Music is a means that people can join community worldwide as it serves a similar function for everyone. Different individuals appreciate the different genre of music. It is common to find someone listening to musing through various devices while on the bus, train, or shopping. Every individual develops a particular taste depending on the society or culture they live. People from different cultures may not understand or recognize a song because it may not be part of their culture (Kemple, 2009). The paper aims at analyzing John Lennon’s song Working Class Hero using Karl Marx theory of communist manifesto. It presents an analysis of Matt Costa’s Songs We Sing and explains its themes by comparing and contrasting how Marx, Kant, and Hegel would understand its message differently.
Karl Marx is a renowned German theorist, philosopher, and socialist revolutionary. He worked with Friedrich Engels while in exile in England to form the theory collectively known as Marxism. His thoughts have influenced the fields of politics and economy. The Communist Manifesto explains the objectives of Communism and the assumptions common to the movement (Alexander, 2014). The theory reflects how one class exploits their naivety of the other type. The superior class tries to make the other class seem worthless just as John Lennon introduces his first stanza by saying, as soon as one gets born; they are made to feel small.
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Modern society, in particular, is still characterized by conflicts of class usually evident between the proletariat and bourgeoisie. The first section explains the materialist conception of the high class. The oppressed are the majority in society while the oppressors are a minority. The working class is the proletariat, who do most of the hard work in a society. The bourgeoisie exploits the proletariat and uses them to make a profit thus accumulate profit just as John Lennon says: those in power torture the vulnerable, putting them in school for almost 20 years and forced to pick a career when you do not express passion for pursuing. The bourgeoisie, therefore, enjoys when you have the fear because they will use such an opportunity to continue oppressing their victims.
The thematic expression relayed from the song resonates with Marx’s ideologies. Marx would have clarified that the bourgeoisie enjoys when the amount of money the proletariats have made is not enough. They will use the opportunity indicated in Costa’s song to continue pressing. Costa serves as an example of the state where the bourgeoisie has set up systems that the proletariats can follow with a promise of rooms at the top that they need to work extremely hard to attain the level of success of their dreams. This is evident in a line that Costa sings, “And we have got no home at all, Travel like the gypsies living off of any, Thing ….” The statement is a realization of Marx’s ideology that states that the bourgeoisie will never allow the proletariat to rise (Alexander, 2014). In spite of their hard work and determination, individuals in power set systems to discourage and make the vulnerable continue serving their masters.
The bourgeoisie puts up systems so that the proletariat can follow with a promise that there are rooms at the top and one will have to be industrious to achieve the level of success they envision. To be like the folks on the hill, individuals must learn to be happy in their current position as John Lennon states. The Bourgeoisie, however, will never allow the proletariat to rise. Instead, they will continuously make life terrible for them because they use their strength to become more prosperous. The communists will always support their interest, as suggested in the second section of the theory. The struggle, however, always ends in a revolution when the proletariat becomes tired of the oppression and gains the courage to revolt against the bourgeoisie. Proletariat becomes aware of the strength each has and rises to power, thereby overthrowing the owners of production. In the song, John Lennon concludes by saying if you want to be a hero then follow him showing that those who are tired of the oppressive regime should rise and take power since they are a majority they deserve to get treated well (Wright, 2017).
Conversely, Kant would have criticized the singer’s model of thinking. When Costa sings, “Got a jar full of pennies, that don’t amount to any,” he is speculating on the nature of the world around him, a line of thought that Kant detests. Kant would advise the singer that the only way he could find answers to the existent problems in the world is by examining his mental faculties rather than speculating the state of things around him (Van-der-Linden, 1985). The mind as an active shaper of his perception of reality will make complaints and lamentations a part of him. Considering this line, “We sing of the hardship life brings,” Kant considers this an invitation into the reality that an individual will have to accept. Positive thought and negative thought play the utmost role in shaping the reality of the world around them. Kant considered autonomy as a personal endeavor. When Costa sings, “And we have got no home at all, Travel like the gypsies living off of any, Thing …,” he is admiring a life that he cannot afford, hence, he manifests an irrational behavior. Kant makes it clear that the only way human beings can show themselves to be autonomous beings is by behaving rationally, by controlling appetites and passions that may lead people to act against their better judgment.
Hegel, similar to, Kant would affirm that Costa has created his reality of hardships. However, he would consider the ideologies perpetrated by Costa as socially-motivated. The singer’s mind has been shaped by the thoughts of other people in the environment in which he lives. Economic ideologies are part of a collective consciousness that defines his society (Hegel, 1998). Costa’s ideas portrayed in the lyrics have also been created over a considerable period. It is an affirmation of evolving collective consciousness.
The three socialists would affirm that the main theme of the song is money. However, they would have distinct ideas on the motivation behind the thoughts of the singer. The three diverse consideration offer an implication of the different interpretations that are inherent in songs. Marx would have agreed with the sentiments of the singer, while Hegel and Kant would try to engage in dialectical reasoning to clear away all possible misconceptions.
The audience of music should be conversant with the underlying theme of the composer and probably context to understand it. Listening to the lyrics makes one think of the relevance of sociological theory in everyday life. Music still plays a vital role in society today. Apart from entertainment purposes, music is still used to pass information that enlightens the public on the different happenings around the globe.
References
Alexander, J. C. (2014). The Antinomies of Classical Thought: Marx and Durkheim (Theoretical Logic in Sociology) . Routledge.
Costa, M. (2019). Matt Costa Lyrics: "Songs We Sing ." Retrieved from https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/mattcosta/songswesing.html
Hegel, G.W.F. (1998). Phenomenology of Spirit . Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publisher.
Kemple, T. M. (2009). Weber/Simmel/Du Bois: Musical Thirds of Classical Sociology. Journal of Classical Sociology , 9 (2), 187-207.
Van-der-Linden, H. (1985). Kantian Ethics and Socialism . Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing.
Wright, R. (2017). Sociology and Music Education. In Sociology and Music Education (pp. 23 42). Routledge.
