THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
473-John Lennon-Working Class Hero.
1970-It has never been released as a ‘A’ sided single in the UK.
Best Bit-At 0.55. Why did Lennon choose this song to use the ‘F’ word on? In 1998 Yoko Ono explained, ‘He told me, ‘That’s part of being working class. It won’t be working class if what you say is all very clean and very proper.’
‘Working Class Hero’ is track 4 on side 1 on ‘John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band,’ which was John Lennon’s (1940-1980) (see also best songs 927-456-168 and 20) first Album since the break up of the Beatles, (see also best songs 599-456-319-238-218-141-80-51-10 and 6)) released on December 11th, 1970. Lennon’s detractors pointed out that he was actually raised in a upper-middle-class home by his aunt, and therefore had little understanding as to what it is to be raised working class. Lennon responded by saying,’The thing about Working Class Hero that nobody ever got right was that it was supposed to be sardonic. It had nothing to do with socialism, it had to do with, if you won’t to go through that trip, you’ll get to where I am, and this is where you’ll be. Because I’ve been successful as an artist, and have been happy and unhappy, and I’ve been unknown in Liverpool or Hamburg and been happy and unhappy.’ Lennon has also been quoted as saying,’I think it’s concept is revolutionary, and I hope it’s what ‘Give Peace A Chance’ (see also best songs 168) was about, but I don’t know. On the other hand, it might just be ignored. I think it’s for the people like me who are working class, who are supposed to be processed into the middle classes. It’s a revolutionary song, not the song itself, but that it’s a song for the revolution.’
‘Working Class Hero’ is one of the 11 tracks on the debut solo studio Album ‘John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band,’ by John Lennon, from December 1970, the song was written by John Lennon, who is the only performer on the track, providing acoustic guitar and vocals, with the songs production credited to Yoko Ono, (see also best songs 456 and 168) and Phil Spector (1939-2021) (see also best songs 820-737-262-192-127-91 and 20.) John Lennon’s musical influence for ‘Working Class Hero’ came from hearing the similar ‘Masters of War,’ (1963) and ‘North Country Blues’ (1964) songs by Bob Dylan, (see also best songs 792-621-358-103-36 and 7) who in turn had been influenced by the American Folk singer Jean Ritchie’s (1922-2015) arrangement of the traditional English Folk song ‘Nottamun Town.’ It has been said that Lennon obsessed about the recording of the song for many days, singing an endless amount of takes, somewhere between 100-130, getting very frustrated that it didn’t sound like what he wanted. The tape operative Andy Stephens has said that he watched the former ‘Beatle’ obsess about it day after day, singing ‘An endless number of takes. If the mix in his headphones wasn’t exactly what he wanted, he would take them off and slam them into the wall, he wouldn’t say, ‘Can I have a bit more guitar?’ He would literally rip the cans off his head and smash them into the wall, then walk out of the studio.’ The finished take on the Album is actually a composite of two different takes, performed in two different studios, and knitted together.
‘John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band’ is the debut solo studio Album by John Lennon, it was released on the same day (December 11th, 1970) as Yoko Ono’s similarly titled debut solo studio Album ‘Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band.’ It followed John Lennon’s recording of three experimental Albums with Yoko Ono between 1968-1969, and a live album from the 1969 line up of the ‘Plastic Ono Band.’ The songs on ‘John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band’ were heavily influenced by Lennon’s recent ‘primal scream therapy.’ Its lyrics reflect Lennon’s personal issues and includes themes of child-parent abandonment, and psychological suffering. Following the break-up of the Beatles in April 1970, John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono undertook ‘primal therapy’ with the guidance of the American psychologist, and psychotherapist, Arthur Janov (1924-2017) for four weeks at his London offices. The three then flew to Los Angeles to continue the therapy for four months. Janov’s therapy technique emphasised emotionally reliving repressed childhood traumas rather than analytical discussion, but Lennon’s therapy was never completed due to the expiry of his U.S. visa. Janov had intended that Lennon’s treatment would require a minimum of a year, such was the severity of his trauma, and had expressed concern that the therapy had ended prematurely, and that Lennon’s rediscovered anger over his childhood remained unresolved.
‘Working Class Hero’ is a call to the everyday man to not conform to what the more privileged, and powerful tell them to do. Lennon sets himself up as an example of what can be achieved through thinking for yourself, and being a revolutionary. The line ‘If you won’t to be like the folks on the hill,’ is a reference to the Beatles song ‘The Fool On the Hill.’
‘As soon as you’re born they make you feel small, by giving you no time instead of it all, ’til the pain is so big you feel nothing at all. A working class hero is something to be. A working class hero is something to be.’