remember from plastic ono band

[chris]

i recently rediscovered john's plastic ono band release. this is probably my favorite solo beatle album (paul's band on the run and george's all things must pass following close behind). it is so grim and intense. you wouldn't think an album by one of the lovable moptops would be (or even could be) so dark. the idea of a grown man screaming at the top of his lungs for his mommy and daddy would be laughable. but it isn't. it is hypnotic in its nakedness and rawness.

i always found working class hero and god to be high points in john's solo career. my local radio station plays them both on occasion (with certain profanities bleeped out, natch). but i am surprised that WCH hero wasn't covered more by other artists (i know green day did a decent job of it a while back). it seems like it could have been a rock and roll (or even punk) anthem. and god is just too personally...well, john-ish to be covered.

but the song remember...it ends with a haunting...remember the 5th of november...and a crash (or explosion) of some sort. anyone have an idea what he was referring to? was it a personal event or tragedy or a national one?

anyone?

[chris]

i did find this. amazing the things you can find when you plug in the little box and search a bit.

Guy Fawkes (13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606), also known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish in the Low Countries, belonged to a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

Fawkes was born and educated in York. His father died when Fawkes was eight years old, after which his mother married a recusant Catholic. Fawkes later converted to Catholicism and left for the continent, where he fought in the Eighty Years' War on the side of Catholic Spain against Protestant Dutch rebels. He travelled to Spain to seek support for a Catholic rebellion in England but was unsuccessful. He later met Thomas Wintour, with whom he returned to England.

Wintour introduced Fawkes to Robert Catesby, who planned to assassinate King James I and restore a Catholic monarch to the throne. The plotters secured the lease to an undercroft beneath the House of Lords, and Fawkes was placed in charge of the gunpowder they stockpiled there. Prompted by the receipt of an anonymous letter, the authorities searched Westminster Palace during the early hours of 5 November, and found Fawkes guarding the explosives. Over the next few days, he was questioned and tortured, and eventually he broke. Immediately before his execution on 31 January, Fawkes jumped from the scaffold where he was to be hanged and broke his neck, thus avoiding the agony of the drawing and quartering that would have followed.

Fawkes became synonymous with the Gunpowder Plot, which has been commemorated in England since 5 November 1605. His effigy is burned on a bonfire, often accompanied by a firework display.

sigh. wikipedia...whoda thunk it?

but is this what john was singing about?

[Harrythebannister]

Yep! I think it speaks for itself. Bonfire night is celebrated every year in the UK on Nov 5th. It normally results in elderly people having fireworks thrown through their letterbox and dogs cowering behind the sofa because of the thundering bangs outside. All in all a tedious affair.

[james1985]

Yeah, the 5th November line is just a humorous way to end the song.

In the UK, when children learn about Guy Fawkes, there's a little rhyme: "Remember, remember, the 5th of November/gunpowder, treason and plot". So that's just take from something he would've remembered from childhood.

Never really considered that non-Brits would've found it utterly confusing before! That's pretty funny.

[Harrythebannister]

Agreed James. I thought everyone new about Bonfire night.

[2 of 3]

Well, I knew about it....but the Queen is on my money too.

[Plastic Soul Man]

Yes this made me laugh too, amazing the things we take for granted that everyone knows.

[chris]

well, guys...it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy that i could be the source of such hilarity.

[mclarke825]

...i always found working class hero and god to be high points in john's solo career. my local radio station plays them both on occasion (with certain profanities bleeped out, natch). but i am surprised that WCH wasn't covered more by other artists (i know green day did a decent job of it a while back). it seems like it could have been a rock and roll (or even punk) anthem...

As an aside, have you heard or seen Cyndi Lauper's rendition of Working Class Hero? Check it out, it rocks!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrwsUur6SfE