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Lydon at a PiL performance in 2022: With a love letter to Europe?
Photo: Jim Dyson/Getty Images
Former Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon is running to represent Ireland in the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest.
He performs under the name of his longtime Post-Pistols band: Public Image Ltd (PiL).
Lydon, known as Johnny Rotten in his punk days in the mid-1970s, has submitted a new PiL song called "Hawaii."
He describes the title himself as a love letter to his wife Nora, to whom he has been married for almost 50 years.
Nora Forster, the daughter of a German publisher, has been suffering from Alzheimer's for years.
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John Lydon and Nora Forster in New York in 2017
Photo: Brian Killian/WireImage/Getty Images
PiL has been shortlisted from six titles to represent Ireland in May's competition.
Ireland is the birthplace of John Lydon's parents.
He himself was born in Great Britain, which is hosting the ESC this year as a replacement for Ukraine.
"It's dedicated to everyone who's going through hard times along the way in life with the person who means the most to them," Lydon, 66, wrote of his song "Hawaii," which was released Monday, on PiL's official website.
»It is also a message of hope that love will conquer all in the end.«
Unusual tones from the former punk icon, who has often spoken harshly in public in recent times - including about the biopic series "Pistol" about his former band.
But musically, »Hawaii« also sounds forgiving;
a gentle ballad with a hawaiian-like guitar sound, which is intended to commemorate the couple's particularly happy days on the islands.
The last lines of text are touching: »Do you remember me?
/ I remember you«.
On February 3rd, PiL will face off against the finalists in a special on Irish broadcaster RTE's late night show.
The five other titles on the shortlist sound more like classic ESC material, somewhere between Eurodance, Coldplay pathos and a cute guitar song.
(All six titles can be heard here).
The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 will take place in Liverpool on May 13th.
However, the Irish entry will have to survive a semi-final beforehand.
feb/Reuters