Paul Weller baffled by ‘fucking bizarre’ national mourning over Queen Elizabeth’s death
Paul Weller has admitted he was baffled by the outpouring of national mourning after Queen Elizabeth II’s death.
The Queen passed away in September at the age of 96, with her death followed by 10 days of national mourning.
“It’s fucking bizarre [the national mourning] Minty-Six is old enough. Jesus Christ. People are like, ‘Isn’t it sad?’ What, do you want her to come into work at a hundred and fucking fifty or something? It’s mental,” he told Record Collector magazine via Contactmusic.
The former Jam singer also said he couldn’t understand the adoration shown to King Charles since he became sovereign.
“People have said they’ve seen people kissing Prince Charles’ hand and all that. What’s that all about? It’s 2022. It’s the 21st century and people are doing all the Cinderella bollocks,” he added.
Weller went on to condemn the amount of money spent on the Queen’s state funeral, which was rumoured to cost around £8million. He said the amount was “a fucking joke”, and opined that “it’s obscene, it really is”.
In the same interview, he launched a scathing personal attack on The Cure frontman
Robert Smith, calling him a “fucking fat cunt”.
He said: “I can’t fucking stand them. Fucking fat cunt, with his lipstick and all that bollocks. He is my age as well, isn’t he?
“He’s a fucking knob end. I don’t like him. There you go. There’s someone I would work with. I’d fucking slap him, or something.”
The reason behind Weller’s dislike for Smith is not clear, though Louder Sound notes how The Jam had inadvertently helped The Cure during the recording of their debut album ‘Three Imaginary Boys’ (1979).
Back in 1985, Smith mentioned Weller during an interview, where he said that punk wasn’t a political movement. He added that people were dissatisfied with listening to “bands like Yes and Genesis“, and instead “wanted to hear something they could dance to”.
“Even people who think they’re socially aware and lend their names to things, like Paul Weller and stuff… I mean it does no good at all, ultimately,” Smith explained. “Because you’d have to be particularly stupid to believe someone like Paul Weller.
“You’d have to be particularly stupid to believe someone like me.”
Smith’s bandmate Roger O’Donnell later weighed in with a rebuke of his own. “I’ve always thought, as Spike Milligan said, people who live in glass houses should pull the blinds down before removing their trousers… Mr Weller?” the keyboardist wrote.
The post Paul Weller baffled by ‘fucking bizarre’ national mourning over Queen Elizabeth’s death appeared first on NME.
Damian Jones
NME
