Lyrics for Working Class Hero as interpreted by kevin

Working Class Hero Lyrics
As soon as you're born they make you feel small
By giving you no time instead of it all
Till 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

They hurt you at home and they hit you at school
They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool
Till you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rules
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

When they've tortured and scared you for twenty odd years
Then they expect you to pick a career
When you can't really function you're so full of fear
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV
And you think you're so clever and classless and free
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

There's room at the top they are telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

If you want to be a hero well just follow me
If you want to be a hero well just follow me

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MrMojoRisin5552
05-06-2002

Rated +1 
This song is great and portrays capitalism as it truly is. We're trained to be nothing more than what the bueracracy says we can be. We spend our whole lives miserable and in fear because of capitalism, and the only rewards we get are tv and religion.

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2 Replies
Urine's_whore
06-28-2002

Rated 0 
This song makes me cry...I know that I too will be nothing but working class scum, no hero, :(

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workingclasshero_149
08-04-2002

Rated +1 
well i agree that this does capture the true meaning of capatalismbut i dont agree with the 2nd person who said stuff about this song because if you really do like john lennon and try to be in the state of mind he was in you wouldnt think of your self as working class scum and i think no 1 is working class scum there r only 2 things important to me in my life and that is someday there being peace and god wich dosent sound much like anything john would say except the peace part but every 1s different so i hope u help and contribute to world peace because someday we will acheive it and 1 more things i bet none of u would guess this im only 14 and if you wanna chat with me my yahoo handle is workingclasshero_149 and if every 1 demanded peace instead of a new televison set there would be peace

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belisarius101
08-21-2002

Rated -2 
I don't think this song is about capitalism, but it does remind of the movie "A Clockwork Orange", a great Stanley Kubrick film, in which a man learns that the government is "feeding" us ideas into our head through some type of transmitter. Interesting.

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4 Replies
mattimal
09-14-2002

Rated +1 
i can definitely tell that workingclass hero is 14 because no one any older would post any comment that long without punctuation. im winded just by reading it. anyway, john lennon has been my favorite artist for as long as iv'e been able to listen to music and understand it. this song is about the human condition, you work your butt off your entire life, and you never get any farther up the ladder than where you were when you were born. that is all due to the social class system we have in america. the rich get richer and the middle class(the largest by far demographic in our nation) absorbs all the problems in the country. when in the song he says "keep you doped with religion and sex and t.v., and you think your so clever and CLASSLESS and free, but your still fucking peasants as far as i can see,..." he's saying that when you think you've got life figured out, your really just believing what the people in power want you to. he was a genius. another genius, the late and great Stanley Kubrick was mentioned before and must be acclaimed once again by me.

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MercyKiller
04-15-2003

Rated 0 
It's fairly obvious it is about capitalism and the society we live in. It's about the fact that capitalism degrades the majority of people in any country, which happens to be the working class. Even with globalisation and the transition of manufacturing business abroad to exploit cheaper work forces, and our economies becoming service based, the majority of people are still by far working class in western countries - it's just that working class jobs have changed from their traditional jobs, thus weakening class solidarity and awareness. Call centres for example operate very much under dehumanising, alienating, factory conditions. Many job brackets that were considered middle class in the past are now working class, so I'd argue strongly against the majority of people in America being middle class. Just look at the comparative wages, wealth divide, job security, and so forth.
Anyway, back to the point. I think mattimal hit on most of it. It's basically about society being unfair and against those of us who are working class, about us having to play by ruling class rules, about how we are oppressed. More than that though, it's saying that it's alright to abandon their rules and fight against what they enforce upon us. To be a working class hero.

As for workingclass hero 149, I found it fairly easy to guess you were only 14 or thereabouts. Not only did you fail to punctuate any of your post, you also totally misinterpreted Urine's_whore's comment of doomed to be working class scum, and unfairly accused MrMojoRisin5552 of being exactly the same because of his comment about religion. I myself am an atheist, but I will not insult you by saying my own views of what religion is there for, how it has developed, and why it first came into being. You are considerably naive though to think that world peace can be achieved by everyone demanding it, and that that would ever happen. Governments, and the ideology of capitalism, justify war as being an inevitable part of life. War happens to protect interests and the economy, and to further them. A popular movement could rise up to end war, but it would not be everyone "demanding peace". It would be a revolution. Again, something that would not happen unless the system plunged into crisis. And only then, if revolution spread would world peace become inevitable. Otherwise the reverse is true.

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SouthHibbing
04-21-2003

Rated -2 
I don't think the songs about society or the powerful people in society. It's about working class cultre and the treatment of the young by the adults, the lack of encouragement, belief and love.

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1 Reply
SDarkness
04-24-2003

Rated 0 
Bah, mattimal. I'm 13, and I always write with punctuation.

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smashingrocker666
06-23-2003

Rated 0 
urines whore... i remember you. strange that we meet in such different places. anyhow. i like to browse around lennon lyrics because i really admire him. he was one of the greatest musicians ever. this song is pretty much self-explanatory, i think. so no matter how old everyone here is, by stating the obvious about capitalism, you are no better than that 14 year old who doesn't punctuate.

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MushieMan
11-14-2004

Rated +2 
it is true all true

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1 Reply
montresor
11-25-2004

Rated 0 
John Lennon is comparing himself to Jesus in this song. He's pointing out that living inthe material world leaves you with a lot of problems, and your redemption is at best that you get to be like the folks on the hill, if you aspire to being a working class hero. However, if you want to be a hero, just follow me. It's not insignificant that this song is on the Plastic Ono Band Album, an album he made with the then mostly despised (by Beatles fan-atics) Yoko. Basically, he turned his back on all that crap (the Beatles) and has tried to find peace and contentment in his life with his wife and child. I think he failed to find happiness in that endeavor, but I'm far from an expert on his life.

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urlostinspacelikeme
01-02-2005

Rated 0 
isn't it amazing how so many people really are kept drugged by religion, sex, and tv? we all want to stay under the illusion of american superiority and invincibility and believe that if we can make enough money to buy our happiness and safty our lives will be complete. this song hits me hard every time i listen to it because of how true it rings... think of how many lives are completly wasted in the quest for wealth and image. it's the "american dream". i recently moved to manhattan and all of these things have been made even clearer. we don't have to fall in with the sedated masses. we have the ability to think for ourselves. we have the choice. it just makes me sad to think of how many people are completly unaware... just flipping the channels, mindlessly absorbing all this crap and then spending thier money trying to find this promised hapiness. nothing like bitter cynicism at 3 am! :)

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beatlesfan772000
03-04-2005

Rated 0 
I feel as though John is talking about how to stand up to all of the control in our lives. In the beginning he is refering to the control that parents have on us. The we have to go to school and learn what they want us to learn. After we graduate then we have to pick a career. After picking a career you work hard to be like the government who is then controling your life. John wants us to stand up for our individuality.

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1 Reply
boris
04-05-2005

Rated 0 
Sometimes I feel like John died for this idea, conspiracy theories aside. Anyone who can write a song this powerful and compelling would be an enemy to the state. "If you want to be a hero then just follow me." It just makes you think. He was a true leader.

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LennonGenius!
06-05-2005

Rated +1 
This song is against materialism and Capitalism, but more importantly it talks of how democracy is a complete lie. Consider this:

Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV
And you think you're so clever and classless and free
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see

This line tells me that we have been fooled by our teachers, presidents, and anyone else who may have ever told us that we are living a free society and country. This country is not what it seems: the government and all of the poeple whithin this country are merely putting on a superficial act. Just as George Carlin talks about in You Are All Diseased! Carlin talks of how America is full of it. Lennon is saying that we initially planned to have a free socitey where the government did not have as much control over anything, but now, we have regressed as a nation: we have gone in the direction we have come from. Look at Bush, we are not a free nation, and everything this current administration is doing is against anything the founding fathers and the phiosophers from whom they got their ideas meant to be done.

Governlment and religion are buddies and they always fool the poeple by putting on superficial acts, Lennon is saying that he cansee this while most poeple just live with it.

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1 Reply
rylltraka
09-02-2005

Rated 0 
My question would be as to what Lennon meant by the refrain of the song:

A working class hero is something to be

I can think of three meanings: that a working class hero is laudable and worthy of praise, that he's being sarcastic and saying that sort of life is sad and meaningless, or that it's a statement of fact, that to be a working class hero is plainly a direction to take your life in. By the way he sings it, and the lyrics, I am still uncertain.

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1 Reply
dxman
12-07-2005

Rated +1 
If you want to be a hero you just have to be yourself. Speak your mind.

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cikuuzis
12-24-2005

Rated +2 
i think that phrase

'...working class hero is something to be...'

Lennon ment sarcastically. Like the only aim to the working class individual is to become a succesfull hero in capitalism`s vanguard. Working class hero i think is the man who has filled all the 'american dream' tasks - a career, house, big car, and some capital.

The western society is permanently fucking your brain with this same old mantra - 'working class hero is something to be'. Youe are always reminded, that only respectable choise is to become a 'working class hero'

And i dont think that this is some kind of anthem for working class, it is more like that Lennon in this song is not very kind towards working class..

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2 Replies
funk
02-24-2006

Rated +1 
Yeah, I guess I agree with it being meant sarcastically. I originally thought that he was sincere, working class hero being better than a capitalist exploiter, but after seeing the last lines written out
"If you want to be a hero well just follow me"
it becomes pretty obvious that he's saying to quit being exploited and listen to him.
workingclasshero 149, that is badass that you're only 14 and you're knowledgable about this song. Never forget it b/c every word of it is true.

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funk
02-24-2006

Rated 0 
Upon further review, he could be saying that to be a working class hero, you must realize all the above and break from your chains, and to do this, listen to him. Working class bad, but still better than capitalist. Working class HERO, one who overcomes his/her chains, to become neither= best.

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1 Reply
Stairwaytoheaven
03-03-2006

Rated 0 
I don't know about it being a parallel to Jesus. Perhaps you could read that in there somewhere. I really like the literal interpretation of this song. It's meaning is not hidden, but phrased in a beautiful way that everyone can understand. That takes talent.

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Dustpan
03-31-2006

Rated -1 
wow lennon actually made a song worth being covered by ozzy, he normally doesnt waste his time on shit

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BCMM
07-12-2006

Rated 0 
I don't think I can say anything that hasn't already been said about this song (the meaning is fairly clear in this one I think), but I have to object to the summery of A Clockwork Orange in the fourth post. That doesn't sound anything like anything the film, or indeed the book it was based on. You might be thinking of some other film?

The book is certainly about rebelling violently against a system which messes you up, but it's set in a dystopian future society rather unlike ours (or representing the consequences of the collapse or ours), whereas this song is about the ways our current system fails us.

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LadyStardust74
07-25-2006

Rated +1 
This song is just a beautiful poem, that resonates so much in the working class north - my husband (working class south) says that it's badly dated, and that in England you get what you work for... But if you've gone to a sink school, lived in a council house and experienced what it is to be on the lower rungs of the class system, in the north you will get no further... Lack of expectation from all around you, lack or resources and poor quality education with teachers barely qualified to do the job (many these days are the ones who actually failed their degrees!) keep the intelligent kids down... It is nigh on impossible to move on... I moved away and got my degree - still earn less than those without degrees, but who attended better schools... At least I didn't get traped in a call centre though - the factories of the future!!!

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montresor
10-24-2006

Rated +1 
Twenty Years of Schoolin and they put you on the day shift
Look out, kid! IT's something you did, don't know when, but you're doing it again!!!!

They gave Jeff Skilling 24 years today. A working class hero is something to be.

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