"Working Class Hero" (1970)

Lyrics:

[Verse 1]

As soon as you're 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

[Refrain]

A working class hero is something to be

A working class hero is something to be

[Verse 2]

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

[Refrain]

A working class hero is something to be

A working class hero is something to be

[Verse 3]

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

[Refrain]

A working class hero is something to be

A working class hero is something to be

[Verse 4]

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

[Refrain]

A working class hero is something to be

A working class hero is something to be

[Verse 5]

There's room at the top they're 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

[Refrain]

A working class hero is something to be

A working class hero is something to be

[Outro]

If you want to be a hero well just follow me

If you want to be a hero well just follow me

Lennon harshly criticizes the idea of the American Dream and the problem that occurs all over the world where one works so hard and achieves nothing, while still being told he could by the people keeping him down. Growing up in an area which had this problem daily, Lennon could be projecting his own experiences (before he became famous through his music, of course) as well as the experiences of the youth growing into a world like this. People tell you to get a job and if you work hard, you'll be sitting in luxury, but that's often very rarely the case. 

Verse 5 expresses Lennon's hatred of the kind of people who pedal these ideals to others as the truth. To "smile as you kill" is definitely a reference to how those people in power pressure their workers to work themselves to death to get to where they are, but in reality, they never will. The people in power will never admit it, and instead put on a front, pretending to be kind and encouraging, while they're selling lies like "A working class hero is something to be," and "If you want to be a hero, well just follow me."