Belsen Was a Gas
Encyclopedia
"Belsen Was a Gas" is one of the most controversial songs by the British
punk rock
band Sex Pistols
. The song is about one of the concentration camps in Germany
during World War II
, i.e. Bergen-Belsen
, which was liberated by British troops in 1945, and was consequently more well-known in that country than similar camps in Eastern Europe (Belsen is also mentioned in their song "Holidays in the Sun
").
is often credited with having written the song while in his earlier band The Flowers of Romance
, as a sheet of handwritten lyrics purported to be in his hand appears in Jon Savage
's book England's Dreaming. He is supposed to have written it as a joke; in an interview he claimed that when writing the song he was trying to be ironic. Its title is a pun on the Zyklon B
gas used in many camps; "Belsen was a Gas", "a Gas" being 1960s/1970s street slang for "great". In fact, there were no gas chambers at Bergen-Belsen, as it was not one of the extermination camps; most of the around 37,000 deaths there were due to typhus
or, starvation
The darkly humorous lyrics were designed to offend that generation then in charge of running the country who had grown up during World War II, and for whom the Holocaust was an extremely sensitive subject, with the Belsen concentration camp holding a particular place of horror in the older British generation's psyche because Nazi propaganda
films, which had portrayed the camp in the early stages of the Nazi regime (particularly for the foreign press) as being a well run camp for Jewish families trying to emigrate out of Nazi Germany
(something seized upon by Nazi apologists within the UK such as Oswald Mosley
).
The song was another attempt by the group to outrage that generation they believed were responsible for many of the ills within Britain at that time by writing about highly sensitive or controversial subject matter. Sid Vicious
often wore a swastika
shirt for the shock value, and in keeping with the musical Cabaret
s style of dress for members of the Kit-Kat Club adopted by members of the Bromley Contingent
. Cabaret was popular among the early punk rock movement, because many saw similarities in 1970s Britain with the last chaotic years of the Weimar Republic
this musical was set in.
John Lydon
would later indicate that he felt with this song, the group's shock tactics crossed the line into gratuitous bad taste. In an interview conducted for Q magazine in 1996 he stated "[the song] was a very nasty, silly little thing... that should've ended up on the cutting room floor". He also took the opportunity to claim responsibility for the lyrics.
Many of these describe a grotesque, sarcastic version of what occurred. The opening lines are:
The song appears in two versions on The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle
album, first a live version from the Sex Pistols' last concert (San Francisco, January 14, 1978), then in an altered studio version with Ronnie Biggs
on vocals. Biggs insisted on altering the lyrics - he later claimed as he'd read the published diary of Anne Frank
, Belsen's most famous victim - with an additional verse. The second verse describes some of the treatment Jews received:
For whatever reason, the version with Biggs is also altered in its musical composition. In the original version done with Rotten, the main theme is a power chord
riff that goes D, C, D, E♭ (plays with "Belsen was a gas, I heard the other day"). When rerecorded for the Biggs version, that theme is drastically altered to D, C, B♭, C. Thus, the tension of the original version (from the use of E flat in a song based in D) is quite deflated.
The Biggs remake also ends with a saxophone solo, unheard in Pistols material until this point. The original, on the other hand, ends with Johnny Rotten haranguing the listener to "Be a man / Kill a man / Be someone / Kill someone / Be a man / Kill yourself!" as the music abruptly stops. There is a brief, shocked hush before the audience applauds. Of this version of the song, Lester Bangs
wrote, "It's one of the most frightening things I've ever heard. You wonder exactly what you might be affirming by listening to this over and over again. On one level Johnny Rotten/Lydon is an insect buzzing atop the massed ruins of a civilization leveled by itself, which I suppose justifies him right there, on another level he's just another trafficker in cheap nihilism with all that it includes — cheap racism
, sexism
, etc. I'm still not comfortable with "Bodies
." But then I never was, which may be the point. But then I wonder if he is. After which I cease to wonder at anything beyond the power of this music."
Both versions of the song are credited to Steve Jones
, Paul Cook
, Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious as composers (even though the lyrics for the second version were rewritten by Ronnie Biggs). On most versions of the album, the live version is listed in Gothic script as "Einmal Belsen war vortrefflich" and Biggs' version is "Einmal Belsen war wirklich vortrefflich"; these grammatically erroneous German
titles translate more or less as "Once, Belsen was brilliant" and "Once, Belsen was really brilliant". The first UK sleeve gave the titles as "Belsen Was a Gas" and "Belsen Vos a Gassa".
The 2002 Sex Pistols box set includes another live version of "Belsen Was a Gas" on disc 3. This version was recorded on January 10, 1978 at the Longhorn Ballroom, Dallas.
's brand Solo Mobile
was subject to controversy after the song's title appeared in one of its advertisements.
Was a Blast
", as an attack on President George W. Bush's
policies in the region. At the first of the band's Brixton Academy shows in November 2007, the song was performed in a further adapted version, this time as "Brixton Was a Blast".
The second version with Ronnie Biggs was originally slated to be a single, but after the airplay and record shop ban on the earlier single, "No One Is Innocent
" (due to Biggs being the lead vocalist), this idea was dropped.
Sid Vicious, allegedly being one of the composers, performed and released the song on his sole solo album, Sid Sings
. Following the best-known official version by the Sex Pistols, Vicious' is yet again a live recording, which is introduced on the album as "[written] by Sid Vicious!".
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
. The song is about one of the concentration camps in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, i.e. Bergen-Belsen
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Bergen-Belsen was a Nazi concentration camp in Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle...
, which was liberated by British troops in 1945, and was consequently more well-known in that country than similar camps in Eastern Europe (Belsen is also mentioned in their song "Holidays in the Sun
Holidays in the Sun
"Holidays in the Sun" is a song by the English punk rock band the Sex Pistols. It was released on 14 October 1977 as the fourth and final single from their only album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. A number eight chart hit in the UK, the single proved to be the last with singer...
").
Composer
Sid ViciousSid Vicious
Sid Vicious was an English musician best known as the bassist of the influential punk rock group Sex Pistols...
is often credited with having written the song while in his earlier band The Flowers of Romance
The Flowers of Romance (band)
The Flowers of Romance were an early punk band, formed in mid-1976 by Jo Faull and Sarah Hall. The band never played live or released any recordings, and, like London SS and Masters of the Backside, are more famed for the number of band members that later became well known, including: Sid Vicious...
, as a sheet of handwritten lyrics purported to be in his hand appears in Jon Savage
Jon Savage
Jon Savage , real name Jonathon Sage, is a Cambridge-educated writer, broadcaster and music journalist, best known for his award winning history of the Sex Pistols and punk music, England's Dreaming, published in 1991.-Career:...
's book England's Dreaming. He is supposed to have written it as a joke; in an interview he claimed that when writing the song he was trying to be ironic. Its title is a pun on the Zyklon B
Zyklon B
Zyklon B was the trade name of a cyanide-based pesticide infamous for its use by Nazi Germany to kill human beings in gas chambers of extermination camps during the Holocaust. The "B" designation indicates one of two types of Zyklon...
gas used in many camps; "Belsen was a Gas", "a Gas" being 1960s/1970s street slang for "great". In fact, there were no gas chambers at Bergen-Belsen, as it was not one of the extermination camps; most of the around 37,000 deaths there were due to typhus
Typhus
Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...
or, starvation
The darkly humorous lyrics were designed to offend that generation then in charge of running the country who had grown up during World War II, and for whom the Holocaust was an extremely sensitive subject, with the Belsen concentration camp holding a particular place of horror in the older British generation's psyche because Nazi propaganda
Nazi propaganda
Propaganda, the coordinated attempt to influence public opinion through the use of media, was skillfully used by the NSDAP in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's leadership of Germany...
films, which had portrayed the camp in the early stages of the Nazi regime (particularly for the foreign press) as being a well run camp for Jewish families trying to emigrate out of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
(something seized upon by Nazi apologists within the UK such as Oswald Mosley
Oswald Mosley
Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet, of Ancoats, was an English politician, known principally as the founder of the British Union of Fascists...
).
The song was another attempt by the group to outrage that generation they believed were responsible for many of the ills within Britain at that time by writing about highly sensitive or controversial subject matter. Sid Vicious
Sid Vicious
Sid Vicious was an English musician best known as the bassist of the influential punk rock group Sex Pistols...
often wore a swastika
Swastika
The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
shirt for the shock value, and in keeping with the musical Cabaret
Cabaret (musical)
Cabaret is a musical based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1966 Broadway production became a hit and spawned a 1972 film as well as numerous subsequent productions....
s style of dress for members of the Kit-Kat Club adopted by members of the Bromley Contingent
Bromley Contingent
The Bromley Contingent is a label invented by journalist Caroline Coon about a group of followers and fans of the Sex Pistols. They owed their name to Bromley, a suburb of London, in the county of Kent, where some of them lived. They helped popularize the fashion of the early UK punk movement...
. Cabaret was popular among the early punk rock movement, because many saw similarities in 1970s Britain with the last chaotic years of the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
this musical was set in.
John Lydon
John Lydon
John Joseph Lydon , also known by the former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a singer-songwriter and television presenter, best known as the lead singer of punk rock band the Sex Pistols from 1975 until 1978, and again for various revivals during the 1990s and 2000s...
would later indicate that he felt with this song, the group's shock tactics crossed the line into gratuitous bad taste. In an interview conducted for Q magazine in 1996 he stated "[the song] was a very nasty, silly little thing... that should've ended up on the cutting room floor". He also took the opportunity to claim responsibility for the lyrics.
Many of these describe a grotesque, sarcastic version of what occurred. The opening lines are:
- Belsen was a gas, I heard the other day
- In the open graves where the Jews all lay
- "Life is fun and I wish you were here"
- They wrote on postcards to those held dear.
The song appears in two versions on The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle
The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle (album)
The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle is the soundtrack album of the film of the same name. Although released under Sex Pistols' name, it includes performances by other artists.- Production :...
album, first a live version from the Sex Pistols' last concert (San Francisco, January 14, 1978), then in an altered studio version with Ronnie Biggs
Ronnie Biggs
Ronald Arthur "Ronnie" Biggs is an English criminal, known for his role in the Great Train Robbery of 1963, for his escape from prison in 1965, for living as a fugitive for 36 years and for his various publicity stunts while in exile. In 2001, he voluntarily returned to the United Kingdom and...
on vocals. Biggs insisted on altering the lyrics - he later claimed as he'd read the published diary of Anne Frank
Anne Frank
Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank is one of the most renowned and most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Acknowledged for the quality of her writing, her diary has become one of the world's most widely read books, and has been the basis for several plays and films.Born in the city of Frankfurt...
, Belsen's most famous victim - with an additional verse. The second verse describes some of the treatment Jews received:
- Dentists searched their teeth for gold
- Frisk the Jews for banknotes fold
- When they found out what they'd got,
- "Line them up and shoot the lot".
For whatever reason, the version with Biggs is also altered in its musical composition. In the original version done with Rotten, the main theme is a power chord
Power chord
In music, a power chord is a chord consisting of only the root note of the chord and the fifth interval, usually played on electric guitar, and typically through an amplification process that imparts distortion...
riff that goes D, C, D, E♭ (plays with "Belsen was a gas, I heard the other day"). When rerecorded for the Biggs version, that theme is drastically altered to D, C, B♭, C. Thus, the tension of the original version (from the use of E flat in a song based in D) is quite deflated.
The Biggs remake also ends with a saxophone solo, unheard in Pistols material until this point. The original, on the other hand, ends with Johnny Rotten haranguing the listener to "Be a man / Kill a man / Be someone / Kill someone / Be a man / Kill yourself!" as the music abruptly stops. There is a brief, shocked hush before the audience applauds. Of this version of the song, Lester Bangs
Lester Bangs
Leslie Conway "Lester" Bangs was an American music journalist, author and musician. He wrote for Creem and Rolling Stone magazines, and was known for his leading influence in rock 'n' roll criticism....
wrote, "It's one of the most frightening things I've ever heard. You wonder exactly what you might be affirming by listening to this over and over again. On one level Johnny Rotten/Lydon is an insect buzzing atop the massed ruins of a civilization leveled by itself, which I suppose justifies him right there, on another level he's just another trafficker in cheap nihilism with all that it includes — cheap racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
, sexism
Sexism
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
, etc. I'm still not comfortable with "Bodies
Bodies (Sex Pistols song)
"Bodies" is a Sex Pistols song about abortion from the 1977 album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. The lyrics contain very graphic imagery about a terminated fetus and feature a great deal of profanity for the time: the third and final verse begins with a couplet in which the word...
." But then I never was, which may be the point. But then I wonder if he is. After which I cease to wonder at anything beyond the power of this music."
Both versions of the song are credited to Steve Jones
Steve Jones (musician)
Stephen Philip "Steve" Jones is an English rock guitarist, singer and actor, best known as guitarist and founding member of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols.-Childhood:...
, Paul Cook
Paul Cook
Paul Thomas Cook is an English drummer and member of the punk rock band Sex Pistols.-Early life and career:...
, Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious as composers (even though the lyrics for the second version were rewritten by Ronnie Biggs). On most versions of the album, the live version is listed in Gothic script as "Einmal Belsen war vortrefflich" and Biggs' version is "Einmal Belsen war wirklich vortrefflich"; these grammatically erroneous German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
titles translate more or less as "Once, Belsen was brilliant" and "Once, Belsen was really brilliant". The first UK sleeve gave the titles as "Belsen Was a Gas" and "Belsen Vos a Gassa".
The 2002 Sex Pistols box set includes another live version of "Belsen Was a Gas" on disc 3. This version was recorded on January 10, 1978 at the Longhorn Ballroom, Dallas.
Solo Mobile
Bell MobilityBell Mobility
Bell Mobility is a CDMA and HSPA+ based wireless network and the division of Bell Canada which sells wireless services in Canada...
's brand Solo Mobile
Solo Mobile
Solo Mobile is a mobile brand in Canada started by Bell Mobility in 2000. Solo is considered a discount wireless brand, offering low price monthly plans with some unlimited options in certain cities...
was subject to controversy after the song's title appeared in one of its advertisements.
Other versions
When Sex Pistols reformed for a reunion tour of the U.S. in 2003, after the start of the Iraq War, they performed an adapted version of the song, called "BaghdadBaghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
Was a Blast
Explosion
An explosion is a rapid increase in volume and release of energy in an extreme manner, usually with the generation of high temperatures and the release of gases. An explosion creates a shock wave. If the shock wave is a supersonic detonation, then the source of the blast is called a "high explosive"...
", as an attack on President George W. Bush's
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
policies in the region. At the first of the band's Brixton Academy shows in November 2007, the song was performed in a further adapted version, this time as "Brixton Was a Blast".
The second version with Ronnie Biggs was originally slated to be a single, but after the airplay and record shop ban on the earlier single, "No One Is Innocent
No One Is Innocent
"No One Is Innocent" was the fifth single by the British punk rock band Sex Pistols. It was released on 30 June 1978. The Sex Pistols had split up early in 1978, losing bassist Sid Vicious and original lead vocalist Johnny Rotten...
" (due to Biggs being the lead vocalist), this idea was dropped.
Sid Vicious, allegedly being one of the composers, performed and released the song on his sole solo album, Sid Sings
Sid Sings
Sid Sings is the title of punk rocker Sid Vicious's posthumous solo album. It was released on December 15, 1979 and peaked at number 30 on the British album charts.The album features the two singles, "My Way", and "Something Else"...
. Following the best-known official version by the Sex Pistols, Vicious' is yet again a live recording, which is introduced on the album as "[written] by Sid Vicious!".