Sex Pistols - No One Is Innocent / My Way (aka The Biggest Blow)
Original Release Date
1978Release Information
UK 7" 1978 (Virgin - VS 220)
A
1
No One Is Innocent (A Punk Prayer By Ronald Biggs) 3:00
A
2
My Way 4:05
Chart Placings
UK Chart Hit: 7, 10 wksCredits
1: Produced by Steve Jones
2: A Matrixbest Production
From the forthcoming film The Great Rock N Roll Swindle
Additional Credits
'No One Is Innocent':
Steve Jones - guitar and bass
Paul Cook - drums
Ronnie Biggs - vocals
Recorded in Rio, January/February 1978
'My Way':
Sid Vicious - vocals
Claude Engel -guitar
Sauveur Mallia - bass
Pierre-Alain Dahan - drums
Simon Jeffes - orchestral arrangement
Recorded April 1978 at Studio de la Grande Armée
Sleeve design by Jamie Reid
Reviews & Opinions
SOUNDS, JUNE 1978: Biggsie blows it. Imagine the Nuremberg Rally colliding with the World Cup Final Glencoe. And Sid Vicious on bass. Despite a marvellous chorus effectively countering Ronnie’s erratic and wayward rantings on "Blow", colliding with the Massacre of the shoddy gimmickry of it all serves to demean the worth and importance of the previous work under the Sex Pistols banner. Sorry to throw the stuffy moralist bit at you, but this glorification of Uncle Ronnie as a loveable outlaw in the Robin Hood tradition (when he was merely an unwanted passenger in the train robbery) is rather foolish; and the Pistols’ pose as fellow wronged renegades is utterly juvenile. Lyrics which urge “God save Martin Bormann and Nazi’s on the run / They wasn’t being wicked it was their idea of fun” don’t exactly inspire sympathy. And with Myra Hindley, Ian Brady and Idi Amin also getting honourable mentions, it’s several miles the wrong side of the healthy outrage they’ve perpetrated in the past.
PUNKY GIBBON: The fifth Pistols' single is another cracker, even without Johnny Rotten, who had just quit. The main song, 'No One Is Innocent' is a terrific tongue-in-cheek call for forgiveness with an unforgettable football chant-type chorus and diabolical vocals from Ronnie Biggs. A fine punk tune. 'My Way' is actually Sid solo: Jones was too drunk to play guitar, and Cook wasn't even present. The rhythm section was from a French disco/funk band called Voyage, and the guitarwork was by a bloke called Claude Engel, who makes a noise just like Jonesey. Sid's side is hilarious, witty, stupid, pathetic and brilliant, and should have been the main song (it was in France).
PAT GILBERT, MOJO 100 PUNK SCORCHERS, OCTOBER 2001: Sid's 'My Way' encapsulated everything wonderful and silly about the post-Rotten Pistols. [full review here]
Additional Notes
'My Way' listed on the UK label as 3.03 but is actually 4:05. A-Side subtitled 'A Punk Prayer By Ronald Biggs' only on labels. Both songs later were issued on The Great Rock N Roll Swindle. This was also issued as a 12" single entitled The Biggest Blow, which has the same versions of songs but some pressings additionally have an uncredited interview with Cook, Jones and Biggs. Read the full story of the recording of 'My Way' here.
