About This Track
“Working Class Hero” is a song from John Lennon’s first post-Beatles solo album, 1970’s John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band.
The song is a take on the class split of the 1940s and 1950s, and of the 1960s in which he was famous. The song appears to tell the story of someone growing up in the working class of capitalism. According to Lennon in an interview with Jann S. Wenner of Rolling Stone magazine in December 1970, it is about working class individuals being processed into the middle classes, into the machine. Lennon stated (in the same interview) that he hoped that it was a warning to the people, a contemporary song for the revolution, for workers, thematically like
Give Peace a Chance, aimed to replace the older songs like “We Shall Overcome”.
Notable Covers:
# Tommy Roe recorded his version in 1973. peaked at #97 on the Billboard Hot 100.
# Marianne Faithfull covered the song on her 1979 album Broken English.
# Then-New Zealand politician Marilyn Waring 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.
# Mike Peters covered the song when with The Alarm as a backing track to their 1989 single “A New South Wales”.
The song is a take on the class split of the 1940s and 1950s, and of the 1960s in which he was famous. The song appears to tell the story of someone growing up in the working class of capitalism. According to Lennon in an interview with Jann S. Wenner of Rolling Stone magazine in December 1970, it is about working class individuals being processed into the middle classes, into the machine. Lennon stated (in the same interview) that he hoped that it was a warning to the people, a contemporary song for the revolution, for workers, thematically like
Give Peace a Chance, aimed to replace the older songs like “We Shall Overcome”.Notable Covers:
# Tommy Roe recorded his version in 1973. peaked at #97 on the Billboard Hot 100.
# Marianne Faithfull covered the song on her 1979 album Broken English.
# Then-New Zealand politician Marilyn Waring 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.
# Mike Peters covered the song when with The Alarm as a backing track to their 1989 single “A New South Wales”.
Send Ringtones to Cell Similar Music
Play John Lennon RadioWith: John Lennon & Yoko Ono, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, The Beatles and more…
People who listen to this also like
| Track | Duration | Listeners | ||
|
|
John Lennon - Isolation | 2:51 | 67,429 | |
|
|
John Lennon - Remember | 4:36 | 54,891 | |
|
|
George Harrison - My Sweet Lord | 4:44 | 339,591 | |
|
|
The Beatles - While My Guitar Gently Weeps | 4:43 | 578,118 | |
|
|
The Beatles - I Me Mine | 2:20 | 254,902 | |
| George Harrison - All Things Must Pass | 3:50 | 46,482 |
Albums featuring this track
-
Lennon Legend
John Lennon
Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 Search
- 7digital Search
- iTunes Search
- Buy Album
- Amazon $39.88
- eBay Search
Shouts
-
power2themusic wrote:
It's a good song to have on repeat for a few hours while you get some homework done.
-
Caboonha wrote:
this is him trying to emulate the protest songs from the early 60s. that's obvious.
-
aquateenchica wrote:
genius
-
pravdt wrote:
Bob Dylan should have done a cover of it. [2]
-
pravdt wrote:
Lyrics are WIN.
-
digout wrote:
a very goodie! :-)
-
zimmerman6290 wrote:
truth
-
jhutch868 wrote:
perf
-
guitargod71 wrote:
Word.
-
ben12a wrote:
John Lennon told it like it is.RIP
-
Leaf_Thief wrote:
spot on
-
Akayz7 wrote:
Bob Dylan should have done a cover of it. :D
-
seether112 wrote:
perfect nothing is better
-
EbbaOzolins wrote:
Legends never dies.
-
TheDarkSide73 wrote:
What a Great Song
-
mrjimmymathew wrote:
So true.. They keep you doped with sex, religion and TV...
-
99rocketqueen wrote:
♥
-
MrsAmphetamine wrote:
the best.
-
jiveraptor wrote:
"i love how this song is filled with rage, yet it doesn't include any br00tal guitar riffs or growling." Are you 13?
-
MatsuSkyline wrote:
@WLDB That's right =|
Track Stats
844,673 Scrobbles
210,834 Listeners
Recent Listening Trend
Listening Now
Top Listeners
-
killersoftly
Top Listener
-
Nicole258
Top Listener
-
genuaa
Top Listener
-
dittuzen
Top Listener
Recent Activity
-
tokenxxiv7, bitterangel88, maman1954 and 17 other people loved John Lennon – Working Class Hero. 2 hours ago
-
SextonBlake wrote about Working Class Hero in One In Ten : A Statistical Reminder Of A World That Doesn't Care. Wednesday morning
-
joey_travesso, agkcalb, SzymonIVWaza and 22 other people loved John Lennon – Working Class Hero. Wednesday morning
-
infra_vermelho added Working Class Hero to infra_vermelho’s library. last week
-
Assasin_ added Working Class Hero to her Loved Tracks. last week
-
Purged-of-Sin and therealjuju added John Lennon – Working Class Hero to their libraries. last week
-
VitalikNakempiy, smithee1407, WiliestADAMO and 3 other people loved John Lennon – Working Class Hero. last week
-
zandor512 added Working Class Hero to zandor512’s library. last week
-
marco_csilva, DigiBR, faceyfood and 1 other person loved John Lennon – Working Class Hero. last week
-
fujest added Working Class Hero to the playlist fujést. last week
Related Journals
-
One In Ten : A Statistical Reminder Of A World That Doesn't Care
by SextonBlake |
8 Feb 2012
-
Last.FM Milestones
by alexiliopoulos |
2 Jan 2012
-
The Delightful 65 of the 70's! (Best Albums 1970-1979)
by thomas10 |
10 Dec 2010
| 14 comments
