This Is Not a Love Song

Album: This Is What You Want... This Is What You Get (1983)
Charted: 5
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • On this song, Public Image Ltd. lead singer John Lydon takes the persona of a corporate fat cat, arrogantly explaining how he knows what's best. It is, of course, satire. Lydon rarely got on well with any of his corporate overlords and takes a dim view of big business.

    It's a theme that remained relevant decades later; in our 2015 interview with Lydon, he discussed the song. "Big business considers itself very wise, when in fact, it's not," he said. "It's a headless chicken of greed and selfishness and all of the things that make life for the rest of us unbearable."
  • Lydon came up with the title and concept for this track after someone at his record company asked him about writing a nice, marketable love song. This song was a response to that request.
  • PiL drummer Martin Atkins and guitarist Keith Levene wrote the music for this track, while Lydon supplied the lyrics. They recorded the song in 1982-1983 during sessions for the This Is What You Want... This Is What You Get album, but Levene left the band before the album was completed, and a new version was recorded for the album. This leaves two distinct versions of the song, best identified by which one has a horn section.

    The horn version is the one on the album (recorded without Levene), and issued as a 12" single in Europe and Japan - this is also the one edited down as a 7" single. The other version appears on the B-side of the 12" single as "Re-Remixed Version," and is the one used in the video. This version appears as "Love Song" on Commercial Zone, a 1984 album of recordings Levene took from the This Is What You Want sessions that he released without consent.
  • This really isn't a love song: we know because Lydon repeats the title 44 times.
  • The video was filmed in Century City, a flashy business area in Los Angeles with lots of tall buildings. Lydon plays the role of a tycoon, riding around in a classic car as he looks over his kingdom. According to Lydon, the car wasn't as nice as it looks: it was assembled from a kit with an old Ford engine used to power it.
  • This was the biggest hit for Public Image, Ltd., reaching #5 in the UK. Lydon was surprised the song was so popular, as he felt it was the most spiteful song he'd ever written.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Mike Love of The Beach Boys

Mike Love of The Beach BoysSongwriter Interviews

The lead singer/lyricist of The Beach Boys talks about coming up with the words for "Good Vibrations," "Fun, Fun, Fun," "Kokomo" and other classic songs.

Jim McCarty of The Yardbirds

Jim McCarty of The YardbirdsSongwriter Interviews

The Yardbirds drummer explains how they created their sound and talks about working with their famous guitarists.

American Hits With Foreign Titles

American Hits With Foreign TitlesSong Writing

What are the biggest US hits with French, Spanish (not "Rico Suave"), Italian, Scottish, Greek, and Japanese titles?

He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss): A History Of Abuse Pop

He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss): A History Of Abuse PopSong Writing

Songs that seem to glorify violence against women are often misinterpreted - but not always.

The Police

The PoliceFact or Fiction

Do their first three albums have French titles? Is "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" really meaningless? See if you can tell in this Fact or Fiction.

Laura Nyro

Laura NyroSongwriting Legends

Laura Nyro talks about her complex, emotionally rich songwriting and how she supports women's culture through her art.