Green Day singing Lennon.....

admin · Post by **admin** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 4:06 pm

Nicolas and Jon: Two great interpretations.

gregga41 · Post by **gregga41** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 1:50 am

Greenday record a Lennon song,and IMHO not very well! However, has anyone heard R.E.M.s version of #9 Dream? Michael Stipes vocals are brilliant!

jojo99 · Post by **jojo99** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 1:47 pm

I always interpreted that the 'working class hero' in the song referred to the Beatles themselves...all (obstensibly) working class lads from Liverpool who managed to become heroes... Lennon detailed quite well the trials and tribulations of the working class in the song, but I think he was being sarcastic in his "just follow me" and "it's something to be" lines...recognizing the frank reality that for most working class stiffs, there's really no opportunity to be a "hero" in the eyes of society, but the Beatles managed to do it, and the song is a recognition of what an anomoly the Beatles were, and how it is not really realistic to model oneself after Lennon/Beatles...he's recognizing that despite his talent, what he achieved had much to do with sheer luck, and that's something he seems to have felt a certain amount of ongoing guilt about, ala "I'm a Loser".

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 4:58 am

It seems to me to reflect the types of folks he was hanging with post Beatles (yippies and anti-establishment radicals of the day). Struck me as he was writing with them in mind.

Though he (and the other fabs)were all fabs once, they had no way of knowing if the next day anybody would care about them.

A "Jet-Setting-Mansion Dwelling-Millionaire Rock-Star is something to be" just wasn't fashionable at the time, and is hard to sing as well.

OK so the song bores me and I think it was simply a calculation on his part. Hey, he was learning from Yoko.

randyz · Post by **randyz** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 6:28 am

As a high school student in the mid 1970's, 'Plastic Ono Band' was a favorite album. I was too young to really understand what Lennon was trying to say, but I loved the raw stripped down sound on the record. This was before punk, so it really sounded different. I loved the shambolic noise of 'I Found Out' and 'Well Well Well'. It sure beat whatever you could hear on the radio at the time.

jojo99 · Post by **jojo99** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 8:14 pm

"Working Class Hero" was written before he started hanging out with radicals like Jerry Rubin, Abbey Hoffman, and the like. (That seemed to be John's next grab at having a topic.) But hanging out with those sorts may have proved his ultimate undoing, depending on your personal level of cynicism. I'm thinking all the Beatles were astute enough by the mid-seventies to know that their place in history was well established, and they carried the weight that their collective legacy would be nearly impossible to measure up against individually...typical 70's pop songs like "Love is kinda crazy with a spooky little girl like you" probably weren't causing any of them to question their talents, only their relevance.
Notice that Lennon didn't sing Working Class Hero in the first person... that's a critical detail, IMO, and part of the brilliance of the song.

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 3:55 pm

Thanks Jo, I really didn't follow his solo stuff closely, so I do not have the time frames down.

I was referring to the immediate post-Beatle years. I don't believe they wanted to be out of the public eye, and each probably wanted to be seen as getting along better than the others with their music careers and getting press.

Must have been major competition between J&P, and the success of "All Things Must Pass" probably gave them more of an urge to prove themselves, compete.

("Spooky" was a '60's hit by the Classics IV, who morphed into the band who had a hit with "I Am So Into You" in the '70's).

charlyg · Post by **charlyg** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 3:59 pm

The Little River Band? I had no idea......

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 4:23 pm

No, the Atlanta Rythm Section!
Couldn't think of it before.
Little River Band is Australian, I believe.

charlyg · Post by **charlyg** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 4:32 pm

Reminiscing and I Am So into You sound like the same people to me....... {:^)

lyle_from_minneapolis · Sat Jun 09, 2007 4:43 pm

Absolutely wonderful posts. What a great read.

I love this song as well as the album. Those of us old enough to remember its release will also remember what a cold splash of water it was...and also how good it was. But the Beatles really were dead, it was clear.

Well, personally, I never did become a rock star...and a working class hero really is something to be.

sowhat · Post by **sowhat** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 8:07 am

Well, i like Green Day and i graduated from school in 1995 and from the University in 2002 (or, more precisely, i liked their first two albums the most, but i think the later ones weren't bad either, especially "Nimrod"), and i liked their version of this song & the vid. It fits them, imho, and it sounds quite natural for them. (And Mike is sooo sweet!

)
Well, the only thing i actually didn't like about the vid was Billie Joe's makeup.