John Lennon Revolution (yes, back to the 60s, sorry Mills and Zees)

[question everything]

Inspired by political protests in early 1968, Lennon's lyrics expressed sympathy with the need for social change but doubt in regard to the violent tactics espoused by some members of the New Left. Despite his bandmates' reservations, he persevered with the song and insisted it be included on their next single. When released in August, the song was viewed by the political left as a betrayal of their cause and a sign that the Beatles were out of step with radical elements of the counterculture.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution_(Beatles_song)

From the lyrics

But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out?

But if you want money for people with minds that hate
All I can tell you is, brother, you have to wait

But if you go carryin' pictures of Chairman Mao
You ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow

https://genius.com/The-beatles-revolution-lyrics

[2naSalit]

1. Interesting.

I always saw the lyrics for what they were, pretty clear message. I agreed with them then as did most of the people in my world at the time.


People who want to be violent are violent people who only need to find an excuse to express themselves.

[Warpy]

4. My problem is that I'd read far too much history

I knew violent revolutions rarely worked and why (assholes just change uniforms when the power vacuum causes chaos). I also knew that peace and love weren't going to do the trick, either, any more than prayer had.

It was going to take civil disobedience, a lot of it, and we were going to have to accept the consequences.

So that's what most of us did. I was willing to go to jail for monkeywrenching (they didn't catch me at it) and I was willing to be ostracized by good churchgoers for insisting all citizens share in the same civil rights (that one happened from time to time, their loss). Civil disobedience has consequences. However, we won a lot of our revolution.

The reaction to this song was hilarious. Dimwits heard the word "revolution" combined with loud music and that was it, They were either fer or agin according to their reaction to that one word. Violent types hated it. Peace love types weren't thrilled with it.

The rest of us refused to comply with a bad status quo that had been established in the Cold War 1850s. We disobeyed. We accepted the consequences. We pushed, we challenged. Eventually, we won a great deal of it.

Unfortunately, the battle to free women from religious slavery has to be fought all over again in many places. That might be a younger generation's revolution. I wish them luck with it, freedom is not to be underestimated.

Otherwise, we'll have to wait 20 million years. That's how much time geneticists estimate the Y chromosome has left.

[lame54]

2. The only reservation from the band that I know of is...

They wanted the harder version on the white album as opposed to the mellow version

[BigmanPigman]

3. "Count me out, in"

"The fast version, in which John does not sing “count me out.. in” but simply “count me out”, was released as the single alongside “Hey Jude”, while the original slow version appeared on the White Album, which was released later that year"

https://repeaterbooks.com/you-can-count-me-out-in-alan-bradshaw-on-fifty-years-of-revolution/