Submission

Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren owned a store called SEX that sold various fetish items. He asked the band to write a song about bondage and sadomasochism, and lead singer John Lydon (a.k.a. Johnny Rotten), having already grown tired of McLaren, wrote the lyrics not about a sexual submissive, but about an underwater vessel, the first line of which is, "I'm on a submarine mission for you baby."

John Lydon and original Sex Pistols bass player Glen Matlock wrote this song, composing the lyrics at a pub after their bandmates Steve Jones and Paul Cook didn't show up for rehearsal. They traded lines back and forth over a pint, then Matlock worked out some chords when he went home. Matlock and Lydon both have fond memories of composing the song.

In a Songfacts interview with Glen Matlock, he told the story behind the song: "I went to a rehearsal, at a place called the Roundhouse, which is a place in London, in Camden. We were rehearsing there for a bit - the rehearsal room was downstairs. I met up with John, and Steve and Paul didn't turn up. So, me and John went over to the pub to have a drink, and he said, 'Have you seen Malcolm?' 'Yeah.' 'What's he got to say for himself?' 'Oh, he has an idea that we write a song.' 'What about?' 'He had a title - 'Submission.'' And John went, 'What? All about domination and all that sort of stuff? I'm not having that.' So we sat down, and I can't remember which one said, 'What about a submarine mission?' So, we traded line for line, and wrote the song there and then. Then, I went home that night and worked out the music. The next time we rehearsed, I said, 'Look, we have this idea. It goes like this...' And it went like that, and that was it really. The song is basically about taking the Mickey out of Malcolm McLaren."