John Lennon - Working Class Hero (the definitive Lennon)

Working Class Hero: The Definitive Lennon is a double album compilation of John Lennon's solo music that, released in October 2005 in commemoration of what would have been his 65th birthday. The set contains the remixed and remastered versions of his songs from all his reissued studio albums overseen by widow Yoko Ono from 2000 to 2005. Working Class Hero: The Definitive Lennon was critically well-received upon its release and reached #11 in the United Kingdom.

Disc one

1. "(Just Like) Starting Over" – 3:56
2. "Imagine" – 3:02
3. "Watching the Wheels" – 3:30
4. "Jealous Guy" – 4:14
5. "Instant Karma!" – 3:20
6. "Stand by Me" (Ben E. King, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller) – 3:26
7. "Working Class Hero" – 3:48
8. "Power to the People" – 3:22
9. "Oh My Love" (Lennon, Yoko Ono) – 2:44
10. "Oh Yoko!" – 4:18
11. "Nobody Loves You (When You're Down And Out)" – 5:07
12. "Nobody Told Me" – 3:34
13. "Bless You" – 4:37
14. "Come Together (Live)" (Lennon, Paul McCartney) – 4:22
15. "New York City" – 4:31
16. "I'm Stepping Out" – 4:06
17. "You Are Here" – 4:07
18. "Borrowed Time" – 4:29
19. "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" (Lennon, Ono) – 3:37

[edit] Disc two

1. "Woman" – 3:33
2. "Mind Games" – 4:12
3. "Out the Blue" – 3:22
4. "Whatever Gets You thru the Night" – 3:27
5. "Love" – 3:23
6. "Mother" – 5:34
7. "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)" – 4:01
8. "Woman Is the Nigger of the World" (Lennon, Ono) – 5:16
9. "God" – 4:09
10. "Scared" – 4:36
11. "#9 Dream" – 4:46
12. "I'm Losing You" – 3:55
* The John Lennon Anthology version from 1998 with members of Cheap Trick backing Lennon
13. "Isolation" – 2:51
14. "Cold Turkey" – 5:01
15. "Intuition" – 3:08
16. "Gimme Some Truth" – 3:15
17. "Give Peace a Chance" – 4:50
18. "Real Love" – 4:12
* The John Lennon Anthology version from 1998
19. "Grow Old With Me" – 3:20
* The John Lennon Anthology version from 1998

HISTORY:

The album debuted on the Billboard 200 album chart on October 22, 2005 at #135. It spent three weeks on the chart.

Unless you come from MARS, you should know that, John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE (9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980), was an English songwriter, singer, musician, graphic artist, author and peace activist who gained worldwide fame as one of the founders of The Beatles.

The Beatles signed a record contract on 9 May 1962, with Parlophone Records, after having been turned down by many labels."Love Me Do" was released on 5 October 1962, featuring Lennon on harmonica and McCartney singing solo on the chorus line.

All Lennon-McCartney songs on the first pressing of Please Please Me album (recorded in one day on 11 February 1963)[78] as well as the single "From Me to You", and its B-side, "Thank You Girl", are credited to "McCartney-Lennon", but this was later changed to "Lennon-McCartney".[79] They usually needed an hour or two to finish a song, most of which were written in hotel rooms after a concert, at Wimpole Street, at Cavendish Avenue,[80] or at Kenwood (John Lennon's house).

Lennon had a varied recording career. Whilst still a Beatle, Lennon (along with Ono) recorded three albums of experimental music, Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins, Unfinished Music No.2: Life with the Lions, and Wedding Album. His first 'solo' album of popular music was Live Peace in Toronto 1969, recorded prior to the breakup of The Beatles, at the Rock 'n' Roll Festival in Toronto with The Plastic Ono Band. He also recorded three solo singles: the anti-war anthem "Give Peace a Chance", the heroin withdrawal report "Cold Turkey", and "Instant Karma!". Following The Beatles' split in 1970 Lennon released the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album. The song "God" lists people and things Lennon no longer believed in - ending with "Beatles". The album also included "Working Class Hero" which was banned from the airwaves for its use of the word "fucking

HIS DEATH:
On the morning of December 8, 1980, Annie Leibovitz came over to the Ono and Lennon's apartment to do a photo shoot for the Rolling Stone magazine. She had promised Lennon it would make the cover[143] but she initially tried to get a picture with just Lennon alone. Leibovitz would recall that, "nobody wanted [Ono] on the cover".[144] When Lennon insisted that both be on the cover Leibovitz then tried to recreate the kissing scene from the Double Fantasy album cover, a picture that she loved. Around 5 p.m., Lennon and Ono left the Dakota to supervise the transfer of some of the Double Fantasy album numbers to singles. David Geffen said that more than 700,000 album copies had already been sold up to that time. As they were leaving the Dakota, they were approached by several people seeking autographs. Among them was a young man later to be identified as Mark David Chapman, and Lennon signed his autograph on the Double Fantasy album cover for him. A picture was taken by another fan while Lennon was signing Chapman's album, capturing soon-to-be killer and victim on film only a few hours before Lennon's murder. The Lennons spent several hours at the studio on West 44th Street before returning to the Dakota at about 10:50 p.m. Lennon was concerned about seeing five-year-old Sean before he went to sleep, so they returned to the Dakota instead of going out to eat.[146] They exited their limousine on 72nd Street, even though the car could have been driven into the courtyard. Jose Perdomo (who was the doorman at the entrance), an elevator operator, and a cab driver all saw Chapman standing in the shadows by the archway. The Lennons walked past, and Ono opened the inner door — leaving Lennon alone inside the entrance. Chapman called out, "Mr. Lennon!" As Lennon paused to turn around, Chapman dropped into a "combat stance"[147] and shot at Lennon five times with hollow point bullets from a .38 revolver. One shot missed, passing over Lennon's head and hitting a window of the Dakota building. Two shots struck Lennon in the left side of his back and two more in his left shoulder. All four wounds caused serious internal damage, and at least one of them fatally pierced Lennon's aorta.

Lennon staggered up six steps to the room at the end of the entrance used by the concierge, said, "I'm shot," and collapsed. Doorman Jay Hastings ran out from his inside office to assist Lennon and immediately dialled 911, as Chapman calmly sat down on the sidewalk and waited. The doorman walked to Chapman and reportedly shouted, "Do you know what you've done?" before kicking the revolver across the sidewalk. Chapman calmly replied, "I just shot John Lennon." The first policemen to arrive were Steve Spiro and Peter Cullen, who were at 72nd Street and Broadway when they heard a report of shots fired at the Dakota. The officers found Chapman sitting "very calmly" on the sidewalk. They reported that Chapman had dropped the revolver to the ground, and was holding a paperback book (J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye), and a cassette recorder, along with more than ten audio cassettes, with 14 hours of Beatles' songs on them.

The second team — Officers Bill Gamble and James Moran, who arrived a few minutes later — upon arrival immediately carried Lennon into their squad car and rushed him to Roosevelt Hospital. Officer Moran said they stretched out Lennon (who was "moaning") on the back seat. Moran asked, "Do you know who you are?" Lennon nodded slightly and tried to speak, but could only manage to make a gurgling sound. According to Yoko Ono, he uttered no final words.[148] Lennon lost consciousness shortly thereafter.

Lennon was pronounced D.O.A. in the Emergency Room at the Roosevelt Hospital at 11:15 p.m. by Dr. Stephen Lynn. The cause of death was reported as hypovolemic shock, after losing more than 80% of blood volume. Dr. Elliott M. Gross (the Chief Medical Examiner) said that no one could have lived more than a few minutes with such multiple bullet injuries. Ono, crying "Oh no, no, no, no...tell me it's not true," was taken to Roosevelt Hospital and led away in shock after she learned that her husband was dead. Lennon was cremated at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York, and his ashes were kept by Ono. Chapman pleaded guilty to second degree murder and was sentenced to 20 years to life.

Lennon had a macabre sense of humour about dying, once saying, "We'll either go in a plane crash or we'll be popped off by some loony."Although Lennon joked about it, several 1960s Beatles concerts in the United States and Canada did have heightened security because of death threats.

Lennon