Songfacts®:

• Like the other tracks on Journal For Plague Lovers, this song originated from some notebooks containing lyrics which their former guitarist Edwards handed to bassist Nicky Wire shortly before disappearing in early 1995. The NME May 16, 2009 asked Wire if the song's chorus 'Oh mummy, what's a Sex Pistol' came from an actual Sex Pistols poster or flyer. He replied: "A lot of people in the '70s wore badges, you see it a lot in photos, that read 'Mummy, what's a Sex Pistol?' on it. It's just a sort of cultural reference point, I don't know if it's any more loaded than that."
• Wire added that he finds this song difficult to decipher. Said Wire: "The song, I find, is pretty impenetrable, I don't know if Jackie Collins was ever on (BBC topical debate program) Question Time having a bit of a Will Young moment, you know. I have a feeling, the last bit, 'situationist sisterhood of Jackie and Joan'. All I can think of is I seem to remember once maybe Jackie and Joan (Collins) were on at the same time. And it was a bit like the Hitchens brothers but total opposite to each other... maybe 'Question Time' or something like that."
• The NME commented that this track has the "best song title ever." Wire concurred saying: "It is a good title, isn't it? The weirdest thing is, I think, lyrics aside, a lot of it is very sweet and very pop. If we'd done it in a different lifetime with different words, who knows, it could have been a gigantic hit single. I love the way it draws you in with the softness and everything and then that last minute of rasping… pure hatred and anger kind of… spoils it all."