I was living in Denmark Street in 1977 – that’s where we used to rehearse. Glen [Matlock] was still in the band, and he came up with the riff for “God Save the Queen”. John wrote the lyrics. Me, Paul Cook and Glen would jam around in there, and John would basically sit in the corner, scribbling words down. That’s how it came about. When we recorded it, with Chris Thomas and Bill Price, it was different. Glen had left at this point – the only song he played on was “Anarchy in the UK”. And so I ended up playing the bass on “God Save the Queen”. I played the bass on most of the album, actually. Sid [Vicious] played on a couple of songs, but I just remember, they had a completely different sound than “Anarchy”.
“Anarchy” was very big and there were some interesting guitar sounds, and “God Save the Queen” was kind of a dry sound. But it was great. It was very powerful. I had to give Sid a crash course in how to play the bass, which was pretty tough. He looked great though – it was a shame, he had that dark cloud over him. I couldn’t see him getting old. We had a couple of years where it was magic – it really was. I didn’t particularly like hanging out with John… Cookie was my mate. And I actually liked hanging out with [Sex Pistols manager Malcolm] McLaren. I like John, but he can turn on you quickly. I’ve only got respect for him, though. And of course, the statement was… you know.
