Working Class Hero

I heard Green Day cover this song today...
And once again, I am reminded of the God John Lennon was.

Working Class Hero
by John Lennon

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 class less 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

I first fell in love with Lennon when it wasn't just Lennon, it was The Beatles. Their music touched me in places no other music ever had. They were my introduction to "rock n' roll" and I've loved it ever since. I didn't realise at the time that it was art. I didn't know what art was. I was a kid, liking it when mom played her records.

Later, I heard some of Lennon's solo work -- "Imagine" which is still one of my most favorite songs, no matter who sings it, simply because of the hope and sadness of the song... hope, and sadness, at the same time. Do you have any idea how hard it is to make someone feel hopeful, and deeply sad at the same time? I've never been able to pull it off, even with my best poetry. And believe me, I've tried. I'm not Lennon. No one is. I don't know of a single writer, or poet, or singer who is anywhere near on par with his insight into the human condition, and his ability to make people FEEL.

I'd never heard "Working Class Hero" before. I feel kind of bad that as much as I adore Lennon, I haven't gone out of my way to aquire more of his music. But I heard it today, sitting at my desk, contemplating just how much I hate this god awful job, and it hit home. Especially the lines that go

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

I know that feeling. I know it intimately. Its me. The whole song is me. It's like he took a time machine into the future, and climbed inside my head, pulled out all my feelings, and wrote them into a song.

I wish I had his talent. But at the same time, I'm glad I don't. As much as I wish there were more people in the world like him, I wouldn't want to cheapen his memory or his work by having anyone who could do it just as well, or better.

John Lennon is, and forever will be, legendary.

And probably, a bit of a hero... To me anyway.