Working Class Hero
DJ NoMore: "Working Class Hero"
Demo, 2001-2009
An interpretation of John Lennon's song / John Lennon dalának interpretációja
One
of my all time favourite songs is John Lennon's "Working Class Hero".
Just like many artists I've also always felt that this song is
about me. I've made several interpretations of it during the past decades.
The first one I've recorded in 1987, in New York City. On that one I
accompanied myself with a heavily effected electric guitar. Then I
recorded an á capella version at the darkest moments of my life, in
Copenhagen, Denmark, in November, 1996. The last version was created in
steps, through 8 evil years. Borrowing the bass line from Marianne
Faithfull's fantastic 1979 interpretation I laid down the basic tracks
of a demo in 2001, in Budapest, Hungary, with Sosa Juristovsky
providing the backing vocals. I wanted to enrich the song's texture
with several guitar tracks, but couldn't find the right collaborators. In September, 2009 I added some theremin and other electronic riffs to it Now I hope to find a live band to re-record the song
with.
Parents:
Father / Apa Mother / Anya
Laszlo Najmanyi / Najmányi László Sarolta Oroszi / Oroszi Sarolta
1919–1970 1918–2006
WordCitizen (a.k.a. DJ NoMore; Laszlo Najmanyi)
WordCitizen (DJ NoMore; Laszlo Najmanyi)
1946–
1953 1959
1962 1964
1978 1984
1985 1986
2006 2009
These photos are from my "VideoBio", a video authography, a work in progress. I've completed the first part (1946 – 1978) of the piece, and a short excerpt from the second and third part (see below). Presently I'm editing the second part (SPIONS), which will tell the story of the intelligence service I helped to form in the 1970s. SPIONS started as a punk band in what they've called Soviet Block then. Changing with the times it went through a series of transformations in the following decades, until it reached its current, multidimensional, still morphing form, which is a telepathically connected, highly secretive and spiritual governing body.
VideoBio (Excerpt) / VideoBio (Részlet)
Hippikiller feat DJ NoMore:
Underground – A tribute to SPIONS (Version 01)
John Lennon: "Working Class Hero"
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,
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 classless 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.
Versions of John Lennon's "Working Class Hero":
John Lennon Working Class Hero című dalának verziói:
John Lennon
Marilyn Manson
Ozzy Osbourne
Green Day
Cyndi Lauper
Marianne Faithfull
Noir Désir
Blind Melon
Manic Street Preachers
Pain of Salvation
Acoustic Philosophy (The Jam)
United Force
Tin Machine / David Bowie
My Anthem / A Himnuszom:
David Bowie - Tin Machine: 'You Belong In Rock And Roll'
Sometimes, when I feel that I am losing my identity I listen to this song, which always puts my mind to rest and my heart back to the right track. It is from the album "Tin Machine II", which was released in September, 1991. I saw the band Tin Machine, which included David Bowie, performing this song at the Academy Theatre, in New York, in December, 1991. It was a life-changing experience for me.
My funeral song / A gyászindulóm:
David Bowie: "Rock'n'Roll Suicide"
Time takes a cigarette, puts it in your mouth
You pull on your finger, then another finger, then your cigarette
The wall-to-wall is calling, it lingers, then you forget
Ohhh how how how, youre a rock n roll suicide
Youre too old to lose it, too young to choose it
And the clocks waits so patiently on your song
You walk past a cafe but you dont eat when youve lived too long
Oh, no, no, no, youre a rock n roll suicide
Chev brakes are snarling as you stumble across the road
But the day breaks instead so you hurry home
Dont let the sun blast your shadow
Dont let the milk float ride your mind
Youre so natural - religiously unkind
Oh no love! youre not alone
Youre watching yourself but youre too unfair
You got your head all tangled up but if I could only
Make you care
Oh no love! youre not alone
No matter what or who youve been
No matter when or where youve seen
All the knives seem to lacerate your brain
Ive had my share, Ill help you with the pain
Youre not alone
Just turn on with me and youre not alone
Lets turn on with me and youre not alone (wonderful)
Lets turn on and be not alone (wonderful)
Gimme your hands cause youre wonderful (wonderful)
Gimme your hands cause youre wonderful (wonderful)
Oh gimme your hands.
This was one of the first Bowie songs I've heard. It was released on the "Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" album, in 1972. I was living in Budapest, Hungary in that time, spent and depressed. This song, along with another Bowie masterpieces, "Aladdin Sane", "Quicksand" and "Five Years" gave me new energies and new perspectives in life. My friend and collaborator, Brian Briggs and I visited Bowie's former guitarist amd music arranger, Mick Ronson's home in Woodstock (NY), in 1989. Brian was a friend of Ronson, who wasn't at home at the time of our visit. By the courtesy of his wife I saw and tried out his 1968 Gibson Les Paul Custom "Black Beauty" guitar, which he was using while working with Bowie in the 1970s. The guitar had been paint-stripped to improve treble response. Another visit to the Ronsons was planned in 1993, but the guitarist died of liver cancer on April 29 of the same year, before we could arrange our visit.