Malcolm McLaren in Please Kill Me:
Richard Hell was a definite, 100 percent inspiration, and, in fact, I remember telling the Sex Pistols, “Write a song like ‘Blank Generation,’ but write your own bloody version,” and their own version was “Pretty Vacant.”
[Verse 1]
There's no point in asking, you'll get no reply
Oh, just remember I don't decide
I got no reason, it's all too much
You'll always find us out to lunch
[Chorus]
Oh, we're so pretty, oh, so pretty
We're vacant
Oh, we're so pretty, oh, so pretty
A vacant
[Verse 2]
Don't ask us to attend 'cause we're not all there
Oh, I don't pretend 'cause I don't care
I don't believe illusions 'cause too much is real
Stuff your cheap comments 'cause we know what we feel
[Chorus]
Oh, we're so pretty, oh, so pretty
We're vacant
Oh, we're so pretty, oh, so pretty
A vacant
Oh, we're so pretty, oh, so pretty
And now
And we don't care
[Verse 3]
There's no point in asking, you'll get no reply
Oh, I just remembered I don't decide
I got no reason, it's all too much
You'll always find me out to lunch
We're out at lunch
[Chorus]
Oh, we're so pretty, oh, so pretty
We're vacant
Oh, we're so pretty, oh, so pretty
We're vacant
Oh, we're so pretty, oh, so pretty
And now
And we don't care
[Outro]
We're pretty
A pretty vacant
We're pretty
A pretty vacant
We're pretty
A pretty vacant
We're pretty
A pretty vacant
And we don't care
Pretty Vacant was written by Glen Matlock & John Lydon & Steve Jones & Paul Cook.
Pretty Vacant was produced by Dave Goodman & Bill Price & Chris Thomas.
Sex Pistols released Pretty Vacant on Thu Oct 27 1977.
Original Sex Pistols bass player Glen Mattock in an interview with Songfacts.com was asked if he had “a hand in writing the lyrics for other Pistols songs.” Matlock says;
“The one I did have a major hand on writing – I wrote all of it – was ‘Pretty Vacant.’ That was one of the very first songs that...