Bodies

"Bodies" is a song by the Sex Pistols, from their 1977 album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. The song tackles the subject of abortion with lyrics described as "some of the most uncompromising, gut-wrenching lyrics imaginable". Lyrical content The lyrics contain very graphic imagery about a terminated foetus and feature a great deal of profanity for the time: the third and final verse begins with a couplet in which the word fuck is repeated five times in rapid succession. The song is mostly about a fan named Pauline, who was (as the song states) from Birmingham. She had been in a mental institution, where she apparently lived in a tree house in its garden. This was where the line 'Her name was Pauline, she lived in a tree' comes from. The institution was also where she seems to have been raped by one of the male nurses. When she was released, she travelled to London, where she became a punk rock fan. She had several abortions. According to John Lydon, she showed up once at his door wearing nothing but a clear plastic bag and holding an aborted foetus. This was re-iterated in the 2002 Classic Albums documentary when discussing Bodies. In a 1977 interview, when asked about the backstory of the song, Lydon also claimed that she was arrested after entering a discotheque with the aborted foetus. According to Lydon's autobiography, she told Lydon about becoming pregnant and then having abortions and she described them in detail to him. This affected Lydon enough to write the song. Most of the band also had experiences with Pauline, but have spoken less about it. Steve Jones claims he had sex with her: "I'm glad I found out the story afterwards, about the abortion".