The Beatles » Tracks » Happiness Is a Warm Gun

The Beatles – Happiness Is a Warm Gun (2:12)

On 10 albums see all

Buy at Amazon MP3 (Search) | Send Ringtones to Cell
Buy
Save

Popular tags: , , , ,  See more

Shouts: 327 shouts

Share this track:
Preview this track (0:30)
About this video More videos (9)
Flag video

About This Track

John 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 and Derek Taylor experienced, with Taylor contributing the opening lines. After this, the song transitions into a Lennon song fragment called “I Need a Fix,” built around an ominous-sounding guitar riff. 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.”

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 in 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.
Read more… Edit wiki
Send Ringtones to Cell

Albums featuring this track

  • The Beatles (The White Album)
    The Beatles Play
    Buy
  • The White Album
    The Beatles Play
    Buy
  • The Beatles
    The Beatles Play
    Buy
  • Anthology 3
    The Beatles Play
    Buy
See all 10 albums

Shouts

Leave a comment. Log in to Last.fm or sign up (it’s free).

  • kentanous

    Moving to Liverpool. I am influenced by The Beatles, needless to say. But also by a pool of livers. What a wonderfully seductive thing.

    last week

  • WarriorJones

    Wow. That's some wicked guitar.

    16 days ago

  • bruunacristine

    bang bang shoot shoot

    19 days ago

  • rrrroberta

    turururururu... oh yeah

    21 days ago

  • Lavenderspoon

    turururururu... oh yeah

    last month

  • CommetBoxJunky

    "Yo ko ohh yes"

    last month

  • guto013

    Mind = Blown

    last month

  • Adrian347

    favourite Beatles song

    March 2012

  • Gurdaur

    MOTHER SUPERIOR JUMP THE GUN!

    February 2012

  • WWOMENN

    FANTASTIC SONG! THANK THE BEATLES, I LOVE YOU!!❤❤❤

    February 2012

  • Druid66

    Song has taken on a much darker value since early December, 1980, hasn't it? Still, it's a witty, catchy tune - of course.

    February 2012

  • oldiesfanjohn

    "I need a fix cause I`m goin` down..,,,Mother Superior jump the gun(repeat 6 times)..Happiness is a warm gun!"

    February 2012

  • bobbehr

    OMG never knew

    February 2012

  • munted

    epic mind explosion

    February 2012

  • WSteven

    my finger on your trigger

    January 2012

  • RbrtsWax88

    Ahhhh. The White Album.

    January 2012

  • gilliananne

    This is just about how I feel about my workplace. B*st*rds just told me I'm on the redundancy list. Good job I don't have any.

    January 2012

  • ben12a

    Nobody did it beter than John Lennon. Virtuoso musician and lyricist. "i'm going down to the place I left uptown." RIP

    January 2012

  • oldiesfanjohn

    happiness is a warm doob <3 <3<3

    January 2012

  • SanitysRefuge

    I don't know where these tracks with the studio mistakes are coming from but someone please tell me because I love hearing John mess up and say "Oh shit".

    January 2012
See all 327 shouts

Track Stats

2,331,342 Scrobbles 402,753 Listeners

Recent Listening Trend

Listening Now

Top Listeners

See more

Recent Activity

Related Journals

See more