TLDW; We won't know until Morrissey says whether it is or isn't.
Good point, never thought of that angle!I haven’t watched the video but I lean towards yes. John Lydon was aware of the rumours about Savile in 1978, it’s not unlikely that Morrissey would have heard them by 1986, and if he heard them I suspect since it was so shocking he would have felt compelled to write a (cryptic) song about it rather than moving on and keeping it to himself. He had already written a song about child murderers, it’s wouldn’t have been out of character for him. Who else could the lines “the Leeds side streets that you slip down” and “provincial towns you jog ‘round” be referencing? Surely the well known marathon runner and DJ from Leeds?
If Morrissey knew about Savile, he wasn’t going to have come out and said it at the time because there was no proof, and why would he reveal it now when he would get the inevitable “so you knew at the time and could have said something but didn’t” backlash. The Steve Wright/Chernobyl news report is a good cover story but isn’t in-keeping with the panic around Britain theme of most of the lyrics. What has jogging around provincial towns in Britain got to do with Chernobyl or Steve Wright? What’s the “panic” about, what’s the ‘honey pie’ of the song running from and seeking “safety” from? Bad music on the radio?
I haven’t watched the video but I lean towards yes. John Lydon was aware of the rumours about Savile in 1978, it’s not unlikely that Morrissey would have heard them by 1986, and if he heard them I suspect since it was so shocking he would have felt compelled to write a (cryptic) song about it rather than moving on and keeping it to himself. He had already written a song about child murderers, it’s wouldn’t have been out of character for him. Who else could the lines “the Leeds side streets that you slip down” and “provincial towns you jog ‘round” be referencing? Surely the well known marathon runner and DJ from Leeds?
If Morrissey knew about Savile, he wasn’t going to have come out and said it at the time because there was no proof, and why would he reveal it now when he would get the inevitable “so you knew at the time and could have said something but didn’t” backlash. The Steve Wright/Chernobyl news report is a good cover story but isn’t in-keeping with the panic around Britain theme of most of the lyrics. What has jogging around provincial towns in Britain got to do with Chernobyl or Steve Wright? What’s the “panic” about, what’s the ‘honey pie’ of the song running from and seeking “safety” from? Bad music on the radio?
Surely, if it were about Saville, it would've been his face on the T-shirt, not Wright's.
Who else could the lines “the Leeds side streets that you slip down” and “provincial towns you jog ‘round” be referencing? Surely the well known marathon runner and DJ from Leeds?
There's no possibility Panic is about Jimmy Savile. It's something originaly suggested by noted musicologist David Icke.
Mind you, that probably does mean that Morrissey believes it.
Morrissey with a child onstage singing the “hang the DJ” part:
Why would a child have been brought on stage to sing “hang the DJ”, what’s the connection? It’s all just a big coincidence, of course. Slipping down Leeds side streets, jogging around provincial towns, hanging the DJ while a child/sound of a children’s choir sings along. It’s about Steve Wright and ‘I’m Your Man’! It must be!