Eurovision: John Lydon’s Public Image Ltd in bid to represent Ireland at song contest | Ents & Arts News
Punk icon John Lydon has said he is “frightened of misinterpretation” as he seeks to represent Ireland at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
The former Sex Pistols frontman, who founded Public Image Ltd in 1978 following the band’s groundbreaking split, is among six artists who will compete tonight for the chance.
Other artists include Andrew Carr (also known as ADGY), Jennifer Connolly, Wild Youth, Leila Jane, and the duo K Muni & ND (or Kofi Appiah and Nevlonne Dampare).
John Lydon (second right) with his band PiL friends in Dublin
PiL’s entry was an emotional ballad titled Hawaii, described as a love letter to Nora, the wife of more than 40 years of Lydon, who is living with Alzheimer’s disease.
In the song, Lydon recounts their years together, particularly one of their happiest moments in Hawaii.
Lydon said: “I don’t know what I’m going to go through doing this today. Now I even shiver when I think about it.
“It meant the whole world to me, these were the last years we spent together. And I miss her like crazy.
“I miss her my, if you keep voting for me, I’ll miss her even more.”
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He says he’s still “terrified by messing it up, getting it wrong, letting people down – mostly letting Nora down”.
Looking forward to competing as Eurovision hopefuls gathered at the RTE TV studio in Dublin, Lydon said of the competition to be held in Liverpool this May: “This is something that I watched as a child with my parents.
“I miss Johnny Logan, I miss Cliff Richard, I miss Sandy Shaw – and now Johnny.
“It’s as good as any other way of listening to music, I don’t have any prejudices about things like that.”
He added that he chose Ireland “because I am as Irish as anyone else by blood”.
Six running acts will perform tonight on the special Eurosong edition of RTE’s Late Late Show, where Ireland’s entry for Eurovision 2023 will be chosen.
