John Lennon famously wrote a song called “Working Class Hero.” However, the author of a famous book about
The Beatles said John wasn’t actually a member of the working class when he was growing up. Here’s a look at John’s early years and the song. Hunter Davies was the author of The Beatles: The Authorised Autobiography. For The Guardian, he discussed the book Lennon Remembers, which consists of a long interview with
John. While praising the book’s entertainment value, he cast doubt on its accuracy. “So can John be trusted in this interview?” he asked. “It’s hardly a balanced account, even about himself. But it’s true to what he felt, that day.” In Lennon Remembers, John discusses his song “Working Class Hero” at length — and Davies dismisses the notion John was ever part of the working class. “In his head and his memories, John was a working-class hero, but of course he wasn’t,” Davies wrote.
“He was brought up in semi-detached suburbia by Mimi, his aunt, a snob who looked down on snotty-nosed councilhouse kids like Paul and George. In his mind, he’d been a teddy boy tearaway, street fighter and gang leader, but in reality he had run like hell when trouble or violence broke out.” For context, teddy boys were the English equivalents of greasers. RELATED: Björk Covered This Beatles Song at 11, Later Called the Fab Four ‘Boring’ Davies’ comments are supported by other sources. Sam Taylor-Johnson directed a famous film about John’s early years called Nowhere Boy. “There is a common misconception about him,” she told
The Irish Times. “He came from a posher suburb of Liverpool and Mimi was an aspirational figure. He was essentially brought up middle class. It was Paul who lived in that world of gritty working-class
housing estates.” In the film, John’s aunt Mimi is portrayed as very posh instead of working class. The idea John was from a working class environment is undeniably connected to the song “Working Class Hero.” However, it’s notable John never says he’s a working class hero in the song. Rather, he lists what he sees as the issues plaguing the
working class, like the school system, religion, and television. RELATED: How the Moody Blues Helped the Beatles Make ‘Strawberry
Fields Forever’ Interestingly, John said people didn’t understand the song. He said it was supposed to be sardonic. This separates it from other political songs John wrote like “Imagine,” “Power to the People,” and “Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” which don’t contain any sarcasm or irony. Perhaps the grim and serious tone and instrumentation of
“Working Class Hero” — which doesn’t contain any obvious jokes — made it seem more serious than it was. Regardless, some fans still thought John was working class even though he was not. RELATED: The Singer John Lennon Said Was as Important as Paul McCartney and Bob Dylan Combined  Recorded: 26 September – 23 October 1970 Producers: John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Phil Spector Released: 11 December 1970 Available on: Personnel
John Lennon: vocals, acoustic guitar Although much of the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album was inspired by the Primal Therapy that John Lennon underwent in the summer of 1970, ‘Working Class Hero’ was equally influenced by the left-wing political movement and thinkers of the time. By reaching backing into his childhood and school days, Lennon realised that freedom from conformity was necessary at a personal as well as social level. In the song he denounced the rules of family and school that diminished the individual, and encouraged revolution in the head and the heart.
John Lennon, 1970 ‘Working Class Hero’ was part of a line of political songs that began with 1968’s ‘Revolution’ and culminated with the 1972 album Some Time In New York City. The late 1960s and early 70s was a fertile time for political unrest, with anti-Vietnam war protests, worldwide protests in 1968, and the rise of the New Left. Although it may have been widely misunderstood, it is likely that the title – and, indeed, much of the lyrics – of ‘Working Class Hero’ was ironic. Lennon was brought up in a comfortably middle class Liverpool household, but, as in ‘Imagine’ the following year, was merely asking his listeners to envisage an alternative situation rather than treat him as a leader preaching from an ivory tower. The closing line, “If you want to be a hero well just follow me”, was clearly meant ironically rather than as self-aggrandisement; after all, in 1970 Lennon was in the midst of a long period of self-doubt and insecurity, and was barely inclined to put himself forward as a leader. Seduced by elements of the New Left, Lennon was disenchanted with the way he felt workers were used by the upper classes to build wealth, and were “doped with religion and sex and TV” to remain as an underclass. In this context, the description of “fucking peasants” was a critique of his perception of the ruling class rather than those they dominated. The two profanities in ‘Working Class Hero’ gave some discomfort to Lennon’s record label EMI. Initially they threatened to censor the recording, but eventually told him they wouldn’t allow the words to be printed on the lyric sheet. Lennon agreed to substitute an asterisk, but inserted the words “Omitted at the insistence of EMI” beneath.
John Lennon, 1970 The song was one of Lennon’s simplest compositions, being based around three chords and played on an acoustic guitar. Despite the basic arrangement, Lennon later denied that ‘Working Class Hero’ owed a significant dept to Bob Dylan, whom he subsequently disavowed in ‘God’.
John Lennon, 1970 In the studioJohn Lennon recorded ‘Working Class Hero’ at EMI Studios, Abbey Road. It took him more than a hundred attempts to get right, in sessions spread over several days. Eventually he came up with a satisfactory version in Studio Three, only to find he had missed out the verse beginning ‘When they’ve tortured and scared you for twenty odd years’. The verse was recorded during a different session in Studio Two and edited in afterwards, but with less treble applied to the guitar. The difference in sound, and a poorly-timed edit which drops a beat before the chorus, suggests Lennon was more motivated by getting his message heard than by the quality of the recording. An alternative version of ‘Working Class Hero’ opened both the JJohn Lennon Anthology box set and the Acoustic collection. The version is an outtake from the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band sessions, and was likewise recorded at EMI Studios, Abbey Road. As with the album version, it was released in mono. Why did John Lennon write Working Class Hero?After years of writing picture-perfect pop songs with The Beatles, John Lennon used the first album of his solo career to write with painful honesty about the forces that brought him to that point in his life.
Who Wrote working class hero is something to be?John LennonWorking Class Hero / Composernull
Who did working class hero?Working Class Hero is a song from John Lennon's first post-Beatles solo album, 1970's John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band.
Are the Beatles working class?Most of the UK's most famous artists have come from working-class backgrounds, including The Beatles (whose John Lennon wrote a solo song about it: Working Class Hero), The Who, The Verve and Joy Division.
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Did John Lennon make Working Class Hero?
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