Is there a more patronising song than The Beatle's 'Revolution'?!

Mr Pseudonym

I, a South Dubliner, had to take a Dart to Howth, yesterday, to pick something up and then come immediately home - long journey, I needed a long album. I chose the White Album. Close to the end of the second side is Revolution 1, a song I've always quite liked (especially the single version) and from which I have once or twice quoted - "We all want to change the world". And, I was listening to it while passing Sandymount strand, and thinking, "This song is soo patronising"!

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well, you know We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be all right?
All right, all right
You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We'd all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well, you know
We're all doing what we can
But if you want money
For people with minds that hate
All I can tell is brother you have to wait
Don't you know it's gonna be all right?
All right, all right
You say you'll change the constitution
Well, you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me it's the institution
Well, you know
You better free you mind instead
But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao
You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow
Don't you know it's gonna be all right?
All right, all right

I much prefer the enthusiasm and inclusiveness of The Times They Are a-Changin'!

lord lucan

Moved from Rock & Metal.

You'll probably get a better response here OP.

RayCon

Hang on .. you mean John Lennon (and by extension The Beatles) wasn't the messiah ?

Custardpi

Revolution is a very intelligent song. Its' message is that the Beatles & especially John weren't going to allow themselves to be pigeonholed into any simplistic political mould. The context was the late 60s, a time of some pretty firebrand politics among The Beatles' main demographic of people 15-30. This included hardcore Maoists & other extremists. The White Album obviously preceded the Manson killings (Manson bizarrely claimed to have been inspired by some of the songs & his group regarded themselves as political revolutionaries) but already by that stage it was clear to many observers including John that the hippy commune setup wasn't necessarily a recipe for Utopia. The Beatles still believed in a lot of the politics & the hippy ethos around at the time, they just wanted to explicitly reject some of the more radical fringe elements. In the context of the time it was something that definitely needed to be said.

Mr Pseudonym

Custardpi wrote: »

Revolution is a very intelligent song. Its' message is that the Beatles & especially John weren't going to allow themselves to be pigeonholed into any simplistic political mould. The context was the late 60s, a time of some pretty firebrand politics among The Beatles' main demographic of people 15-30. This included hardcore Maoists & other extremists. The White Album obviously preceded the Manson killings (Manson bizarrely claimed to have been inspired by some of the songs & his group regarded themselves as political revolutionaries) but already by that stage it was clear to many observers including John that the hippy commune setup wasn't necessarily a recipe for Utopia. The Beatles still believed in a lot of the politics & the hippy ethos around at the time, they just wanted to explicitly reject some of the more radical fringe elements. In the context of the time it was something that definitely needed to be said.

Apologies for belated response. Thank you for your contribution. Perhaps the question should have been, "Any more condescending...?", because, IMO, Lennon/Beatles adopt a superior attitude. I grant them poetic license, but a line like "We all want to change your head/You tell me it's the institution/Well, you know/You better free you mind instead" is unconstructively dismissive. I'm aware of the context, and am not contending that the message is wrong, just questioning the way it was delivered - the plodding tempo of Revolution 1 doesn't help!

Bafucin

Lennon and McCartney had a superior attitude but something between them added up to more than the sum of it's parts.

Remember McCartney's give Ireland back to the Irish?

loyatemu

on the single version he sings "count me in" rather than "count me out"

Lennon subsequently wrote both "Give Peace a Chance" and "Power to the People" so he was somewhat conflicted on the subject of revolutionary politics.

Custardpi

Interesting, never heard the single version so wasn't aware of that. Possibly he wanted to send a different message to the different fans who would buy his music in the two formats. 45s would be more likely to be bought by teenagers with their pocket money while more expensive LPs would be bought by older people. Classic market segmentation really. His embrace of the more peaceful, community building strands of the hippy ethos as shown by songs such as Give Peace A Chance would lead one to believe he probably wasn't being serious on the single version however.

joeguevara

I seem to remember on one version the song went 'you can count me out/in' and a documentary asked JL what did he mean by that and he said 'when push came to shove he didn't know what he would do'. I think the song is more of expression of 'I don't want to get pushed around but if it really came to it I probably would follow the masses but I would like to think otherwise'. Really an internal struggle, rather than him telling other people what to do.

I also remember a part in the 'Imagine' documentary where a german/dutch guy broke into his compound to tell him that the words touched him personally. John retorted that the words are personal to him, the 4, or maybe to Yoko. He never wrote for the fans. They could pick what they wanted for themselves, but it was about him. Never about the fans. Food for thought.