John Joseph Lydon (born January 31, 1956), also known as Johnny Rotten star… Read Full Bio ↴John Joseph Lydon (born January 31, 1956), also known as Johnny Rotten started his music career as the lead singer of punk band the Sex Pistols.

After the Sex Pistols broke up in 1978, he started Public Image Ltd. also called PiL. The group lasted for fourteen years with John Lydon as the only consistent member. In 2010, Lydon reassembled PIL and embarked on a successful tour of Europe, as well as re-visiting the United States for the first time in 18 years.

In 1997 he released a solo album on called Psycho's Path. He wrote all the songs and played (almost) all the instruments on the album.

Besides music, John has written a book called "Rotten - No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs", been in British reality television show, "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!", hosted the short-lived VH1 show "Rotten TV", co-starred in the movie "Copkiller" along with Harvey Keitel and hosted "It's a Rotten Day", a minute-long, syndicated US radio feature, in which he would offer cynical commentary on the day's headlines.

Stump
John Lydon Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

You can never, ever make a difference
You will always, always be on the defence
Pride and race that don't make no sense
When you couldn't put sense in a sentence
Happy Days
You will condemn in me the things you love the most
Could you ever, ever see the thing right through
Happy days

Or take, maybe an individual point of view
And just what did you ever have to say?
When I look at you, I see sweet F.A!
Old happy days are here again
You will condemn in me, the things you
Love the most
You will condemn and roast the things you want the most
Happy days

You could never find an answer inside a book
And this can only be true because you would never look
You can stand on you head and spout the rhetoric
But the only problem you have, is forensic
Happy days
You ignorant twat
You are too proud
You are too loud
And none of it originates from you
You will condemn and roast the things in me
You love the most
Happy days
Don't you love me
The things you love the most

Happy days
Don't you love me

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to John Lydon's song Stump seem to be addressed to someone who is ignorant and has very little capability of forging his own thoughts or ideas. The individual Lydon is talking to is too proud and too loud, and his opinions and beliefs are not based on proper examination or analysis of the information available. He addresses the listener's over-reliance on race and pride and how those emotions are meaningless because he is not able to put sense in a sentence.

Lydon is saying that the listener is hypocritical, condemning in Lydon the things that they love the most themselves. They cannot see and recognize things through an individual point of view, which hints at the person who is blinded by their own beliefs and cannot assimilate other perspectives, leading them to have a narrow point of view. Their beliefs stem from ignorance and not a rational exploration of the topics or issues, as they can scarcely find the answers within the books. The individual's knowledge and beliefs aren't authentic but are instead a product of their ignorance, and they cannot stand up to close scrutiny, forensic, in this case.

Lydon's message in the song Stump is clear; he is calling out a person who doesn't embrace knowledge, has little knowledge of what they stand for, and whose beliefs are mostly hypocritical. The message in the song appears to be scathing and is best seen as a warning to those that seemingly take pride in their ignorance.

Line by Line Meaning

You can never, ever make a difference
No matter how hard you try, you won't make an impact

You will always, always be on the defence
You'll never take risks, always playing it safe

Pride and race that don't make no sense
Clinging to one's identity and origin is pointless

When you couldn't put sense in a sentence
You're not even articulate enough to convey a coherent thought

Happy Days
A sarcastic reference to a time of happiness

You will condemn in me the things you love the most
You'll criticize and hate on me for embodying what you secretly desire

Could you ever, ever see the thing right through
Can you see the situation for what it truly is?

Or take, maybe an individual point of view
Try to see it from my perspective, or even think for yourself

And just what did you ever have to say?
You never had anything meaningful to contribute

When I look at you, I see sweet F.A!
You're worthless and contribute nothing to society

Old happy days are here again
A continuation of the sarcasm, saying that the happy days were never really happy in the first place

You will condemn in me, the things you Love the most
Repeating earlier line to emphasize the point

You could never find an answer inside a book
You'll never be able to rely on someone else's work

And this can only be true because you would never look
The reason for the lack of knowledge is the lack of effort put in

You can stand on you head and spout the rhetoric
You can talk about theories and beliefs all you want, but it's meaningless if you don't understand it

But the only problem you have, is forensic
You're unable to analyze and understand things deeply

You ignorant twat
Insult implying someone is not only stupid, but also vulgar

You are too proud
You're arrogant and overestimate your abilities

You are too loud
You're obnoxious and draw too much attention to yourself

And none of it originates from you
None of your behavior or persona is genuine, it's all an act

You will condemn and roast the things in me You love the most
Reiterating the point that the person's criticisms are based on their own desires and insecurities

Don't you love me
A final question asking if the person truly has love for Lydon despite their criticisms

The things you love the most
Invoking the idea that the person's criticisms are fueled by their own desires

Happy days
A final ironic statement, reusing the phrase from earlier in the song

Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
Written by: JOHN LYDON

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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