OK, here is a weird nomination for worst punk song ever. I only became aware of this album a couple of weeks ago. New York Gong, and About Time, and the second track in particular - Much Too Old/Black September.
So this is Daevid Allen out of Gong, attempting to be punk, backed by Bill Laswell's Material. The music is largely pretty good, punk-funk stuff. But the lyrics and especially the vocal stylings....ewweeeeee.
Gong, as you probably know, are an archetypal hippie nonsense band, although Allen was originally in Soft Machine. He normally sings about flying teapots and gnomes and the like. And now he's going to be punk, and pretend to be from New York, and dress like Lou Reed on the cover.
It starts fairly badly, Allen singing in deadpan
'I've paid my Arabs and I've paid my Jews/When I go to Harlem I get the white boy blues'
By the time he gets to the 'chorus' he goes full on prog warble, with lyrics eulogising 'Punk Rock City'. I can almost imagine Laswell waving his arms behind the mixing desk, holding up a sign saying 'PUNK!'
Then there's an insane bridge where he talks about the 'Punk' acts he's seen:
'Seen Teenage Jesus at CBGB's/Got diahrrea from Chick Corea'
OK, Chick Corea not really punk, but now he's adopted a Johnny Rotten mockney growl. At this point, as the title suggests, the song changes into a completely different one, suggesting splicing from different sessions. By the end, Allen sounds genuinely unhinged, chanting in a Jimmy Pursey voice 'Chemical Warfare, IRA, Black September, DEA'.
All very strange stuff.
NEW YORK GONG - MUCH TOO OLD / BLACK SEPTEMBER / MATERIALISM.