Original Sex Pistols bass player Glen Mattock in an interview with Songfacts.com was asked if he had “a hand in writing the lyrics for other Pistols songs.” Matlock says;

“The one I did have a major hand on writing – I wrote all of it – was ‘Pretty Vacant.’ That was one of the very first songs that we wrote. I wrote that one when I was finishing up at art school. Because of the PA system that we had, John couldn’t hear himself, which probably contributed to his vocal style. And we couldn’t hear him because we were too busy making too much noise. So I didn’t realize until the record had come out that he changed two lines in the second verse. But the rest of the song is mine.”