I don't know what it is about cover songs -- I just love 'em. This is John Lennon's brilliant "Working Class Hero," from his first post-Beatles album, 1970's "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band." I once heard a version of this song by Yoko Ono, but it must have been a bootleg because I can't find it now, no matter how hard I search.
First, of course, the original.
Then the version that in my view is the best, better than Lennon's, the brilliant live cover by the indomitable Marianne Faithful; she also has a studio version from her iconic album "Broken English," but I like this one better:
Green Day's version, part of a benefit for the people of Dafur, and also pretty fucking great:
Folksy treatment by Tina Dickow from "Instant Karma," a tribute to Lennon recorded to benefit Amnesty International. Strong, but not as much my taste:
I heard that Cyndi Lauper's live version of this is good, but sadly, both the audio and video in this clip are so bad, you couldn't prove it by me. She looks damn good, though:
Bowie did a jazzy/glammy live version in 1989 -- kind of creepy, really:
Marilyn Manson also covered this song. There's a short, bad quality live clip here, and an audio only clip here. And another audio-only clip here, from Ozzie Osbourne.