John Lydon said his late Sex Pistols bandmate Sid Vicious spoke to him in his dreams, along with others he’s known who have died.

Vicious died in 1979, less than four months after he was arrested for murdering his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen. In 2014, Lydon admitted: “I feel bad that I brought him into the band; he couldn’t cope at all. I feel a bit responsible for his death.”

In a new interview with The Guardian, the singer was asked about the murder allegation. He described Spungen as “malignant” but noted, "She couldn’t help it, I suppose, she was just naturally poisonous.” He said Vicious appeared while he was asleep. “They all come into my dreams, yes," Lydon explained. "In a great way, too, as regular conversations. It’s like being visited. I may be delusional, but it’s a wonderful delusion.”

Lydon also discussed the challenges of looking after his wife, Nora, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, saying that his experience of waking from a coma as a child, and having lost his memory as a side effect of meningitis, informed his approach to caring. “I know that feeling of not knowing who and where you are in a precise moment. It gives me something in relation to dealing with her. I can feel her pain, I’ve been through it.”

But he rejected the concept of feeling sorry for himself or her. “I haven’t lost her, no, no, no," he said. "She’s going through some traumas. Bits of memories are fading, slowly but surely, and will probably all be gone eventually. But I’m making sure it’s a happy journey and not a sad one. She will never forget me, and I will never forget her, whatever else falls out of her earholes.”

 

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