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SID SINGS
The story of the development of Sid Sings.
A God Save The Sex Pistols' world exclusive!

Amended January 2013

Virgin do not have the tapes that were used to make Sid Sings.
Original tape reels are the property of Gary Luney and have been provided by Gary for
exclusive reproduction on www.sex-pistols.net.
Presented here are four reels of mixes and a completed reel for side two of the album,
plus reels for Born To Lose and "speech."

Above. This reel is titled Huddersfield. Born to Lose. Gary Luney, comments: "Born To Lose is definitely from the Sex Pistols' Huddersfield show (25th December 1977).
Both of Sid's songs (the other being Chinese Rocks) are on one small reel and there is no gap between the songs; the band goes straight from one song into the other."
Above. Client: Virgin. Artiste: Sid Vicious. Producer: Boogie/JV (John Varnom). Engineer: Chris Jenkins
Reel 1 of 2, dated 27th October, '79.
Born To Lose (too much bass) / Dog - 2 takes / Stepping Stone / Take A Chance / Search and Destroy / Chatterbox / Something Else / Born To Lose (better version).
Above. Reel 2 of 2, dated 27th October, '79.
Stepping Stone (version 2) / No Lip / Belsen / Search and Destroy (compression and phasing at end) / Search and Destroy (strongest compression - crossed out) / 2nd Dog / Take A Chance / Chatterbox / Something Else.
Above. Reel 1of 1, dated 30th October, '79.
Belsen Was a Gas / Chinese Rock ("Chinese Cocks") / My Way ("I Killed A Cat") / No Lip / Steppin Stone
Above. Reel 4 of 4, dated 31st October, '79.
Steppin Stone / Belsen / Chatterbox 1 / Chatterbox 2 / Something Else / Chinese Rocks / My Way ("Killed The Cat") / No Lip / Born To Lose + Speech
Above. Undated.
Side two final running order: Belsen Was a Gas (2:01) / Something Else (2:01) / Chatterbox (1:45) / Search and Destroy (3:00) / Chinese Rock (2:40) / I Killed The Cat (1:00). Total Time: 15.02
.

Above. This reel features the speech inserted into the album. Listed above are the following quotations:
Having good fun? Yeah yeah, come on...
Real swell audience maaan.
Good, ain't I?
You want the personal touch I can't be fucking bothered.
'My Way' belch
You wanna hear My Way arseholes?
Did you like it? Fucking great weren't it?
Belsen Was A Gas by Sid Vicious
We're good aren't we? Yanks!
Nice to see someone dancing for a change.
Can you spit over there for a change.
Oh, it's really swell to be here man....Alright
This one's called Something Else.
Is this the personal touch you all wanted?

 

SID SINGS (Virgin V2144) Released December 1979
Breakdown of the songs featured on the album.
Researched by Dino Everett, 2005.

1) Born to Lose - This is the version from the kid's matinee at Huddersfield, Dec 25, 1977 (w/ Sid, Paul Cook & Steve Jones). If you listen to the bass it is not very good and therefore sounds like Sid. Steve can be heard singing backups. Sid sang two songs at the matinee, the other being Chinese Rocks.

2) I Wanna Be Your Dog - 1st set, Max's Kansas City, New York, September 29th

3) Take a Chance with Me - 1st set, September 29th

4) Stepping Stone - 1st set, Max's Kansas City, New York, September 28th

5) My Way - studio version

6) Belsen was a Gas - 1st set, September 28th

7) Something Else - 1st set, September 30th (info amended Jan 13. Previously '1st set, Sept 28')

8) Chatterbox - 1st set, September 28th

9) Search & Destroy - 1st set, September 28th

10) Chinese Rocks - 1st set, September 29th (info amended Jan 13. Previously '1st set, Sept 28')

11) My Way - 1st set, September 29th

There are talking bits edited in from both the 28th & 29th sets, including quite a few from the second set of the 28th, although no music is included from that set. This helps at least make sense out of the fact that the LP's inner sleeve shows a copy of Boogie's notes from the second set of the 28th used during compiling the LP. Until this new tape surfaced I was unsure of which night's set those notes were from. The tapes used for the LP along with the rare "Belsen" demo are probably still in the hands of Boogie, since Virgin no longer has any of them. There are also a few unidentified bits of talking which lead me to believe that the entire second set from September 29th, or perhaps something from the 30th, exists.

As Geant-Vert pointed out in his feature on www.sex-pistols.net, the studio version of "My Way" is the one and only recorded backing take from the Paris sessions. It was the third attempted session and was recorded by sound engineer Emmanuel 'Manu' Guyot on April 10, 1978. Both Steve & Sid were in a state so the studio musicians, Claude Engel (guitar), Sauveur Mallia (bass), & Pierre-Alain Dahan (drums), laid down the initial tracks and is the only recorded take that exists. As Steve pointed out on his radio show on June 1, 2004, he then took the tapes back to the UK, added to them and that was that. Any "new" versions are merely different mixes, not different takes.

This song-by-song breakdown also appears in the Live Resouce section of the site.

Feature compiled by Phil Singleton. Thanks to Gary Luney, Dino Everett, and Chris Roginek

©Gary Luney / www.sex-pistols.net 2005. ©Dino Everett / www.sex-pistols.net 2005. Thanks Chris Roginek 2013
Don't even think about ripping it off. You have been warned.


God Save The Sex Pistols ©Phil Singleton / www.sex-pistols.net 2005/2013
All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced without permission.


God Save the Sex Pistols


God Save The Sex Pistols ©Phil Singleton / www.sex-pistols.net