Of the many tributes pouring out across the globe in the wake of Queen Elizabeth II’s death at the age of 96, this one comes from a source that may seem the unlikeliest.
45 years ago, John Lydon, then known as Johnny Rotten, was embarking on a boat trip down the Thames to promote his band The Sex Pistols’ new single, “God Save the Queen,” and to mock the upcoming celebration of Elizabeth’s Silver Jubilee. Now, in 2022, he’s paying tribute to the late monarch on Twitter with the quote, “Send her victorious,” a lyric from the original “God Save the Queen” by Henry Carey, written in 1745.
With either a sense of irony or remorse, the singer and author posted the tribute on his official Twitter account alongside the very picture the band defaced on the cover sleeve of their seminal and notorious punk rock single. The song was banned by the BBC and radio stations regulated by the Independent Broadcasting Authority, and was pulled from the shelves of many major retailers in the U.K. The single became one of the band’s best-known songs and featured as lyrics an anti-authoritarian screed that deliberately mocked the Queen and described 1970s England as a “fascist regime.”
“God save the queen
God Save the Queen lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Songwriters: Glen Matlock / John Lydon / Paul Thomas Cook / Stephen Philip Jones
She’s ain’t no human being
and There’s no future
And England’s dreaming”
In recent years though, Lydon, who has grown increasingly conservative in his senior years (and who, now a U.S. citizen, voted twice for Donald Trump) has greatly softened his radical opinion of Britain’s monarchy. The former Pistol and PIL frontman even penned an op-ed for The Times in June, during the celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, expounding his opinion of the institution.
“God bless the Queen. She’s put up with a lot,” wrote Lydon. “I’ve got no animosity against any one of the royal family. Never did. It’s the institution of it that bothers me and the assumption that I’m to pay for that. There’s where I draw the line. It’s like, ‘No, you’re not getting ski holidays on my tax.’”
It seems that had Lydon written the Pistols’ famous anthem half a lifetime later, we’d have a much gentler lyrical take.