Sid Vicious | Through the Shattered Lens

On October 12th, 1978, a 20 year-old, heroin addict named Nancy Spungeon was discovered dead in the bathroom of her room at the Chelsea Hotel. Nancy was best-known for being the girlfriend of Sid Vicious, the bassist of the Sex Pistols. The police arrested Vicious and charged him with second degree murder. Vicious initially said that he couldn’t remember what had happened the previous night because he had been knocked out on barbiturates. While being interrogated, Vicious changed his story and said that he and Nancy had an argument during the night but that he hadn’t meant to kill her when he stabbed her. Later, Vicious said that Nancy fell on the knife but Vicious was such a heavy drug user that many felt it was doubtful he had any real memory of anything that might have happened that night. After pleading not guilty, Vicious was released on $50,000 bail but he was sent right back to Riker’s after assaulting Todd Smith (brother of Patti Smith) at a nightclub. At Riker’s Vicious went through a detox program before being once again released on bail. Vicious died of a heroin overdose the night after he was released.

Who Killed Nancy? is a documentary about Sid and Nancy’s relationship and Nancy’s death. The film features interviews with friends and cotemporaries of the couple. (Glen Matlock is the only former Sex Pistol to be interviewed, though Malcolm McLaren is heard in archival footage.) Sid Vicious comes across as being a deeply damaged individual with no impulse control. Listening to some of the things that Vicious did before finding fame as the sneering face of punk rock, it is easy to believe that, as much as he did love Nancy, he was also capable of losing his control and killing her. Glen Matlock’s flatmate describes how he was traumatized for life by watching Sid strangle a stray cat. Others describe Sid as being childlike and almost innocent, a shy virgin until he met Nancy. But anyone who could strangle an animal has obviously got some screws loose.

However, the documentary also makes a convincing argument that, even if he was capable of impulsive violence, Vicious was so wasted on the night of Nancy’s death that he couldn’t have even lifted a knife, much less stabbed someone with it. The documentary suggests that Nancy was murdered by one of the many drug dealers who were coming in-and-out of the couple’s hotel room. Unfortunately, due to his own public image, it was easy for the press and the public to assume that Sid committed the crime and, suicidal after Nancy’s death, it was easy for Sid to convince himself that he must have been responsible. If the documentary is correct about Sid’s innocence, at least one person got away with murder. It’s an interesting documentary. You do have to feel bad for Nancy. Even in death, none of the interviewees seems to be willing to say anything nice about her. After all these years, she is still being blamed for Sid Vicious’s downfall but, as this documentary makes clear, Sid was probably doomed whether or he met Nancy or not.

If there ever was a song one should live their life by it would be this song. A song written by singer-songwriter Paul Anka whose melody was based off of the French song “Comme d’habitude” by French musicians Claude François and Jacques Revaux, but in the end popularized by the Chairman of the Board himself, Frank Sinatra. I speak of the classic song, “My Way” and it’s my pick for the latest song of the day.

The song was released in 1969 from Sinatra’s album of the same name. It became Sinatra’s signature song and has become a staple of karaoke bars everywhere and the one song guys are more than willing to belt out sober or not (though the more alcohol consumed the louder and more forceful the singing which always adds to the effect). The lyrics and theme of the song speak about a man (or one can also say woman as well) looking back at his life at the tail end of his days and liking what he’s seen and how he’s lived.

It’s a song so beloved by many music lovers that it’s been covered by so many musicians from so many differing musical backgrounds. From Elvis Presley, Nina Simone and Nina Hagen and even punk and symphonic metal versions by Sid Vicious and Northern Kings, respectively. There’s nothing about this song that doesn’t speak to a man about how one should conduct themselves through their life. And this is perfectly pointed out by this particular lyric in the song which also happens to be my favorite: “Regrets, I’ve had a few; But then again, too few to mention.”

So, this very early October morning of 2010, the latest song of the day also happens to be my favorite song ever. Long live Ol’ Blue Eyes.

My Way

And now, the end is near;
And so I face the final curtain.
My friend, I’ll say it clear,
I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain.

I’ve lived a life that’s full.
I’ve traveled each and ev’ry highway;
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Regrets, I’ve had a few;
But then again, too few to mention.
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption.

I planned each charted course;
Each careful step along the byway,
But more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Yes, there were times, I’m sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew.
But through it all, when there was doubt,
I ate it up and spit it out.
I faced it all and I stood tall;
And did it my way.

I’ve loved, I’ve laughed and cried.
I’ve had my fill; my share of losing.
And now, as tears subside,
I find it all so amusing.

To think I did all that;
And may I say – not in a shy way,
“Oh no, oh no not me,
I did it my way”.

For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught.
To say the things he truly feels;
And not the words of one who kneels.
The record shows I took the blows –
And did it my way!

Yes, it was my way