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Tonight we beg, tonight we beg the question
If a married man, if a married man fucks a Catholic
And his wife dies without knowing
Does that make him unfaithful, people?
Oh mummy what's a sex pistol?
Oh mummy what's a sex pistol?
Oh mummy what's a sex pistol?
Oh mummy what's a sex pistol?
Tonight we beg, tonight we beg the question
If a married man, if a married man fucks a Catholic
Does that mean you have gone to seed?
Or does that mean you owe him nothing?
Oh mummy what's a sex pistol?
Oh mummy what's a sex pistol?
Oh mummy what's a sex pistol?
Oh mummy what's a sex pistol?
A situationist sisterhood of Jackie and Joan
Separates us the questions without a home
A situationist sisterhood of Jackie and Joan
Separates us the questions without a home
If a married man, if a married man fucks a Catholic
And his wife dies without knowing
Does that make him unfaithful, people?
Oh mummy what's a sex pistol?
Oh mummy what's a sex pistol?
Oh mummy what's a sex pistol?
Oh mummy what's a sex pistol?
Tonight we beg, tonight we beg the question
If a married man, if a married man fucks a Catholic
Does that mean you have gone to seed?
Or does that mean you owe him nothing?
Oh mummy what's a sex pistol?
Oh mummy what's a sex pistol?
Oh mummy what's a sex pistol?
Oh mummy what's a sex pistol?
A situationist sisterhood of Jackie and Joan
Separates us the questions without a home
A situationist sisterhood of Jackie and Joan
Separates us the questions without a home
Lyrics submitted by simon_quine
Jackie Collins Existential Question Time Lyrics as written by Nicholas Jones James Bradfield
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Existential question means questioning the meaning of life. Jackie Collins is a lowbrow novelist who writes trite books obsessing on relationships more about lust than love. I'm sure it really peeved Richey that more people cared about reading her idiotic novels than reading thought provoking books.
"Situationist sisterhood of Jackie and Joan. Separates us the questions without a home."
Jackie's books, and her sister Joan's movie roles, often glorify infidelity and sex without a loving relationship. Richey, although according to Nicky he never really had a real relationship and often mocked relationships (like on Life Becoming A Landslide) really had longings for a serious romance, even if he really didn't believe in it. Towards the end of his life he grew very conservative in his views on sex and spoke out against the 90s anti-monogamy sexual relationship as "love" (the question without a home.)
Hey this is a pretty interesting take on the song and closest I think to what was intended by the band. I have been trying to break this down for a while. I got as far reading into it an imaginary forum taking place in which Richey poses questions to Catholics about how broad they consider one person's infidelity supposedly reaches by their (un)reasoning. Jackie Collins is a great example of someone who's work flys in the face of dogmatic views on sex according to Catholicism. I agree I think Richey hated the fact that so many people read crap like Collins' but I think he was equally pissed that people went to the other extreme and believed unquestioningly in the hard-nosed Catholic obsession with the sin of sex. He's questioning the extremes of Collins and religious sex-obsession and sees both as equally wrong in their own ways. I don't think Edwards was speaking directly about himself at all - if he failed to have meaningful relationships, wasn't that more to do with his apparent self-loathing? <br /> <br /> The lyric "Oh Mummy what's a Sex Pistol?" intrigues me. I get the impression he was saying children kept sheltered and made afraid of sex in homes that practice a loose Catholic upbringing (I was unfortunately raised Catholic, so I can kinda relate). This imagined child's first idea of sex is not to do with sex at all but a band's name which is confusing if you don't understand the obvious metaphor because you live in a "sexless" environment. The mother's greatest fear is her child first asking about sex, if you think about it from a deeply religious angle, in which the innocent question is made a loaded one with the parent's own fear of sex (through being religious) in mind. The mother here is unlikely to be a Sex Pistols fan, and like the child is unaware of their music, so she is not really in a position to answer simply - 'it's a band'. Instead the question cuts into her deepest fear of having to explain something she has grown up with being told is wicked to think about, do outside of marriage etc... etc... The song therefore also deals with how at home, (depending especially on religion) we are taught our bias's and fears despite the parent's best intention to protect us as children, and keep talk of sex - a natural curiosity for children to have - oppressed. You could even go on to say many of us as children had our first encounter with a very adult world through seeing the cover of some steamy/cheesey Jackie Collins novel, at the same time as being told the religious ideals regarding sex. Richey is simply discussing in his lyrics the misinformation/misconceptions about sex we pick up in early life lead to much greater woes later on. <br /> <br /> I think....<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />
@MBlack @lateleigh I see how Jackie and Joan play into this but I'm not so sure it just utterly disgusted Richey that people consumed the Collins' media. I doubt Richey sat around reading drugstore romance novels, but Nicky has stated that both he and Richey enjoy(ed) low art as well as high art. Class and trash; if that doesn't describe the Manics I don't know what does.