When "Working Class Hero" appeared on the "Plastic Ono Band" album, it was the one that jump-started my adolescent conciousness.
Of course it takes a good dose of optimism to be able to live well day to day, but I have the impression that a positive world view may be more realistic if it is built on the scorched earth left by the cynical tone and sarcasm of these lyrics.
In his lesson on "Working Class Hero" (posted 5 days ago), Neil says that as to chords, this song is one of the simplest on the site.
He calls it "deceptively simple", and he hit the nail on the head.
There's lots of subtlety to playing this right, the picking of course and even just being able to maintain the repetition of the dirge-like rhythm is an ability that is worth developing. Coordinating the lyrics and creating some drama in delivery is another aspect ... all these details make for a longer-term project. Maybe in a future video?
John Lennon's been gone 31 years now ... today (October 9th) is his birthday, and I had my hopes set on uploading this tune before his birthday expired. So, after way too many tries recording it, I had to say "good enough" for today, and pressed the "Upload" button at 11:57pm (with time to spare!).
Pierre
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John Lennon Working Class Hero by cosmicmechanic
Pierre,
Very cool. I love this song and all the meaning behind it, just as you do. The "simple" side of this tune is anything but simple. I thought you did it a great justice. With your vocals and wired rimmed glasses, you were very Lennon-like. Way to go. I really enoyed you effort on this very meaningful song. Way to go!
Craig
Very cool. I love this song and all the meaning behind it, just as you do. The "simple" side of this tune is anything but simple. I thought you did it a great justice. With your vocals and wired rimmed glasses, you were very Lennon-like. Way to go. I really enoyed you effort on this very meaningful song. Way to go!
Craig
Salut Pierre, good work on this song. I agree with Craig about the voice, I never noticed it before but you sound very much like John. I think you should trust your voice and add more power to your singing, you have plenty of range.
You are keeping a good rhythm and the hammer-ons are spot on. I would just suggest to move your right hand down when you do the strumming to hit the higher pitch strings to strum on the full chords. Right now you are hitting the hammer-ons but your hand strums at the same spot most of the time (in the middle of the strings) so it is more difficult to feel the chords changing.
Great work
Marc
You are keeping a good rhythm and the hammer-ons are spot on. I would just suggest to move your right hand down when you do the strumming to hit the higher pitch strings to strum on the full chords. Right now you are hitting the hammer-ons but your hand strums at the same spot most of the time (in the middle of the strings) so it is more difficult to feel the chords changing.
Great work
Marc
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neverfoundthetime
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Well done Pierre! Deceptively simple is certainly an understatement on this. The whole thing only can only work if you put the singing and playing together well... which you do.
And that is one spooky video... you look exactly like John and you could be sitting in the living room of his Tittenhurst mansion rerecording this.
And that is one spooky video... you look exactly like John and you could be sitting in the living room of his Tittenhurst mansion rerecording this.
That's a spookily Lennon-like video, Pierre, and if you'd only chewed gum while you sang, you could easily have passed for dear John. Very, very solid performance -- in fact, one of your best yet.
I'd like to hear a little more music coming out of your guitar, and I think you can easily do that by not camping out on the two or three strings you're using throughout the song. Let some other voices be heard.
I'd like to hear a little more music coming out of your guitar, and I think you can easily do that by not camping out on the two or three strings you're using throughout the song. Let some other voices be heard.