Profanity in records of that era was uncommon, though not unheard of. Working Class Hero is fairly unique in that respect, and perhaps helped normalize it, as it became more common after this record. Lennon's use was not gratuitous, but just speaking as people actually speak, without filtering. I agree that Lennon was a genius. I look at it this way. McCartney was extremely lucky he had a genuine musical genius as a songwriting partner. And Lennon was extremely lucky he had a genuine musical genius as a songwriting partner. And the world is extremely lucky they met each other.
And now profanity IS gratuitous & mindless...empty words replacing real dialogue. Sad & stupid. Don't get me wrong, I used to swear like a drunken sailor, but now I just hear a lack of education & a need to be perceived as cool or hip... Neither being true. No shock value anymore. Lennon chose the words to wake people up, not bore them silly.
The lyrics were published uncensored on the 1970 lyrics sheet. The lyrics * were censored on the 1988 CD reissues. An asterisk replaced the offending words and explained "* deleted at the insistence of E.M.I." Later remasters used the uncensored lyrics. The 1980s were a bad time for the censoring lyrics. In 1985, Tipper Gore co-founded the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC). * The actual music was not censored
Yes John was one of those people, I would even say one of those Brits, who told it as it was, even as a teenager, I would imagine. People may say, how can a millionaire speak to me of these things, as I said John would have been a no bull type of person from a young age. Definitely a poet. You look at many of his songs and they are simple, simple words, that just cut through, his delivery was brilliant. Yes he was a genius. They all were, 4 lads who crashed together in a moment of time, that will probably never be repeated. I have been alive for all of it, so blessed.
John Lennon always kept it real. Giving us some truth. There was something about this song. When I was young, it spoke to me. Then as I grew older and climbed the social ladder, I lost touch with it. But now that I am heading toward retirement, the words once again resonate with me. Lennon nailed it. Yes, he died on December 8, 1980. I was a sophomore in college. Had just returned from seeing the movie "Singing in the Rain," which was showing at the campus theater. The dorm was abuzz about the breaking news. We stayed up that Monday night playing and singing John's songs.
A bye-bye, Miss American Pie - kinda moment. We got stoned and drove out to the headland at the beach, lay on the sand and looked up at the universe through the clearest night sky I've ever seen. Every time I hear Across the Universe, I remember that moment.
Yep; a conflicted man. Born working class, his father abandoned mother and John, his mother abandoned him to Aunt Mimi but at least visited occasionally. You could say the only thing worse than being working class was being working class and very intelligent. Then he also grew up in a battered post-WWII country that struggled to recover. And in a sexist society (though western culture was all sexist at the time). So, in working class sexist fashion, he knocks up a girlfriend and feels pressured to marry her. Then he later walks out of his wife's and son Julian's life to follow the love of his life, Yoko. Julian is STILL recovering from this trauma. Paul wrote "Hey Jude" to support him, but Julian was only 6yrs-old at the time. To this day he hates "Hey Jude", because it brings the trauma back to immediacy. But John just did what his own father did. Yoko was in many ways John's personal salvation. She was such a freethinker in her own right, she was able to cast off the demands of her own cultural upbringing that Japanese women faced (and still face). An avant garde artist, it was the art and the unique concepts behind it that first attracted John. One such 'place' she took John was Primal Therapy (aka primal screaming therapy) designed to safely release innermost emotions. John took that experience into his songwriting, releasing "Mother" and "God" in 1970 (check the full lyrics). John and Yoko married and tried to have a child, but had several miscarriages, at least one life-threatening for Yoko. They moved to New York City and finally gave birth to Sean Lennon in 1975. John quit the music scene and became a stay-at-home-dad (this had to be hard for Julian, for whom John was mostly an absent father even when home). The other Beatles and the press objected to Yoko, felt she was intrusive, and blamed the band breakup on her. Actually, problems both structural and personal had been bubbling up, multiplying, and intensifying over the previous few years. It was just time. And it was JOHN who insisted Yoko be with him; it was his obsession with her that had him REQUIRING she be at his side every minute, including while recording. It wasn't so much that she was intrusive, but that John's attention had refocused, and his band mates felt it and resented it. The entire structure of 'being Beatles' had become choking for them all. John moved to NYC because it was the one place he could walk around like a normal person, where the social expectation of the inhabitants was 'if you see a famous person, respect their privacy and leave them alone'. Might be part of the reason Daniel Radcliffe lives there now, with his girlfriend and baby boy. Paul grew up with a complete family: Mom, Dad, siblings. He had everything that John had. He's still with us, still putting out new material, new albums, even still touring; Paul is contracted for tours into 2025. And he's the nicest guy, still giving attention to his fans IN PERSON. There's nothing great about being angry. Yeah, it helps at times, but anger is about impressing others with what you feel; it more often goes against convincing anybody about anything, even when the anger is justified.
Wow...great reaction! John Lennon, yes- was a lyrical genius and intellect. He also had a razor sharp wit (which I loved about him!) After the Beatles broke up, they all felt the freedom to do their own thing. John just let it rip! Honesty, raw emotion, no filter, no worries about being commercial or marketable anymore. He was just speaking from his heart. Same can be said about George Harrison and his solo work. Brilliant work !
@@toriamansfield2999 The female packers at EMI refused to touch it because of it's content (Mainly "Why D'ya Do It"). Didn't bother me, I think it's one of the best tracks on it. I still have my original vinyl and yes I still play it.
I'm not certain if this is the first song that had "fuck" in it, but it's the first I ever hear that had "fuck" in it. It's certainly the first by a superstar.
John Lennon is my favourite musician. He had such a unique and beautiful voice. Wonderful songs with poetic and meaningful lyrics. Great reaction, well done. 👏
Someone in the gov thought at that time that songs like this were a bad influence for the youth. You know, they could make them think. So Lennon became "dangerous" for the society. He was murdered not much time later. His message is now even more relevant.
Excellent reaction to a Classic Lennon song. I was born in 1953 and purchased the Plastic Ono Band in '71. It is a landmark recording, in my mind it's the most personal record ever released. I was a senior in HS taking an advanced English class + brought the record into class. Teacher played Working Class Hero and was impressed (and her was a Brother, I went to NDHS). Highlights are everywhere, Mother, Isolation, Remember, Love, Oh Yoko, + God, whose vocal has been called the greatest in popular music. Best to be listened to in it's entirety and you'll be blown away.
The tubes knew I loved this song, so it lead me to you. And bravo! I was hooked from the gitgo, and made it my first song to learn on guitar. He was the real deal. So they had to kill him. Another authentic song from that time, also never heard on radio, is Quicksilver's "What about me?" It starts out..."You poisoned my sweet water, you cut down my green trees. The pill you fed my children was the cause of their disease." And it goes on to dismantle the edifice of crap that grinds down people's lives.
Wow forgot about this iconic San Francisco band and love this song too! Great lyrics as you mentioned.... I'm a fugitive from injustice But I'm goin' to be free Cause your rules and regulations They don't do the thing for me...
"there's room at the top they are telling you still/but first you must learn to smile as you kill/if you want to be like the folks on the hill." I wondered if he meant the folks on Capitol Hill in DC, so now whenever I see a grinning politician, especially now, I think of those lyrics. He was an absolute genius with words.
John is speaking of the rich and powerful, who attain that position (climbing that social/economic/political ladder) or retain that position (having been born to it) by learning to 'kill' with a 'smile' (because it's the game, just business - not personal). Compare to an earlier song by George Harrison: "Piggies", from the White Album (1968). It's common enough in the UK (where 'class' is still a social divider) for the working class to bitch and moan about being subjugated that such bitching and moaning is basically a trope, a cliché. You see it in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", when King Arthur gets slagged off by a peasant named Dennis while his comrades are digging up potatoes in a muddy field: "Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony!" In an earlier exchange: Dennis: What I object to is you automatically treatin' me like an inferior. Arthur: Well, I am king. Dennis: Oh, king, eh? Very nice. And how'd you get that, then? By exploiting the workers! By hanging on to outdated imperialist dogma which perpetuates the economic and social differences in our society! You see the same thing in any subjugated group, whether socio-economic, racial, ethnic, gender, age-based, religious, intellectual, or political; it's basically different flavors of class warfare. You see this anywhere there's privilege, where there's an elite, where there's injustice and subjugation or just plain disrespect. Being dismissed will make a person angry in shorter time than anything else. And when that dismissal also manifests as a form of inequity with serious real world impact (such as wage slavery, higher infant mortality, glass ceilings, higher arrest mortality, etc), it moves the subjugated to rebel individually and organize collectively. The thing is, it's not a conspiracy as such. While those who benefit (or are convinced by their own thinking or others' that they can benefit) will lean into the 'game', the game arises because human nature makes it arise. That's why it's so universal; this 'game' occurs worldwide and in every era and age. See the band The Who, their lyrics in "Won't Get Fooled Again" (1971): "Meet the new boss, Same as the old boss." Read The Who's full lyrics; they tell the story of how inevitably repetitive regime change is. The Who are just as working class as John Lennon and George Harrison. It's not a conspiracy; it's human nature. Until WE change, we will continue doing this. George Harrison wrote in his 1970 song "Beware of Darkness" to "Beware of greedy leaders, They take you where you should not go". George looked at the world from a spiritual angle, but it's a POV that also grasps motivation. Being an Eastern spiritual viewpoint, it's also a recognition that this is 'how it is', that human beings do this as part of their nature, so it will always be with as, the same as Jesus saying in Matthew 26:11 "For ye have the poor always with you..." Until WE change, or enough of us do, no system will arise that doesn't devolve to classism.
Let's be honest. Paul McCartney would never write a song like this. And I'm not putting him down. He's a great musician, singer and performer. But John always wore is heart on his sleeve. I'm A Loser, Help, Yer Blues, etc.
"No one tells the truth about truth," to quote Adrienne Rich. But this is very truthful indeed. His was the only celebrity death that has ever really upset me.
I have been a fan of John Lennon since the early sixties and I was a preteen. This song is just so gritty and honest. I’m still so pissed off at his murder and I will never get over it. He has been gone four years longer than he was here. Thanks for appreciating his genius. Just stumbled on your channel and will continue to enjoy it. 🌺✌️
You understood John's timeless message perfectly. This song was basically a folk song in lyrics and music. He had a working class background as did all the Beatles and attained great success but still championed the common man, social justice and unjust wars. Regarding the F-word in songs and in almost all other areas of life it wasn't socially acceptable and was considered quite shocking by most but around the late 60s early 70s it started to be heard in a few songs and live concerts; they would bleep it when it was played on the radio.
Actually the true working class hero was Ringo. He came from the actual slums of Liverpool, called The Dingle. He also spent a couple of years in hospital as a child and his sister taught him how to read and write when he was 10.
For me Lennon is the Man. The greatest of them all. Bigger than Elvis and greater than Dylan. I love Lennon with all his flaws because in later life he tried so damn hard to be a better person . I felt in the last half decade of his life he was getting there , dealing with his anger and violence issues and trying to rebuild with Julian. If only Yoko hadn’t blocked Julian’s and McCartney’s calls.
There were big class distinctions in this country during his era. 'Working class' is the opposite of the aristocracy. Don't look down on yourself because you're working class. We don't have class distinctions in the US like they do or more like did here in the , where I live now. x
This song hits me right between the eyes. I want to Catholic schools where the nuns did hit you in those days. My IQ is in the top 5% but I still have trouble with spelling. I would write papers that my teachers said were very good but they graded based on spelling. This was a time before computers or spellcheck. It is still frustrating at times to communicate in written form.
You might want to check out another of his songs, Gimme Some Truth, which, in my opinion, is the greatest protest song ever recorded. Like WCH, the lyrics are brutally honest.
The most Dylanesque of all his songs. No less brilliant for that. When Lennon was a Beatle he envied Dylan's situation and relative freedom to write and sing whatever he liked.
I am hearing Bob Dylan all over this. BTW John Lennon is one of the few that could say fuck or fucking CLEARLY and is given artistic license on it way back then, however it would not get airplay, thus fewer people have heard it.
This whole album was stripped down. Beautiful album! Plastic Ono Band released 1970. And this not the best song on the album by any means. But is the only song with the "F" word in it.
Never heard this one, but it's very 'Masters of war' influenced. which is great, two brilliant lyriicists influencing each other. I'll bet my own personal working class hero likes it, that being the great George Galloway!
That's interesting that you pointed out the similarity between Working Class Hero and Dylan's Masters of War, because I was just thinking about the fact that Roger Taylor (Queen's drummer) did cover versions of both of those songs as a solo artist. Obviously, that style of song (and those two specific songs) made a very big impression on Taylor.
@@conjo4030 This is true. I was just saying that you used to be allowed to swear in songs. That's why you did it from time to time, but only when it made sense. Today there is constant swearing in songs because it is outlawed and it can make you feel like Robin Hood.😁
@@DrStrangelove3891 Conservatives have been pushing the absurd notion that censorship is more prevalent now than in the past because liberals are intolerant fascists. It's pure nonsense, of course, that only fools fall for (unfortunately, there is no shortage of those.) Conservatives have always been quickest to censor ideas of which they disapprove.
John was an artist. It took Paul McCartney 35 years to understand John was crying out for help. It's good to be best friends, it's something else for the other to listen. Just saying.
This is a great song. But Lennon died with $800,000 in his estate. Doesn't change the message. Someone should say it. But he was no Working Class Hero. He was at the top.
i dont have a lot of use for lennon- i know too much about him as a very damaged person, his work overall has not aged well, im sick of hearing the leftist battle rant 'imagine' - but this one cut to the bone.
@@ezequiel761 Rubbish. He grew up in Mendips. It is a large, three bedroom semi-detached house, with gardens. Not a two-bedroom terrace, where Ringo and George lived.
Profanity in records of that era was uncommon, though not unheard of. Working Class Hero is fairly unique in that respect, and perhaps helped normalize it, as it became more common after this record. Lennon's use was not gratuitous, but just speaking as people actually speak, without filtering.
I agree that Lennon was a genius. I look at it this way. McCartney was extremely lucky he had a genuine musical genius as a songwriting partner. And Lennon was extremely lucky he had a genuine musical genius as a songwriting partner. And the world is extremely lucky they met each other.
And now profanity IS gratuitous & mindless...empty words replacing real dialogue. Sad & stupid. Don't get me wrong, I used to swear like a drunken sailor, but now I just hear a lack of education & a need to be perceived as cool or hip... Neither being true. No shock value anymore. Lennon chose the words to wake people up, not bore them silly.
The lyrics were published uncensored on the 1970 lyrics sheet. The lyrics * were censored on the 1988 CD reissues. An asterisk replaced the offending words and explained "* deleted at the insistence of E.M.I." Later remasters used the uncensored lyrics. The 1980s were a bad time for the censoring lyrics. In 1985, Tipper Gore co-founded the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC). * The actual music was not censored
he was a certified genius...
When I was a wee boy I thought John was a Magician,,,,,,,,,,, now I'm a man I still think he is a Magician.
John Lennon by far the greatest singer song writer ever
❤️Rest In Peace John Winston Lennon (1940 - 1980)
Taken too soon by a bastard who just wanted to kill somebody.
💔You're missed John.💔
Yes, a genuine genius. Massive heart and soul.
Best pop composer of the 20th century.
Your right
He was ahead of his time, and timeless. You are a hero if you can hold down a job. It isn't an easy task to do.
Yes John was one of those people, I would even say one of those Brits, who told it as it was, even as a teenager, I would imagine. People may say, how can a millionaire speak to me of these things, as I said John would have been a no bull type of person from a young age. Definitely a poet. You look at many of his songs and they are simple, simple words, that just cut through, his delivery was brilliant. Yes he was a genius. They all were, 4 lads who crashed together in a moment of time, that will probably never be repeated. I have been alive for all of it, so blessed.
John Lennon always kept it real. Giving us some truth. There was something about this song. When I was young, it spoke to me. Then as I grew older and climbed the social ladder, I lost touch with it. But now that I am heading toward retirement, the words once again resonate with me. Lennon nailed it. Yes, he died on December 8, 1980. I was a sophomore in college. Had just returned from seeing the movie "Singing in the Rain," which was showing at the campus theater. The dorm was abuzz about the breaking news. We stayed up that Monday night playing and singing John's songs.
A bye-bye, Miss American Pie - kinda moment. We got stoned and drove out to the headland at the beach, lay on the sand and looked up at the universe through the clearest night sky I've ever seen. Every time I hear Across the Universe, I remember that moment.
Haunting. Political. Beautiful. Pent up rage. Thats john lennon
Yep; a conflicted man.
Born working class, his father abandoned mother and John, his mother abandoned him to Aunt Mimi but at least visited occasionally. You could say the only thing worse than being working class was being working class and very intelligent. Then he also grew up in a battered post-WWII country that struggled to recover. And in a sexist society (though western culture was all sexist at the time). So, in working class sexist fashion, he knocks up a girlfriend and feels pressured to marry her. Then he later walks out of his wife's and son Julian's life to follow the love of his life, Yoko.
Julian is STILL recovering from this trauma. Paul wrote "Hey Jude" to support him, but Julian was only 6yrs-old at the time. To this day he hates "Hey Jude", because it brings the trauma back to immediacy. But John just did what his own father did.
Yoko was in many ways John's personal salvation. She was such a freethinker in her own right, she was able to cast off the demands of her own cultural upbringing that Japanese women faced (and still face). An avant garde artist, it was the art and the unique concepts behind it that first attracted John.
One such 'place' she took John was Primal Therapy (aka primal screaming therapy) designed to safely release innermost emotions. John took that experience into his songwriting, releasing "Mother" and "God" in 1970 (check the full lyrics).
John and Yoko married and tried to have a child, but had several miscarriages, at least one life-threatening for Yoko. They moved to New York City and finally gave birth to Sean Lennon in 1975. John quit the music scene and became a stay-at-home-dad (this had to be hard for Julian, for whom John was mostly an absent father even when home).
The other Beatles and the press objected to Yoko, felt she was intrusive, and blamed the band breakup on her. Actually, problems both structural and personal had been bubbling up, multiplying, and intensifying over the previous few years. It was just time. And it was JOHN who insisted Yoko be with him; it was his obsession with her that had him REQUIRING she be at his side every minute, including while recording. It wasn't so much that she was intrusive, but that John's attention had refocused, and his band mates felt it and resented it.
The entire structure of 'being Beatles' had become choking for them all. John moved to NYC because it was the one place he could walk around like a normal person, where the social expectation of the inhabitants was 'if you see a famous person, respect their privacy and leave them alone'. Might be part of the reason Daniel Radcliffe lives there now, with his girlfriend and baby boy.
Paul grew up with a complete family: Mom, Dad, siblings. He had everything that John had. He's still with us, still putting out new material, new albums, even still touring; Paul is contracted for tours into 2025. And he's the nicest guy, still giving attention to his fans IN PERSON. There's nothing great about being angry. Yeah, it helps at times, but anger is about impressing others with what you feel; it more often goes against convincing anybody about anything, even when the anger is justified.
Great reaction. You would love the documentary, “the U.S. vs John Lennon”.
Wow...great reaction! John Lennon, yes- was a lyrical genius and intellect. He also had a razor sharp wit (which I loved about him!) After the Beatles broke up, they all felt the freedom to do their own thing. John just let it rip! Honesty, raw emotion, no filter, no worries about being commercial or marketable anymore. He was just speaking from his heart. Same can be said about George Harrison and his solo work. Brilliant work !
Yep, December the 8th 1980. It was a day that truly stunned the world. "Why?" was the only question anybody could ask.
Great reaction yeh John is in my heart. Thanks
Marianne Faithful's version from her album Broken English is outstanding.
YES I love that version and the whole album.
I second this!
@@toriamansfield2999 The female packers at EMI refused to touch it because of it's content (Mainly "Why D'ya Do It"). Didn't bother me, I think it's one of the best tracks on it. I still have my original vinyl and yes I still play it.
I'm not certain if this is the first song that had "fuck" in it, but it's the first I ever hear that had "fuck" in it. It's certainly the first by a superstar.
Tonight used the word in woman of heart and mind on the For the Roses album
John Lennon is my favourite musician. He had such a unique and beautiful voice. Wonderful songs with poetic and meaningful lyrics. Great reaction, well done. 👏
I agree
This is what made me love angry music. John's songs were always so piised off and fed up.
not always!! john was more versatile than that!
I know what I like about John lennon. Don't pretend that you're an expert.
Someone in the gov thought at that time that songs like this were a bad influence for the youth. You know, they could make them think. So Lennon became "dangerous" for the society. He was murdered not much time later. His message is now even more relevant.
Lennon was murdered by a lunatic. Nothing to do with governments.
He was murdered, because a nut job didnt get mental help.
This song was on Johns first solo album released in 1970....he was murdered in 1980. "Not much time later...." Was 10 years.
@@markbrubaker466 "songs like this" doesn't mean "only this song" ;)
Excellent reaction to a Classic Lennon song. I was born in 1953 and purchased the Plastic Ono Band in '71.
It is a landmark recording, in my mind it's the most personal record ever released. I was a senior in HS taking an advanced English class + brought the record into class. Teacher played Working Class Hero and was impressed (and her was a Brother, I went to NDHS). Highlights are everywhere, Mother, Isolation, Remember, Love, Oh Yoko, + God, whose vocal has been called the greatest in popular music. Best to be listened to in it's entirety and you'll be blown away.
The tubes knew I loved this song, so it lead me to you. And bravo! I was hooked from the gitgo, and made it my first song to learn on guitar. He was the real deal. So they had to kill him. Another authentic song from that time, also never heard on radio, is Quicksilver's "What about me?" It starts out..."You poisoned my sweet water, you cut down my green trees. The pill you fed my children was the cause of their disease." And it goes on to dismantle the edifice of crap that grinds down people's lives.
Wow forgot about this iconic San Francisco band and love this song too! Great lyrics as you mentioned....
I'm a fugitive from injustice
But I'm goin' to be free
Cause your rules and regulations
They don't do the thing for me...
This song is from his album " Plastic ono band" ( 1970), the by far best post Beatle album.
Phenomenal song and sooo true ❤
"there's room at the top they are telling you still/but first you must learn to smile as you kill/if you want to be like the folks on the hill." I wondered if he meant the folks on Capitol Hill in DC, so now whenever I see a grinning politician, especially now, I think of those lyrics. He was an absolute genius with words.
"If you want to be like the folks on the hill." I think he meant rich successful people living in a big house on a hill.
I thought that too! In America, Capitol Hill is just referred to as "The Hill". It definitely fits.
I think I heard he write it when he was mad at Paul & it relates to "Fool on the Hill"
John is speaking of the rich and powerful, who attain that position (climbing that social/economic/political ladder) or retain that position (having been born to it) by learning to 'kill' with a 'smile' (because it's the game, just business - not personal).
Compare to an earlier song by George Harrison: "Piggies", from the White Album (1968).
It's common enough in the UK (where 'class' is still a social divider) for the working class to bitch and moan about being subjugated that such bitching and moaning is basically a trope, a cliché.
You see it in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", when King Arthur gets slagged off by a peasant named Dennis while his comrades are digging up potatoes in a muddy field:
"Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony!"
In an earlier exchange:
Dennis: What I object to is you automatically treatin' me like an inferior.
Arthur: Well, I am king.
Dennis: Oh, king, eh? Very nice. And how'd you get that, then? By exploiting the workers! By hanging on to outdated imperialist dogma which perpetuates the economic and social differences in our society!
You see the same thing in any subjugated group, whether socio-economic, racial, ethnic, gender, age-based, religious, intellectual, or political; it's basically different flavors of class warfare. You see this anywhere there's privilege, where there's an elite, where there's injustice and subjugation or just plain disrespect. Being dismissed will make a person angry in shorter time than anything else. And when that dismissal also manifests as a form of inequity with serious real world impact (such as wage slavery, higher infant mortality, glass ceilings, higher arrest mortality, etc), it moves the subjugated to rebel individually and organize collectively.
The thing is, it's not a conspiracy as such. While those who benefit (or are convinced by their own thinking or others' that they can benefit) will lean into the 'game', the game arises because human nature makes it arise. That's why it's so universal; this 'game' occurs worldwide and in every era and age. See the band The Who, their lyrics in "Won't Get Fooled Again" (1971): "Meet the new boss, Same as the old boss."
Read The Who's full lyrics; they tell the story of how inevitably repetitive regime change is. The Who are just as working class as John Lennon and George Harrison. It's not a conspiracy; it's human nature. Until WE change, we will continue doing this. George Harrison wrote in his 1970 song "Beware of Darkness" to "Beware of greedy leaders, They take you where you should not go". George looked at the world from a spiritual angle, but it's a POV that also grasps motivation. Being an Eastern spiritual viewpoint, it's also a recognition that this is 'how it is', that human beings do this as part of their nature, so it will always be with as, the same as Jesus saying in Matthew 26:11 "For ye have the poor always with you..." Until WE change, or enough of us do, no system will arise that doesn't devolve to classism.
Let's be honest. Paul McCartney would never write a song like this. And I'm not putting him down. He's a great musician, singer and performer. But John always wore is heart on his sleeve. I'm A Loser, Help, Yer Blues, etc.
I see where you're coming from for sure. John always spoke his truth
John had so much unresolved childhood pain. That probably came out in a lot of his music.
That's why John is the best! Said it like it is. Spoke his truth but it was a truth everyone understood/felt.
Listen to "Somedays" from the "Flaming Pie" album; overlook "The Other Me" from "Pipes of Peace", especially the line "I acted like a dustbin lid."
He would be the first to acknowledge that. Julian recently said that "Hey Jude" did not really make him feel good, even if he was the inspiration.
Talk about relatable... Absolutely!
Power to the People is one that never gets covered and is in the same vein…
"No one tells the truth about truth," to quote Adrienne Rich. But this is very truthful indeed. His was the only celebrity death that has ever really upset me.
Love this tune, one of his best. And if you love it too, you better listen to "Gimme Some Truth"--incredible.
I love this whole album…. Plastic Ono Band….. some great songs on here John at his rawest.
I have been a fan of John Lennon since the early sixties and I was a preteen. This song is just so gritty and honest. I’m still so pissed off at his murder and I will never get over it. He has been gone four years longer than he was here. Thanks for appreciating his genius. Just stumbled on your channel and will continue to enjoy it. 🌺✌️
Your listening so your smart,liked and subscribed and shared
You get it exactly!!
'How much do I know
To talk out of turn?'
You understood John's timeless message perfectly. This song was basically a folk song in lyrics and music. He had a working class background as did all the Beatles and attained great success but still championed the common man, social justice and unjust wars. Regarding the F-word in songs and in almost all other areas of life it wasn't socially acceptable and was considered quite shocking by most but around the late 60s early 70s it started to be heard in a few songs and live concerts; they would bleep it when it was played on the radio.
Actually the true working class hero was Ringo. He came from the actual slums of Liverpool, called The Dingle. He also spent a couple of years in hospital as a child and his sister taught him how to read and write when he was 10.
He was lower middle-class if anything. Definitely NOT working class.
The whole album John Lennon Plastic Ono Band is awesome! So raw and edgy!
Great reaction!
Like it. You got this!
For me Lennon is the Man. The greatest of them all. Bigger than Elvis and greater than Dylan. I love Lennon with all his flaws because in later life he tried so damn hard to be a better person . I felt in the last half decade of his life he was getting there , dealing with his anger and violence issues and trying to rebuild with Julian. If only Yoko hadn’t blocked Julian’s and McCartney’s calls.
Great
I always thought this was about himself , at the time the Beatles were branded as working class heros
Well John said he basically writes about himself
Great song. Great reaction. I always tell people - we're still medieval peasants but we don't seem to know it.
People might know, just hard to accept.
Check out "God" off of his first solo albumn. John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
You should also listen to Marianne Faithful's killer version and entire album
There were big class distinctions in this country during his era. 'Working class' is the opposite of the aristocracy. Don't look down on yourself because you're working class. We don't have class distinctions in the US like they do or more like did here in the , where I live now. x
He was self-published. Nobody to answer to.
..great...MORE !!!❤
Awesome
Next react to "Isolation".
This song hits me right between the eyes. I want to Catholic schools where the nuns did hit you in those days. My IQ is in the top 5% but I still have trouble with spelling. I would write papers that my teachers said were very good but they graded based on spelling. This was a time before computers or spellcheck. It is still frustrating at times to communicate in written form.
This song has a lot to say about the British class system
This is Imagine without the sugar coating.
Its ironic dude. He was brought up in a middle class suburb of Liddpyool - if you read it as autobiographical
You might want to check out another of his songs, Gimme Some Truth, which, in my opinion, is the greatest protest song ever recorded. Like WCH, the lyrics are brutally honest.
The most Dylanesque of all his songs. No less brilliant for that. When Lennon was a Beatle he envied Dylan's situation and relative freedom to write and sing whatever he liked.
Check out the Green Day version. Not usually a cover fan for any Beatle song but GD does a good job
I heard about john's murder from howard cosell etc on monday night football. Sad day.
Have you listened to Lennon's "Instant Karma" yet?
I am hearing Bob Dylan all over this. BTW John Lennon is one of the few that could say fuck or fucking CLEARLY and is given artistic license on it way back then, however it would not get airplay, thus fewer people have heard it.
It was bleeped in the 70s...I first had the album and thought, well that makes sense!
If I’m correct, I think this was the B side of Imagine! Now that says a lot as well!!
New here. Idk if you've listened to the Let It Be album. I recommend it.
Listen to "Uncle Son" by the Kinks on the same theme...
Very Dylanesque.
The word fuck was edited out on some albums.
This whole album was stripped down. Beautiful album! Plastic Ono Band released 1970. And this not the best song on the album by any means. But is the only song with the "F" word in it.
Dylan all over
Reaction to The Smiths - Half a Person
This is a great reaction. You need to listen to the entire Plastic Ono Band album. It was his first album after the Beatles broke up.
ruclips.net/video/Rd5ktOKH2ts/видео.html
Never heard this one, but it's very 'Masters of war' influenced. which is great, two brilliant lyriicists influencing each other. I'll bet my own personal working class hero likes it, that being the great George Galloway!
That's interesting that you pointed out the similarity between Working Class Hero and Dylan's Masters of War, because I was just thinking about the fact that Roger Taylor (Queen's drummer) did cover versions of both of those songs as a solo artist. Obviously, that style of song (and those two specific songs) made a very big impression on Taylor.
Green day covered this
Of cause they could say a lot more in their songs back then (like fu**in') because "political correctness" came later in the 1980s.
Haha you might be right when it comes to society. However in music I can't hear a song nowadays that doesn't have swear words all over it.
Or he had made enough money not to care if bad words kept the song off the radio.
@@conjo4030 This is true. I was just saying that you used to be allowed to swear in songs. That's why you did it from time to time, but only when it made sense. Today there is constant swearing in songs because it is outlawed and it can make you feel like Robin Hood.😁
@@DrStrangelove3891 Conservatives have been pushing the absurd notion that censorship is more prevalent now than in the past because liberals are intolerant fascists. It's pure nonsense, of course, that only fools fall for (unfortunately, there is no shortage of those.) Conservatives have always been quickest to censor ideas of which they disapprove.
@@DrStrangelove3891I think it was banned because of the socialist ideas. Lennon was seen as a hostile foreigner and they tried to expel him.
Lennon's IQ was probably up there with the cost of his Rolls-Royces.
John was an artist.
It took Paul McCartney 35 years to understand John was crying out for help.
It's good to be best friends, it's something else for the other to listen. Just saying.
This is a great song. But Lennon died with $800,000 in his estate. Doesn't change the message. Someone should say it. But he was no Working Class Hero. He was at the top.
This is very Dylanish, only missing the harmonica..
Too many pauses.
i dont have a lot of use for lennon- i know too much about him as a very damaged person, his work overall has not aged well, im sick of hearing the leftist battle rant 'imagine' - but this one cut to the bone.
Odd title for a song, considering he wasn't working class.
Yes he was, his family was too, until he became a beatle lived in a wch environment.
@@ezequiel761 Rubbish. He grew up in Mendips. It is a large, three bedroom semi-detached house, with gardens. Not a two-bedroom terrace, where Ringo and George lived.
He was high class then??@@sandgrownun66
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