The Lydon/Manilow Coalition (Or: Ever Get the Feeling You've Been Greeted?)

Jesse Walker | October 31, 2007

Maybe I should watch The Tonight Show more often. Right after he sang the line "I wanna be anarchy," Johnny Rotten turned toward Jay Leno's offscreen couch, where previous guest Ron Paul was still sitting. The aging punk gave a thumbs-up and shouted, "Hello, Mr. Paul!" Then he rubbed his butt a bit, pranced around like Mick Jagger, sang the line "In the city," and turned back to the congressman. "When are we gonna leave Iraq?" he exclaimed.

At the end of the performance Paul and Leno joined the band on the stage. And then I remembered something. "Anarchy in the UK" had been the Pistols' first single, released at the end of 1976 -- the same year Paul entered Congress for the first time. As the beaming congressman shook hands with the singer, the last three decades suddenly started to make sense.

Update: Go to Reason.tv's Rough Cut blog for full video. Or just click below.