Holidays in the Sun

## Single by Sex Pistols

"**Holidays in the Sun**" is a song by the Sex Pistols. It was released on 14 October 1977 as the band's fourth single and lead track from their only album *Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols*.

On the band's official website, they said of the single: "'Holidays in the Sun' was the Sex Pistols fourth and final single with John Rotten. Rotten would leave the band less than four months later after an ill fated US tour. It was also the first Pistols track to list bassist Sid Vicious amongst the credits; despite the fact he didn't play on the final version." The track was inspired by their trip to the Berlin Wall in March 1977, where they noted of UK's "growing paranoia and hysteria surrounding" the area. "Holidays in the Sun" also became a hit song, peaking at Number 8 in the singles charts."

## Background

In the track-by-track album review, Johnny Rotten explained:

> We decided to have a holiday as band en masse and we grouped ourselves in the Channel Islands and they immediately rejected us. As Sex Pistols, we found ourselves banned just about everywhere. They wouldn't let us stay at any hotel. We marched up and down the beaches looking for somewhere to stay and the whole thing became really pathetic. We bumped into the local gang and the top boy accommodated us for one evening and then we left.
>
> Steve and Paul went home, and me and Sid decided to go to Berlin, because it was the maddest place to go. Me and Sid were thinking, "Bloody hell, if we can't get into somewhere as soft as the Channel Islands, let's go find out what the Berlin Wall is about." And that whole experience was thrilling for me, and that's where "Holidays in the Sun" came from. It was great fun. It was us, from our side, looking over the wall and [the Germans] are pointing guns at us. We couldn't get into East Berlin. They just took one look at us and went, "*No*."
>
>

## Lyrics

**Lyrics**
[Intro]

A cheap holiday in other people's misery

[Verse 1]

I don't wanna holiday in the sun

I wanna go to the new Belsen

I wanna see some history

'Cause now I got a reasonable economy

[Chorus]

Oh, now I got a reason, now I got a reason

Now I got a reason and I'm still waiting

Now I got a reason, now I got a reason to be waiting

The Berlin Wall

[Verse 2]

In Sensurround sound in a two-inch wall

I was waiting for the communist call

I didn't ask for sunshine and I got World War III

I'm looking over the wall and they're looking at me

[Chorus]

Now I got a reason, now I got a reason

Now I got a reason and I'm still waiting

Now I got a reason, now I got a reason to be waiting

The Berlin Wall

[Verse 3]

They're staring all night and they're staring all day

I had no reason to be here at all

And now I got a reason, it's no real reason

And I'm waiting at Berlin Wall

[Bridge]

I gotta go over the Berlin Wall

I don't understand this bit at all

I'm gonna go over and over the Berlin Wall

I gotta go over the Berlin Wall

I'm gonna go over the Berlin Wall

[Guitar Solo]

[Chorus]

Claustrophobia, there's too much paranoia

There's too many closets, oh, when will we fall?

And now I got a reason, it's no real reason to be waiting

At Berlin Wall

[Outro]

I gotta go over the wall

I don't understand this bit at all

This third-rate B-movie show

Cheap dialogue, cheap essential scenery

I gotta go over the wall

I wanna go over the Berlin Wall

Before they come over the Berlin Wall

I don't understand this bit at all

I gotta go over the wall

I wanna go over the Berlin Wall

I gotta go over the Berlin Wall

Before they come over the Berlin Wall

I don't understand this bit at all

Please don't be waiting for me

## References

1. ↑ "Holidays in the Sun 7" (1977)". *sexpistolsofficial.com*.
2. ↑ Grow, Kory (27 October 2017). "Sex Pistols Break Down 'Never Mind the Bollocks' Track by Track". *Rolling Stone*.