TIL John Lennon made a song "Working Class Hero" that was intended to jolt the system
TIL John Lennon made a song "Working Class Hero" that was intended to jolt the system
I was reading this article from 1970 and he's obviously a complicated dude: https://archive.is/POtvB
The lyrics are a little haunting and I've never heard it before.
“It’s really just revolutionary. I think its concept is revolutionary, and I hope it’s for workers and not for tarts and fags.”
—John Lennon
I forget just how much of a bigot and gay basher Lennon was.
Not to mention self confessed domestic abuser, and general asshole..
I heard the argument the other day telling me to separate art from the artist.
My singular response was "yeah, and I like Trapped In The Closet too, but R Kelly pissed on a 13 year old girl he later married. I can't listen to any of his music and not have that in the back of my mind. If you can stomach the song while thinking about that, the song must be pretty good or the travesty not that bad that you can push it out"
Loved Eric Clapton, read what he said about Hendrix and his own family and then the vaccine stuff in recent years resurfaced it. No more Clapton
I mean yeah, Chuck Berry used to fart on women’s faces while they were tossing his salad without consent as well, and that’s pretty fucked up. But reading the descriptions of the videos of R Kelly pissing on minors faces was just way way fucked up. Wouldn’t be able to listen to any song without thinking of all the fucked up things he’s done to other people.
I always took it as more of a "I enjoy the art, don't know what's going on in the artist's life" kinda of deal. There's plenty of people who don't want to hear a thing about any artist's personal life or opinion. And it's not fair to condemn someone that's enjoying some art because they don't care to keep up with the joneses.
That's ruined the song for me
Easy to throw stones in 2023. That seems horrid now, of course, but homosexuality was literally criminalized in the UK in the 60s - the same time period where they had a gay manager. Look into the sexual tension/love affair between Epstein (Brian, not Jeffrey) and Lennon. Dude was genuinely progressive for the times (over half a fucking century ago, y’all) and to shape that as bigotry is borderline misinformation.
Rag on him for beating his wife, not this silly shit
Edit: here’s some actual context about this notorious “bigot”. https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/john-lennon-the-beatles-song-defend-brian-esptein-sexuality/
Rag on him for both.
"Acceptable of the time" isn't a valid excuse against bigotry. There's a differenc between thinking something is criminal but having no moral objection to it, you know, like drugs and free love and everything else their music talks about, and thinking something is criminal and that there is a moral attachment to that act.
There were people in the 60s/70s/80s that wouldn't write a workers rights song and say "keep it away from fags and girly men though", because they're not self-dillusioned assholes, John Lennon just didn't happen to be one.
This is a cover of the song by the late Jerry Williams.
Wow, that's intense and I think a better version.
I also love the Green Day cover.
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There's an early demo version out there that's actually better than the album version. It's more raw and emotional, which works very well for the song
It was on a compilation called "Accoustic John Lennon"...so amazing, i haven't heard it in over a decade but think of it all the time ... " a working class hero is something to be"... thanks for inspiring me to find a way out of that mess, John
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Great song. Powerful strategic use of dropping the f-bomb, and just an emotionally powerful song overall. It didn't dramatically change the world, but it got plenty of airplay and it made it's point.
Lovely tune. I'd never heard it before either.
This one and Imagine are the best lyrics he's ever written. Including everything he wrote alone and with Paul McCartney for The Beatles.