Happiness Is a Warm Gun
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| “Happiness Is a Warm Gun” | ||
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| Song by The Beatles | ||
| Album | The Beatles | |
| Released | 22 November 1968 | |
| Recorded | Abbey Road Studios 24–25 September 1968 |
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| Genre | Rock | |
| Length | 2:43 | |
| Label | Apple Records | |
| Writer | Lennon/McCartney | |
| Producer | George Martin | |
| The Beatles track listing | ||
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Side one
Side two
Side three
Side four
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"Happiness Is a Warm Gun" is a song by The Beatles featured on the eponymous double-disc album The Beatles (also known as The White Album). It is primarily a John Lennon composition, credited to Lennon/McCartney. The original, working title of the song was "Happiness Is a Warm Gun in Your Hand," which was inspired by a magazine containing the phrase, which in turn parodied "Happiness is a Warm Puppy," a Peanuts book written by Charles Schulz in 1962. .
Contents |
[edit] Overview
Lennon once claimed the song was "sort of a history of rock and roll," as it features five different sections but is less than three minutes long. The song begins with a brief lilting section ("She's not a girl who misses much..."). Drums, bass and distorted guitar are introduced as this portion of the song proceeds. The surreal imagery from this section is allegedly taken from an acid trip that Lennon experienced.[citation needed] After this, the song transitions into a Lennon song fragment called "I Need a Fix," built around an ominous-sounding guitar riff. Lennon's plea "I need a fix/cause I'm going down" in this section forms the basis for speculation that the song is about heroin addiction (indeed, sources have claimed that Lennon was addicted to heroin at this time; Lennon's heroin addiction was referenced famously in "Cold Turkey"). This section drifts into the next section, a chorus of "Mother Superior jumped the gun".
The final section is a doo-wop send up, with the back-up of vocals of "bang, bang, shoot shoot." The song's multiple sections would inspire Radiohead's three part "Paranoid Android" on OK Computer.[1]
One of the most radical musical accomplishments of the song is its frequent shifts in meter. Beginning in 4/4 time, the song shifts to a 3/4 time for the guitar solo and the "I need a fix..." section. This gives way to 6/8, 3/4, and 4/4 measures in the "Mother Superior..." section before returning to 4/4 for the majority of the doo-wop style ending. During Lennon's spoken-word interlude, the song briefly switches into 6/4. The spoken word section has its roots in the song later on the album "I'm So Tired" because, exhibited in the song's home demo, is a spoken word section in 6/4 time that is almost exactly like the one in "Happiness is a Warm Gun."
According to Lennon, the title came from the cover of a gun magazine that producer George Martin showed him: "I think he showed me a cover of a magazine that said 'Happiness Is a Warm Gun.' It was a gun magazine. I just thought it was a fantastic, insane thing to say. A warm gun means you just shot something."[2]
"Happiness Is A Warm Gun" is Paul McCartney's favorite song on the White Album. It was featured in the Michael Moore documentary Bowling for Columbine in a montage sequence and in the film Across the Universe in which Maxwell is being injected with medicine.
[edit] Credits
- John Lennon - lead vocals, electric guitar, piano
- George Harrison - lead guitar, backing vocals
- Paul McCartney - bass, backing vocals
- Ringo Starr - drums
[edit] Cover versions
- Tori Amos, on the album Strange Little Girls
- Gilby Clarke, on the album The Hangover
- The Breeders, on the album Pod
- Dream Theater, from the Uncovered Fan Club Gig with Steve Hogarth joining on on vocals
- World Party, on the album Thank You World
- Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, on the album The Sameness of Difference
- Anders Osborne, on the album The blues White album
- Phish, on the album Live Phish Volume 13
- Marc Ribot, on the album Saints
- U2, as a B-side of the single "Last Night on Earth"
- Jay-Z and Danger Mouse, as a mashup on The Grey Album
- Alanis Morissette, during the 1995-1996 Can't Not Tour
- Hajime Chitose, of the single Kataritsugu Koto
- Sexy Sadie, on the album Dream Covers
- Joe Anderson with Salma Hayek, for the soundtrack of Across the Universe
- Guns N' Roses on the Use Your Illusion Tour.
- Psychic TV heavily samples the song on Jump Thee Gun, a track from Jack The Tab/Tekno Acid Beat.
- The Vasco Era use a portion of the song in live performances.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Paranoid Android. Retrieved on 2007-09-21.
- ^ Wenner, Jann S (2000). Lennon Remembers (Full interview from Lennon's 1970 interview in Rolling Stone magazine). London: Verso, 114-115. ISBN 1-85984-600-9.
