Working Class Hero by John Lennon

[Droopy]

First John's song then my commentary.

As soon as your born they make you feel small
by giving you no time instead of it all
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all
Working Class Hero is something to be
Working Class Hero is something to be

They hurt you at home and they hit you at school
They hate you if you're clever and despise a fool
Till you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rules
Working Class Hero is something to be
Working Class Hero is something to be

When they've tortured and scared you for 20 odd years
then they expect you to pick a career
When you can't really function you're so full of fear
Working Class Hero is something to be
Working Class Hero is something to be

Keep you doped with religon, sex and T.V.
and you think you're so clever and classless and free
but you're still fucking peasents as far as I can see
Working Class Hero is something to be
Working Class Hero is something to be

There's room at the top I'm telling you still
but first you must learn how to smile as you kill
if you want to be like the folks on the hill
Working Class Hero is something to be

Yes, A Working Class Hero is something to be
If you want to be a hero well just follow me
If you want to be a hero well just follow me

My words:

It's verse number 4 that got my attention. There is a John Lennon tribute album coming out with current pop and alternative artists covering some of his tunes. All proceeds from the album go to help stop the genocide in Darfur (sp?). It's a good cause and I might buy the album just because of that.

Working Class Hero is covered by Green Day and it was the first time I'd heard the tune. I think they might have changed the lyrics a little. The lyrics above are from Lennon's original and they really surprised me. I was about to call Lennon an elitist bastard, but I've thought it through a little more.

It seems that a fellow who appeared to have socialist leanings (Imagine anyone?) would have a little more affection for working class people than his condescending attitude in this song relates. I'm a working class guy and I come from working class people. The only person in my family to have a college degree is an uncle on my dad's side and he married into the family. I was not hurt at home and I only got hit at school a couple of times. Not too many boys don't. I was not made to feel small. I was taught to have respect for myself. I was not full of fear when I graduated high school. I was ready to take on the world. Later, mental illness would take that away for a while, but that's nobody's fault and not a condition of my status in society. I don't go to church; sex is not a narcotic; and I blew up my TV a long time ago. I have no illusions about who I am or where I stand in life, but if I'm a fucking peasant in John's eyes then John didn't know what the fuck he was talking about. Well I guess I am a peasant to some millionaire rock singer who didn't seem to understand that it was poor, black, blues artists that made his life of luxury possible. That fucking elitist bastard...oops.

[Droopy]

1. I can't believe it

I call John Lennon an elitist bastard and get no response at all?! I thought you guys would gang up on me and try to heave me out of the back door. I guess this is the kind of stuff that happens when you are PUI.

[alarimer]

2. I think John Lennon came from a working class background

as I recall.

I don't think Lennon was elitist, not at all. This song is just pointing out what the working class actually is to those in power: peasants to be exploited.

[Droopy]

3. Hmmmmm

Maybe. But it sounds like he is speaking from his own perspective. I know that songs are not always written from the writer's perspective, but this one sounds like it is. Do you think that he was writing as a character? Remember that he became wealthy as a very young man.

[alarimer]

5. Well it is rather cynical I suppose

Because all some people do (not you and not most of the people on this website) is sit down in front of the TV when they get home from work. They pay no attention to politics and things that affect them. They go on watching the latest American Idol. They are force-fed all that crap and, worse, they LIKE it. Maybe that is the sort of thing he was getting at. I feel the same way sometimes, the way that so many people just do not give a damn. They buy all the lies of the media. And, ultimately, things would change if more people became involved. Think of the power 300 million people could have (well those who are eligible to vote and be involved) if they all got involved. Instead they mostly sit on their asses and buy the latest consumer crap and do not realize (or don't care) how much the people they elect can affect their lives. When the media makes the Presidential election about which candidate you would rather have a beer with, that's when I knew we are doomed. The ignorant and the apathetic have way too much sway in this country. We get the leadership we deserve if we choose not to get involved.

[Droopy]

6. I think that most of the people that you speak of

are unsuspecting victims. People in this country haven't been taught to be skeptical of the media and the president. But I'll tell you what, they sure made a big statement last election. It's too bad that our elected representatives have not been able to capitalize on that. People, common people like me, saw that it was time for a change and elected all of those Democrats to office to take over a majority. What have the Democrats showed them so far? I think I share in a lot of peoples' views that the Dems haven't helped us out a lot so far. What are we to do?

[alarimer]

9. We don't have very good leaders I guess

Some of them talk a good game but it seems like they are all doing the bidding of their corporate masters. I think most people have come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter who is in charge because it seems like nothing ever changes for the better. I have been so discouraged myself lately that I can't blame people for tuning it out.

[Droopy]

10. Check this out then

www.theportalgates.net

[alarimer]

11. Interesting

Thank. I'll put that on my bloglist.

[Ptah]

4. There's room at the top I'm telling you still

but first you must learn how to smile as you kill
if you want to be like the folks on the hill
Working Class Hero is something to be

[laylah]

7. ..

if only more "got" it. :hug: you and droopy ROCK...:headbang:...ROCK I tell ya!

[Ptah]

8. Take it, take another little piece of my heart

[electricmonk]

12. I prefer Marianne Faithfull's version

Originally on Broken English this version from 2000.

Marianne Faithfull-Working Class Hero

[LostInAnomie]

13. I think you are getting hung up on the word "peasant".

Instead of using it as a pejorative Lennon used it to indicate social class. When he says "peasants" he essentially means "slaves".

The first two lines in verse 4 are very revealing. The "religion, sex and T.V." in line 1 are opiates that keep the working class numb to what is really going on around them. Religion keeps the workers believing that there is a greater reward for them in heaven, all they have to do is reject worldly possessions. The "sex and TV" work to keep them distracted and satiated so they don't work for something better. Line 2 shows mentality of the distracted working class, "Clever and classless and free". They are not truly "clever" because they are not ever truly getting ahead. If you would ask most of the working class if they are being exploited at work daily they would say "no" with self assurance, but it is provable that they are. They just aren't aware of it. The "classless and free" comes from the propaganda that we are fed throughout our lives. From birth we are told that America is the "land of the free", and there are no class divisions, and anyone that tells you different is a malcontent trouble maker. After years of this we believe it. In reality though we are not free. You are owned by your job, your possessions, and your way of life because you have adopted the capitalist mindset. There also really is a class division between the owners of the means of production and the workers. One class does all the work and the other reaps all the profits from stolen labor.

The "Working Class Hero" in the song is a fool who has bought into a system that exploits him and somehow feels that there is something noble about it. Lennon wanted the working man to realize that the nonsense that we are fed from birth only keeps us locked in the system. At the end of the song where he says "If you want to be a hero well just follow me" he means that is you really want to do something heroic help him overthrow the capitalistic system. Help him break the chains that bind you. Help free future generations from buying in and being exploited by a system that only sees them as gears in a machine. Help build a new socialist world.

It's a great piece of socialist writing (just like Imagine) but it takes an understanding of Marxist thought to really get what he's saying. He's not being elitist, far from it, he's trying to take the blindfold away.

[Danger Mouse]

14. Preach it, friend!

:applause: :applause:

[tyedyeto]

15. IIRC, Working Class Hero was a tribute ...

To his father. He came from modest roots.