Working Class Hero

"Working Class Hero" is a song by John Lennon from his 1970 album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, his first album after the break-up of the rock band the Beatles.

Theme

A political song,^[1] the song is a commentary/criticism on the difference between social classes. It tells the story of someone growing up in the working class. According to Lennon in an interview with Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone in December 1970, it is about working class individuals being processed into the middle classes, into the machine.^[2]

The refrain of the song is "A working class hero is something to be".

The song is not Lennon's first political song. His string of political songs began in 1968 with the Beatles' "Revolution" and further continued in 1972 with the release of Some Time in New York City.^[1]

Recording and Sound

Recorded at EMI Studios on 27 September 1970,^[3] the song features only Lennon, singing and playing an acoustic guitar as his backing. The chord progression is very simple, and builds on A-minor and G-major, with a short detour to D-major in one line of the chorus. Lennon's strumming technique includes a riff with a hammer-on pick of the E note on the D string and then an open A string.^[4] The tone and style of the song is similar to that of "Masters of War" and "North Country Blues" by Bob Dylan, a known influence of Lennon. Both are based on Jean Ritchie's arrangement of the traditional English folk song, "Nottamun Town". Lennon recorded "Working Class Hero" over a hundred times until he was satisfied with the recording.^[1] The recording is the composite of two different takes: the sound of the guitar and vocal changes at 1:24 prior to the verse "When they've tortured and scared you."

Personnel

• John Lennon – vocals, acoustic guitar

Controversy

In 1973,^[5] US Representative Harley Orrin Staggers heard the song – which includes the lines "'Til you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rules" and "But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see" – on WGTB and lodged a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The manager of the station, Ken Sleeman, faced a year in prison and a $10,000 fine, but defended his decision to play the song saying, "The People of Washington DC are sophisticated enough to accept the occasional four-letter word in context, and not become sexually aroused, offended, or upset." The charges were dropped.^[6] Other US radio stations, like Boston's WBCN, banned the song for its use of the word "fucking".^[7] In Australia, the album was released with the expletive removed from the song and the lyrics censored on the inner sleeve.^[8]

Notable covers

"Working Class Hero"
Single by Green Day
from the album Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur
Released	1 May 2007
Format	Digital download
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	4:25 (album version) 4:01 (radio edit)
Label	Warner Bros. Amnesty International
Songwriter(s)	John Lennon
Producer(s)	Green Day
Green Day singles chronology
"The Saints Are Coming" (2006) "Working Class Hero" (2007) "The Simpsons Theme" (2007)
Music video
"Working Class Hero" on YouTube

• Marianne Faithfull covered the song on her 1979 album Broken English.
• Then-politician Marilyn Waring of New Zealand covered the song as a single in 1980.
• Jerry Williams covered the song in 1984 on his album Working Class Hero.
• Richie Havens covered the song for his 1987 album Richie Havens Sings Beatles and Dylan.
• Blind Melon covered the song on their last-ever tour with Shannon Hoon as their singer, in 1995.
• Mike Peters covered the song when with The Alarm as a backing track to their 1989 single "A New South Wales".
• David Bowie's band Tin Machine recorded a version of the song on their 1989 self-titled debut album.
• Cyndi Lauper covered the song live on Lennon: A Tribute in 1992.
• Screaming Trees covered the song for the 1995 tribute album Working Class Hero: A Tribute to John Lennon.
• Roger Taylor covered the song on his 1998 album Electric Fire.
• Marilyn Manson covered the song on the B-side of the 2000 single "Disposable Teens".
• Noir Désir covered the song on the 2000 album Liberté de Circulation'.
• Pain of Salvation covered the song live in 2001 together with Dream Theater's Mike Portnoy.
• Hilton Valentine covered the song on his 2004 album It's Folk'n' Skiffle, Mate!.
• Elbow covered the song for Q magazine in 2005.
• Ozzy Osbourne recorded a version for his 2005 collection Under Cover.
• The Academy Is... covered the song in 2006 on its From the Carpet EP.
• Tina Dickow covered the song for Amnesty International's 2007 'Make Some Noise' campaign in Denmark.
• Green Day contributed a cover of the song to the Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur in 2007. It peaked at number 53 on the Billboard Hot 100, 6 on the Canadian Hot 100, 8 in Norway and 11 in Sweden. It also achieved notable success at rock radio, peaking at #10 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and #18 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The ending features an excerpt of the final line of Lennon's version. Also, in their song "21st Century Breakdown", Green Day pays homage to this song and Lennon himself with the line "I never made it as a working class hero.".
• Manic Street Preachers recorded a cover of the song on their 2007 album Send Away the Tigers.
• Racoon covered the song on their album Before You Leave (2008).
• Corey Feldman covered the song on the second part of his album Angelic 2 the Core.
• Kris Kristofferson and Tom Morello covered at Imagine: John Lennon 75th birthday concert.

References

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics