A Working Class Hero Is Something To Be

There are many covers of the Lennon anthem, including Post Apocalyptic Bohemian favorites: Richie Havens, Blind Melon, David Bowie, Cyndi Lauper, Marilyn Manson, Ozzy Osbourne, a moving version by Green Day.  This  is the version I am the most moved by:

30 Years Ago Today

The man who would become my Husband was driving us to rehearsal in his deminutive 1976 Honda Civic. We were driving in snow. When we heard the announcment that John Lennon had been shot in front of the Dakota, the future Husband had to pull over. We were sick with shock as we tried to catch our breath from the dismay & distress of the news. 30 years ago today. This is one of my favorite Lennon songs. It was written about Brian Epstein, the Beatles manager who was gay:

Here I stand head in hand

Turn my face to the wall

If You're gone I can't go on

Feelin' two-foot small

Everywhere people stare

Each & every day

I can see them laugh at me

& I hear them say

Hey you've got to hide your love away

Hey you've got to hide your love away

How can I even try

I can never win

Hearing them, seeing them

In the state I'm in

How could you say to me

Love will find a way

Gather round all you clowns

Let me hear you say

Hey you've got to hide your love away

Hey you've got to hide your love away

John Lennon

1967



He Would Have Been 70 Today

Today is John Lennon’s birthday. He’s probable the most celebrated songwriter of all time, & easily one of the most famous people of the 20th century. He was assassinated. He died a revolutionary & a somewaht of a martyr. I loved him. I still listen to his music.

Despite what you hear on the radio these days, writing pop music is difficult. The very best pop music is sad & beautiful, both inspirational & existential.


Julia is not a rocker or a message song. It grew out of the guitar lessons John & Paul took from the ethereal- Donovan, during their time in India.


Julia has no soaring melody, no harmonies, no clever arrangement, no discernible chorus, & no instrumentation except Lennon on guitar. The song lacks everything that made The Beatles are known for.


Lennon said that telling the truth in his songs as being more important than anything else. Julia has no social cause or great message, instead it is the lament of distressed man still coping with childhood with no mother. The mood is sad & low-key, & you can feel Lennon’s humanity. That is the loveliest thing a great artist can give his audience.


I have deep passion for Beatle history, & I am looking forward to the release next week of Nowhere Boy, a new film that imagines the 15 year old John Lennon.

A Working Class Hero Is Something To Be

May Day has to be the Teabaggers favorite holiday; they just love to celebrate the seeds of Socialism & Unions, mixed with a little Paganism. I am sure that they would find solidarity with me, I am after all, a TEAMSTER (SAG, AFTRA, AEA).

May Day just might have more holidays than any other day of the year. It is a celebration of Spring. It is a day of political protests. It is a pagan festival, a saint's feast day, & a day for organized labor. In many countries, it is a national holiday. In medieval England, people would celebrate the start of spring by going out to the country or woods to "go a-maying, gathering greenery & flowers. Another English tradition is the maypole. Some towns had permanent maypoles that would stay up all year; others put up a new one each May. The pole (a phallus symbol of virility) would be hung with greenery & ribbons, brightly painted, & decorated, & served as the focus  for the festivities.


In many countries, May Day is also Labor Day. This originates with the United States labor movement in the late 19th Century. On May 1, 1886, unions across the country went on strike, demanding that the standard workday be shortened to 8 hours. The organizers of these strikes included socialists, anarchists, & others in organized labor movements. Rioting in Chicago's Haymarket Square, including a bomb thrown by an anarchist, led to the deaths of a dozens people & the injury of over 100 more.


The protests were successful, as 8 hour work days eventually did become the norm for most people, if not for me. Labor leaders, socialists, & anarchists around the world took the American strikes as a rallying point, choosing May Day as a day for demonstrations, parades, & speeches. It was a major state holiday in the former Soviet Union & other communist countries.

Portland expects 6000 + people to participate in our annual May Day parade & rally on the South Park Blocks. I am, of course... working.



There are some great covers of this John Lennon song, including Green Day. This version, by Marianne Faithfull, is my favorite.