Lyrics to
Working Class Hero

This version of Working Class Hero was released by John Lennon in 1970.

Our John Lennon Songs profile has Working Class Hero lyrics from 1970 and most if not all of the lyrics by John Lennon that we have here at Decade Lyrics.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to John Lennon or about the 1970s in general.

As soon as your 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
Working Class Hero is something to be
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 despise a fool
Till you’re so fucking crazy you can’t follow their rules
Working Class Hero is something to be
Working Class Hero is something to be

When they’ve tortured and scared you for 20 odd years
then they expect you to pick a career
When you can’t really function you’re so full of fear
Working Class Hero is something to be
Working Class Hero is something to be

Keep you doped with religion, sex and T.V.
and you think you’re so clever and classless and free
but you’re still fucking peasants as far as I can see
Working Class Hero is something to be
Working Class Hero is something to be

There’s room at the top I’m 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
Working Class Hero is something to be

Yes , 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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Want more lyrics and songs by John Lennon?

John Lennon has released many songs over the years besides Working Class Hero. John Lennon released songs from 1970 to 1988 spanning across albums like John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band, Imagine, Some Time In New York City, Mind Games, Walls And Bridges, Rock 'N' Roll, Shaved Fish, Double Fantasy, Milk And Honey, Live In New York City, and Imagine: John Lennon. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by John Lennon.

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About Lyrics and Working Class Hero by John Lennon

When you decide to study the lyrics to Working Class Hero, you're looking at the words, verses and background chorus from the 1970 song by John Lennon. Some of the lyrics to Working Class Hero have clear meanings and some contain metaphorical references. Like most songs, only John Lennon and their collaborators know the full story behind any of the their songs.

You can understand the lyrics to Working Class Hero if you take apart the structure of the words. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Working Class Hero" means the words set to the music of Working Class Hero, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by John Lennon. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Working Class Hero and the lyrics to Working Class Hero are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of John Lennon who came here looking just for the lyrics to Working Class Hero, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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