Punk & the Swastika
Songs & Lyrics

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If punk was to be considered right wing in any way then there really should be some sort of evidence in it expressed in the lyrics and record covers.

Point 1 - No record cover from 1976-79 featured a band or cover with any swastikas or racist/right wing overtones.

Point 2  - A handful of songs have contentious subject matter some of which can be explained away by irony and cynicism and some can't -  they are just stupid. In a movement like punk its inevitable the line will be crossed at some stage.

Point 3 - Every band below at some stage made some anti fascist statement either in the press or in action at RAR gigs.



Cimmarons & Gen X Hackney Empire 1978

'Belsen Was A Gas', written by Sid Vicious when he was in The Flowers Of Romance with Viv Albertine (Slits), is a horrific song. The Sex Pistols never recorded it but it is on the 'Rock'n'Roll Swindle'. The thing is it is so over the top that it reminds me of 'Friggin In The Riggin' in its desire to shock. It works on that level but only an idiot with an iq of 0 could take this seriously. Unfortunately there are plenty of idiots out there
 
Belsen was a gas
I read the other day
About the open graves
Where all the Jews all lay

Life is fun, and 
Wish you all were here
Was what they wrote on postcards
To who they held dear

Belsen was divine if you survived the train
Then when you got inside its auf wiedersein

I feel like a wog I don't wanna go home
I've got a lot of life to run through.
I feel like a wog I don't mean you no harm
Just don't ask me to shine your shoes.

Chorus.
Golly Gee; Golly Gosh / Don't call me your golly wog.
Golly Gee; Golly Gosh / Don't call me your golly wog.

 'I Feel Like A Wog' - The Stranglers
If you look at my Stranglers page you will see that the Stranglers, though intelligent, liked to sometimes approach things without subtlety. If you read the lyrics you would have to be again an idiot with an IQ of 0 to construe this song as racist. Basically the song is about alienation. The use of the word 'wog' is certainly offensive but the song would lose any impact if any other word was substituted.

I'm a fascist dictator, yeah that's what I am
I'm a fascist dictator, I ain't like no other man

The first time I heard it I decide the Cortinas were klutzes who deserved to have their eyelids nailed to a plastic iron cross...I reconsider and realised they were just sheltered boys who had never had National Front thugs marching past the end of their street. Tony Parsons NME 25.6.77

Actually the song Fascist Dictator is about love but lyrically ambiguous in that it mentions 'fascist dictator' as part of a very catchy chorus.
'Nazi Baby' by the Vibrators
A very old Vibrators song. If you take out the word 'Nazi' from the title and chorus there is nothing in the rest of the song that even links it to anything.  Nothing more.

Mind you why did they call it Nazi Baby? Again though its part of a catchy chorus.
(I wanna form my own) Nazi Party - The Models described by themselves as a  "cynical look at all the silly punks who wear Nazi armbands." The song was never released.

Viv Goldman of sounds commented in Sniffing Glue that people might miss that cynicism "...while cheerfully marching out of the gig singing that they want to form their own Nazi party... and that ain't no joke." Sniffin' Glue 9
'Love In a Void'  - Siouxsie and the Banshees.
As the most visual exponent of swastika wearing, having a song that originally contained the line 'Too many jews for my liking' was not the wisest move to allay critics. This was explained by the band as there being "too many fat businessmen." Just as bad stereotyping Jews as fat businessman. The line was changed and never officially released with it. Later Siouxsie did RAR gigs and featured the work of anti Nazi John Heartfield on record sleeves.
A chick like you is oh so rare
You get off on his greasy hair
You've got a smart apartment
You've got central heating
Why go waste it on a Puerto Rican

I'm gonna light up a beacon
On A Puerto Rican
Strike a matchstick on his head
Light up a beacon
on a Puerto Rican
Watch me smile as he drops down dead.

Puerto Rican - Adam & The Ants
 Stewart Home makes the point that the song was "...an attack on racism...he simply confronted his audience with bigotry and hate." and that audiences would view the song as ironic as the band had a mixed race drummer.

A lot of Adam's early lyrics were about taboo subjects. However the lyrics are still dodgy to me and even more so if you have to know the bands races to get the irony. Again never officially released and again the band played RAR gigs.
White Riot  - The Clash
Hard to credit but some people did actually believe this was call to the white population to riot and that it was a racist song. The Clash were quick to settle any misinterpretations both in actions, interviews and gigs.

   
So there you have it. Some dumb, some stupid and some shocking words but not enough to base any racism claims.

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