March
27th marks the 40th anniversary of the release of Public Image Ltd’s
fourth single, The Flowers of Romance. The song title is a reference to
the near mythical short lived 1976 punk band that Sid Vicious was a
member of before joining the Sex Pistols. The group’s fluctuating
lineup also included such luminaries as Palmolive, Viv Albertine &
Keith Levene; among others. They never recorded or performed, but left
enough of an impression on John Lydon that he immortalized them in the
title of this song and the subsequent LP which followed.
After
well over a year’s wait for new material, Metal Box being released in
November of 1979, the song itself was the world’s first peek at a post
Jah Wobble PiL. With his acrimonious departure after their US tour the
prior year, the remaining members had decided that the best way to cope
with losing their bassist was to simply drop the instrument from their
arsenal. Instead, the focus became percussion and Flowers highlights
this with its tribal tom-toms and Spanish Flamenco style hand-claps.
The rest of the track is built from droning cello, aberrant violin and a
sax solo that sounds like the instrument got caught in a tornado. The
rest is Lydon’s wailing vocals with lyrics bringing to mind fragmented
images of disillusioned romanticism, worn out nostalgia and abandonment.
For all practical purposes, this could easily be seen as a
solo song for Johnny as he played just about everything except the
percussion, which was apparently done by an uncredited Martin Atkins.
When the band mimed the song on Top of the Pops, Jeannette Lee took on
the cello while Keith played the drums. Of course, Jeannette never
played anything, but she was responsible for the lovely Polaroid photo
of John adorning the front cover of the single.
The non-album
B-side, Home Is Where the Heart Is, is a heavily dub-mixed reworking of a
previously unfinished song that originated during the 1979 Metal Box
sessions and which can be heard on a few live bootlegs from the band’s
short US tour in the spring/summer of 1980. Wobble’s bass part was
rerecorded by Keith, who created a tape loop of it for the finished
version and Martin Atkins, again, plays drums and, AGAIN, misses a
credit as the single mistakenly lists original PiL drummer, Jim Walker,
in the writing credits.
The single peaked at #24 in the UK charts
and was listed as the single of the week by NME upon its release with
the reviewer calling it a “sheer delight” and “One of the starkest, most
single-minded pieces they've ever done.” It would certainly do the job
in terms of setting the stage for the outrageously uncompromising album
that they were about to unleash upon an unsuspecting fan base.
