Know something about this song or lyrics?
Add it to our wiki.
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
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
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
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
There's room at the top they're 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
If you want to be a hero well just follow me
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
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
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
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
There's room at the top they're 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
If you want to be a hero well just follow me
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
while the propaganda working class hero is a civil rights fighter, but the working clas dont like those cause masses never like those who lift theire heads above the rests or worse tell them to change theire lives.
also they are told that by working hard and stop to care about others they can reach the top .
they never stood a chance cause they were already broken after scool,but they hold onto it
cause otherwise everthing in theire lives would've been in vain.
and even if one makes it
or starts with the golden spoon
rich or poor
in the end all "fucking peasants"
nowadays the better to be seen in beeing chained to the mobile "forever and ever bound in service".
how higher class use this class in order to their benefits irrespective of anything......in actual higher class is not don't know that without these people they are not even able to make enough money for their stomach......
based on the ideas of Cultural Hegemony from Antonio Gramsci
"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"
means that we are so brainwashed by the media that we actually believe we have freedom, until everyone is equal there is no freedom.
In the 10 years or so build up to this, Lennon would have been able to witness the student protests,rise of the new left, factor riots and perhaps greatest of all the labour movements of the 1960s,
These undoubtedly led to such a system being called into question, not that I'm saying that I believe Lennon to be a hardened communist, Im not aware exactly of his political views to be honest, but the witnessing of such events could not help but have an effect upon this song, and may indeed have led to it becoming a tirade against the capitalist system and the way in which it is able to sedate and give false hope to, the working classes
This could be bollocks to you guys, but I've got an essay due in on this kinda thing for tomorrow, and from preliminary reading, these are the ideas ive acquired