‘Power to the People’: John Lennon’s greatest political statement
The version of John Lennon that existed in The Beatles and the one that we got to know in the 1970s felt like two separate people half the time. Both of them had the same love and care for humanity, but whereas something that ‘Revolution’ gently touched on what rock and roll could do for the world, Lennon knew that his voice was best served being turned up as loud as it could go when making some of his overtly political material. That being said, not every one of his classics managed to hit audiences in the same way every time they came out.
As much as Lennon has been deified in some circles as one of the cornerstone lyricists in political rock and roll, not every one of his messages was going to give Bob Dylan a run for his money. There are many times that he could be in rare form, but on many tracks off of Some Time in New York City, Lennon normally sacrificed the song in service to the narrative, leaving tracks like ‘John Sinclair’ having great messages behind them but nothing really substantive enough to hold the track together.
Because the whole point behind Lennon’s brilliance was to make something more universal. Even before The Beatles broke up, his message songs were about keeping things incredibly simple, whether that was having everyone chanting along to ‘Give Peace A Chance’ or the simple mantra of ‘All You Need is Love.’ If his later years were too specific and his salad days were too vague, ‘Power to the People’ finds Lennon right in the bullseye.
While the most that anyone remembered from this song at the time was the massive chorus, every one of the verses offers a different perspective on how Lennon sees the world. After repeating the opening line of ‘Revolution’ verbatim, Lennon wanted the world to know that he was in the working class’s corner. He may have been brought up with his Aunt Mimi in a more posh neighbourhood than his bandmates, but he always knew the best way to make the world a better place is to treat everyone with respect.
Despite having a few lyrics about Lennon wanting to put down those in power, it’s never done maliciously. He knows that what the bigwigs of the world are doing is wrong and profits off the backs of those who give their lives for what they believe in, so they should at least be able to have more than the scraps that the elite throw away.
However, Lennon’s real progressive side is evident in the final verse when he discusses the problems with gender norms. He may have had a history of not treating women right as a youngster, but hearing him talk about what men need to do to treat their other halves with respect was revolutionary for the time, even before Lennon took years away from the limelight to become a househusband.
It’s not like this kind of song was lost on the true artists of the world. Aside from Lennon’s call to action, it’s easy to paint a historical line from him to what Public Enemy would eventually do on ‘Fight the Power’ or Patti Smith slightly twisting Lennon’s words on ‘People Have the Power.’ Lennon was far from the first one to use this kind of language, but if tunes like ‘We Shall Overcome’ came first, he was merely serving as the next messenger for change.
What’s even more sad is how pertinent the song still feels after years of separation. This tune is all about the greater issues with the world, but given that most people are still having problems with gender norms or seeing everyone as equal, maybe we should listen a little more closely to what Lennon was talking about.
