Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of its release, Jacob Stolworthy of "The Independent" listed the song at number 2 in his ranking of the White Album's 30 tracks, below Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". Stolworthy described it as "A loaded weapon of a track" and "one of Lennon's best songs". In 2006, "Mojo" placed it at number 8 in the magazine's list of "The 101 Greatest Beatles Songs".&lt;ref name="Alexander/Mojo"&gt;&lt;/ref&gt; In her commentary with the selection, American singer-songwriter Tori Amos highlighted "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" as a rare example of social commentary that successfully makes its statement "without preaching". Amos added: "The Beatles had the ability to make you think about the world, not just your own little world. They could put the microcosm and macrocosm in the same song. They sang of drugs and guns without telling me what to feel about it. That's genius." Beatles biographer Bill Harry comments on the irony of Lennon having written a song titled "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" and then, following his fatal shooting in New York City in December 1980, becoming the "most high profile" of the many musicians who have died as a result of the wide availability of guns in the United States.