Album (Public Image Ltd Album) - Track By Track Commentary By Lydon and Associates

Track By Track Commentary By Lydon and Associates

"F.F.F.":

• John Lydon (1986/99): “Farewell to fairweather friends. There's a hell of a lot of them in the music business, clingers, dead wood, dead weights. So I had a great pleasure just flicking them out of my life.” “Farewell, fairweather friends! It could be applied to quite a few people There's a few, there's a whole host of them. They know who they are.” “'F.F.F.' is also pretty much clear - more references to people falling by the wayside. Not that I have a problem with that, I've always thought it's inevitable. When you work with people, you eventually drain each others' ideas and energy, and then it's time to move on.”
• Martin Atkins (former PIL drummer, 2002): “I think I initially left to try and jolt John into realising how awful I felt. He simply fuelled the shit storm with my betrayal - 'F.F.F.'!”

"Rise":

• Sid Vicious (1978): “Yeah, we've got one about South Africa, about how those, about how the, like, blacks are repressed so bad there. And, like, that's not on and they are gonna rise up and they're gonna kill those, those people.”
• John Lydon (1986): “I read this manual on South African interrogation techniques, and 'Rise' is quotes from some of the victims. I put them together because I thought it fitted in aptly with my own feelings about daily existence.” “It's about South Africa. The blacks can't be subdued for much longer. The song is not as personal as it could be because I've never been to South Africa, but it can apply to lots of other situations.”
• John McGeoch (1990): “I actually heard demos of the stuff from before, songs like 'Rise' which was called 'South African Song', and 'F.F.F.' and stuff, and it wasn't written as a heavy metal album as such. But with the players and stuff it came out like that.”

"Fishing":

• John Lydon (1986): “I'm referring to people who have to be in crowds, who can't stand up for themselves and who have no point of view. I don't like that kind of person. I think they're lazy and destructive. I don't like mass opinion.”

"Round":

• John Lydon (1986): “The nuclear holocaust is imminent These bastards are going to kill us all off, and of course I bloody worry about it!”

"Bags":

• John Lydon (1986): “That's about my fear of height The end result when somebody falls off a cliff or building, and the black rubber bag is what they take you away in.”

"Ease":

• John Lydon (1986): “Susan and Norman, you dreary couple with the Ford Cortina and your names on the windscreen. There's actually a Susan and Norman out there right now, driving around in a blue Ford Cortina feeling well proud of themselves for being utterly dull.”