to see they mistreat them”.
Si ya con el lanzamiento de su primer sencillo, Anarchy in the UK (Anarquía en el Reino Unido), los Sex Pistols escandalizaron, God Save the Queen lo hizo inclusive dos meses antes de su edición. Los trabajadores del departamento de prensado de Virgin Records que tenían que imprimir la portada del sencillo se negaron a hacerlo en protesta contra la letra de la canción y el diseño de la misma que mostraba una foto de la Reina Isabel II con los ojos y la boca tapados con letras recortadas tipo cartas anónimas que formaban el nombre de la banda y de la canción. Luego de largas discusiones accedieron a imprimir los discos.
If with the released of their first single, Anarchy in the UK the Sex Pistols shocked, God Save the Queen did it even two months before its release. The workers of Virgin´s Records pressing department that had to imprint the cover of the single refuse to do it in protest against the lyrics of the song and the design that showed a photo of the Queen Elizabeth II with her eyes and mouth covered with cut letters, like those used in anonymous cards, forming the band´s and song´s name. After long discussions the workers agreed imprint the records.
Virgin y McLaren tenían bien planificada su estrategia para promocionar la canción y decidieron hacer coincidir el lanzamiento de God Save the Queen con la celebración del jubileo de plata por los 25 años de la Reina Isabel II en el trono. En Londres estaba todo listo para festejar por todo lo alto junto a “su majestad” y los Sex Pistols no pensaban perderse ese magno acontecimiento jajaja. La banda comenzó a ser censurada y hasta hubo protestas generalizadas por parte de grupos defensores de la corona amenazando a Rotten y compañía. De hecho, una de esas amenazas se materializó cuando Rotten fue acuchillado saliendo de un club londinense. Las más grandes cadenas de tiendas se negaron a promocionar y ni hablar de vender el sencillo, al igual que todas las emisoras del Reino Unido, incluyendo la famosa BBC que no quisieron saber nada de la controversial canción. Para cuando el sencillo llevaba apenas una semana y media en la calle, ya había vendido más de 150.000 copias, nada mal para una canción que se convirtió en la más censurada de la historia del Reino Unido. No en vano dicen que el escándalo vende.
Virgin and McLaren had well planned their strategy to promote th song and decided to make coincide the released of God Save the Queen with the silver jubilee celebration of Queen Elizabeth´s II 25th anniversary in the throne. Everything was ready in London to celebrate in style with “Her Majesty” and the Sex Pistols didn´t even thought to lose that great event hahaha. The band started to be censored and and there were even widespread protests from conservative and defender of the crown groups threatened Rotten and the guys. In fact, one of those threatens materialized when Rotten was knifed while he was coming out from a london pub. The biggest chain shops refused to promote and sell the single as well as all UK radio stations, including the famous BBC that didn´t want to hear about the controversial song. When the single had only a week and a half in the streets, had already sold more than 150,000 copies, not bad for a song that became the most censored in United Kingdom´s history. Not in vain they say that scandal sells.
Llegado el día del Jubileo, el 7 de Junio de 1977, Virgin y el astuto y muy controversial mánager de la banda Malcolm McLaren, alquilaron el “Queen Elizabeth” (Reina Isabel), una pequeña embarcación privada, con toda la atrevida intención de poner a los Sex Pistols a tocar mientras navegarían por el río Támesis y pasarían frente al parlamento y el palacio de Westminster. Llegada la noche y luego de haber salido a horas más tempranas desde el muelle Charing Cross en el centro de Londres, comenzaron a dar un concierto en pleno Támesis, usando un inmenso lienzo para ir presentando sus canciones y despotricando de la Reina, la monarquía y de todo lo que les molestaba, cuando les tocó estar frente a Westminster no dudaron en tocar Anarchy in the UK y dedicarle God Save the Queen a la homenajeada. La idea era parodiar la procesión prevista por “su majestad”.
The day of the jubilee, June 7 of 1977, Virgin and the astute and very controversial Malcolm McLaren, manager of the band, rented the “Queen Elizabeth”, a small private boat, with all the daring intention to make the Sex Pistols perform while they would be sealing through the Thames river and passed in front of the parliament and the Westminster palace. Arrived the night and after they had left earlier from the Charing Cross dock in the center of London, they started to perform in the Thames itself, using a big fabric to present the songs and ranting about the Queen, the monarchy and everything that bothered them, when the boat passed in front of Westminster they performed Anarchy in the UK and they dedicated God Save the Queen to the honoree. The idea was to parody the procession foreseen by “Her Majesty”.
Ya lo hecho, hecho estaba y tanto la banda, McLaren y Virgin habían conseguido lo que buscaban, provocar, escandalizar y hacerse notar, no pasó mucho tiempo para que la policía y los cuerpos de seguridad vinieran a rodear la embarcación, obligarla a ir a puerto y arrestar a todos los que estaban allí, incluidos Richard Branson, fundador de la disquera, y Malcolm McLaren, autor intelectual de la polémica idea.
The done was already done and also the band, McLaren and Virgin had reached what they wanted, provoke, scandalize and make themselves be noticed, it didn´t last much for the police and the security forces to arrive and enclose the boat, make it reach port and arrest all people on board, including founder of the record label Richard Branson and intellectual author of the idea Malcolm McLaren.
Luego de semejante suceso, el diario británico Daily Mirror vaticinó que para la semana siguiente, God Save the Queen sería número 1 en las listas. Sin embargo, quedó en el segundo lugar, detrás de “I don´t want to talk about it” de Rod Stewart, hecho no muy creíble viendo las ventas que estaba teniendo el sencillo de los Sex Pistols. Según muchas fuentes, God Save the Queen llegó al número uno pero las listas se negaron a anunciarlo oficialmente, no sólo para evitar mayores conflictos con el público más conservador y con la Corona sino también para no darle espacio al punk en el primer lugar de la lista. La distribuidora de las dos canciones, le informó en privado a McLaren que el tema de los Pistols vendió más del doble que el de Rod Stewart pero que esas ventas no fueron reportadas por muchas tiendas que no querían aceptar el éxito del explosivo sencillo anti-monarquía.
After such an event british journal Daily Mirror predicted that for the week, God Save the Queen would be number 1 in the charts. However, only reached the second place behind Rod Stewart´s “I don´t want to talk about it”, a not very credible fact watching the sales that Sex Pistols single had having. According to many sources, God Save the Queen really reached number one but the lists refused to announce it officially, not only to avoid a bigger trouble with conservative audience and the Crown but also because they didn´t want to give more space to punk music in the first place of the charts. The distributing company of both songs told confidentially to McLaren that Pistols song sold more than double that of Rod Stewart´s one but those sells weren´t reported by many stores because they didn´t want to accept the success of the explosive anti-monarchy single.
God Save the Queen es una canción poderosa, Rotten despotrica de la monarquía y de la Reina con su chillona y caprichosa voz cuan niño cuando no quiere saber nada de los chantajes que le ofrecen para calmarlo. No quiere calmarse, quiere gritar y acabar con todo. No importa el virtuosismo musical o vocal, esta es una verdadera canción punk, la intención de Rotten y de los Pistols era transformar la rabia, el desconsuelo, la impotencia y la falta de esperanza en una declaración de guerra ante el fascista régimen monárquico que los ahoga, vive y abusa de ellos pero sobretodo que los ignora.
God Save the Queen is a powerful song, Rotten rants about monarchy and the Queen with his noisy and whimsical voice like a child who does´t want to know anything about the blackmails offered to calm him. He doesn´t want to calm, he wants to scream and destroy everything. It doesn´t matter the musical or vocal virtuosity, this is a real punk song, Rotten´s and Sex Pistols intention was to transform anger, distress, powerlessness and lack of hope into a war declaration against the fascist monarchical regime that smothers them, lives and abuses of them but most of all that ignores them.
God Save the Queen (Dios Salve a la Reina)
Letra: Johnny Rotten
Disco: Never Mind the Bollocks, Here´s the Sex Pistols (1977)
Grupo: Sex Pistols
Dios Salve a la Reina
Al régimen fascista
Ellos hicieron de ti un idiota
Una potencial bomba de hidrógeno
Dios Salve a la Reina
Ella no es un ser humano
Y no hay futuro
En el sueño de Inglaterra
Que no te digan lo que quieres
Que no te digan lo que necesitas
No hay futuro
No hay futuro
No hay futuro para ti
Dios Salve a la Reina
Lo decimos en serio hombre
Amamos a nuestra Reina
Dios salva
Dios Salve a la Reina
Porque los turistas son dinero
Y nuestra figura decorativa
No es lo que ella parece
Oh Dios, salva la historia
Dios salve tu loco desfile
Oh señor Dios ten piedad
Todos los crímenes están pagados
Oh cuando no hay futuro
Cómo puede haber pecado
Somos las flores
En el basurero
Somos el veneno
En tu máquina humana
Nosotros somos el futuro…
God Save the Queen
Lyrics: Johnny Rotten
Record: Never Mind the Bollocks, Here´s the Sex Pistols (1977)
Band: Sex Pistols
God Save the queen
The fascist regime
They made you a moron
A potential H bomb
God Save the queen
She's not a human being
and there's no future
in England's dreaming
Don't be told what you want
Don't be told what you need
There's no future
No future
No future for you
God Save the queen
We mean it man
We love our queen
God saves
God Save the queen
'Cause tourists are money
And our figurehead
Is not what she seems
Oh God save history
God save your mad parade
Oh Lord God have mercy
All crimes are paid
Oh when there's no future
How can there be sin
We're the flowers
In the dustbin
We're the poison
In your human machine
We're the future…
As you have seen and read, God save the Queen is a mixture of daring and polemic ingredients spitted out with anger, fury and irreverence through the voice of an abused, ignored and tired of living in misery people while they have to pretend homage and obedience to a Queen who is indifferent on the penuries her compatriots live before her. Those ingredients are the lyrics, the ferocious spit is the music of the Sex Pistols that sounds like a rapidly developing chaos and the voice of the people is Johnny Rotten singing stridently with no future hope.
También puedes seguirme que esto apenas comienza y lo mejor está por venir.
That´s all for today´s The Lyrics of Rock. Hope you have enjoy reading this edition and that you want now to drain a little bit all the anger and troubles you have listening to the Sex Pistols hahaha, please, don´t destroy the house hahaha. As I always say it´s a pleasure for me to share my rock passion with you. If you like rock music and you want to read more of this serial, I invite you to check the other editions here:
You can also follow me if you want because this is just the beginning and the best is yet to come.
Gracias por leer, compartir, apoyar, votar y comentar.
Hasta la próxima.
¡Miau!
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Till next post.
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Love all the explanations you give around "God save the Queen"; I definitely learned something today :) Sex Pistols was just before my time, I was in my childhood in the 70s, therefor heard about them, but never really listened to them. Not so much of a rock fan, though I appreciate the genre/style a lot.
The 70s and 80s are for me the decades that quite a few people fought against the establishment. Anarchistic and Hippie-ish approaches. I suppose something to do with the time the world was in. Huge economic crises. This song is against a royal house, which from a money perspective is absolutely clear. However, many people in societies do like their royal family, so it may also serve a purpose. That said, I'm only 'allowing' the existence of the royal family in my country (Netherlands), as long as the Queen's and King's do their job. When they can't handle their job, then they need to leave. In the end, the tax money that flows into the pockets of the royal family is not that much in the grand scale of things. I generally fight for all the other much larger spendings my government does. As well as I fight against any big corporate abusing the system by (for instance) not paying taxes at all. When we solve those things, we'll save much more money for our society than to cut paying our royal families :)
Great post!
Hi! Thanks for your support, I´m happy you liked it and you learned something new with my post.
In the other hand, I respect your opinion but I live in a country free of queens and kings since 200 years ago, I don´t find any utility for a country to have to mantain somebody just because it is assumed he/she is a "royal" ¿what is that supposed to mean? ¿That they are more than you and me? ¿and what about that you have to pay homage and being called "subjects"? That worries me ¿why would someone accept that? It´s humiliating. You say you allow their existence as long they do their job, well, I´m sure they don´t need to be "royals" to do that job. And about " the tax money that flows into the pockets of the royal family is not that much in the grand scale of things", come on ¿really? I´ll prefer to give that money to people that really need it not those parasites that have lived at the expense of others for so many centuries. So cut the paying and send those lazy to go to work and produce their own money as we all do. I always wonder how so developed societies like Netherlands keep living under those antiquated systems. I understand you love and respect your "royal family", it is because they educated you to do it and you grew up thinking about it as a normal thing but hey, the world is not for those who accept the unfair but for those who fight and make this world a new and better world.
Cheers ;-) have a nice day, night or whatever hahaha
I think I gave you a wrong impression. Personally I don't believe we shall continue the concept of the royal for all the reasons you gave in your comment, and more. That said, more than 60% of the population is in favour of the royal family. In good times, this percentage is more close to 70% to 75%. I wonder what happens when we remove the royal family from our system. Will this cause all sort of unrest? When not, lets remove them today. But we don't know.... Or, I dont know. And since I dont know, and I can list a whole long list of topics that are more important to the society that I'm part ofand needs fioghting for (or against), I decide to spend my time and energy not on the topic of removing the royal family. Even if I would fight for removal, am very much wondering how much energy and time I shall apply, since even after a few dramatic behaviours by our King and Queen this year, still the majority is in favour of this family.
I'm pretty sure, at one day the royals are not connected to our society governance systems anymore :)
¡Espectacular post! Leyendo esto uno se pregunta ¿a dónde se ha ido todo el potencial social de la música hoy en día? La humanidad necesita más de esto ¡roooock! y punk del bueno jejeje
Muchas gracias! Me alegra que te haya gustado. La música esta pasando también por una crisis pero hay muchas bandas que siguen desde su posición luchando contra el sistema. Mientras sigan existiendo problemas, injusticias, abusos y desigualdades habrá música contestataria, o sea, siempre jajaja. Gracias por el apoyo.
Eso es verdad, ¡éxito!