No Feelings

Album: Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols (1977)
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Songfacts®:

  • On this track, Sex Pistols lead singer Johnny Rotten (John Lydon) creates a self-absorbed character with "no feelings." He said in an interview with Daniel Rachel (The Art of Noise: Conversations with Great Songwriters): "The song is from the idea of someone being completely selfish, which I'm not. I like to imagine being in that frame of mind. I'm insulting myself really. That happens a lot."
  • Performance-wise, the song's biggest challenge is in its wordiness. Lydon explained: "Some of the songs I've written have so many words it's almost unbearable. 'No Feelings,' for instance: I think it's 16 to 18 lines where I don't take a breath. Now, live, that's tempting fate. But I managed to do it. I found the knack. I love pushing those boundaries. You can't cut up a verse like that because it would become out of context. It's the monologue that's necessary to paint the proper picture of someone in a state of babbling confusion."

Comments: 1

  • Johnny The Boy from HereIt's "beat you black and blue all day" not "okay"
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