Happiness is a Warm Gun

The White Album

**"Happiness is a Warm Gun"** is a song released by the English rock band The Beatles, and is the eighth track of their self-titled ninth album, *The Beatles* (also known as "*the White Album*)" (1968); although credited to Lennon-McCartney, it was written by John Lennon. The song is one of the first known examples of a chorusless song, whilst the fourth verse could be counted as one, it does not repeat. John Lennon entitled the first verse 'the Dirty Old Man***,'*** the second and third verse as the Junkie*,' and the fourth verse,* **'**the Gunman*.'* The title was inspired by a headline on the gun magazine, *The American Rifleman*, which producer George Martin had shown Lennon. The song was extremely difficult for the band to record with its multiple tempo and style changes: it took 70 takes. However, Paul McCartney later went on to call it his favorite song of the White Album sessions. Lennon, too, was extremely proud of this song, especially the way it seemed to encompass several different styles of rock music at once.

## Lyrics

[Verse 1]

She's not a girl who misses much (Do do do do do do, oh yeah)

She's well-acquainted with the touch of the velvet hand, like a lizard on a window pane

The man in the crowd with the multicoloured mirrors on his hobnail boots

Lying with his eyes while his hands are busy working overtime

A soap impression of his wife which he ate and donated to the National Trust

[Verse 2]

(...down)

I need a fix 'cause I'm going down

Down to the bits that I left uptown

I need a fix 'cause I'm going down

[Verse 3]

Mother Superior jumped the gun, Mother Superior jumped the gun

Mother Superior jumped the gun, Mother Superior jumped the gun

Mother Superior jumped the gun, Mother Superior jumped the gun

[Verse 4]

Happiness is a warm gun (Bang, bang, shoot, shoot)

Happiness is a warm gun, momma (Bang, bang, shoot, shoot)

When I hold you in my arms (Ooh, oh, yeah)

And I feel my finger on your trigger (Ooh, oh, yeah)

I know nobody can do me no harm (Ooh, oh, yeah)

Because (Happiness) is a warm gun, momma (Bang, bang, shoot, shoot)

Happiness is a warm gun, yes it is (Bang, bang, shoot, shoot)

Happiness is a warm, yes it is, gun (Bang, bang, shoot, shoot)

Well, don't you know that happiness is a warm gun, momma?

(Is a warm gun, yeah)

## Personnel

* John Lennon – double-tracked lead vocal, backing vocal, electric guitar, Hammond organ
* Paul McCartney – bass guitar, backing vocal, piano
* George Harrison – lead guitar, backing vocal
* Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine

## Info

* The song is one of the earliest known examples of a non-chorus song.
* John Lennon was inspired to make the song from the gun magazine, *The American Rifleman*, George Martin had showed him. In it, the author recalls the special time when he took his 7-year-old son shooting for the first time.
* The first section of the song was made up of phrases thought up by Lennon and Apple’s publicist Derek Taylor during an acid trip the pair experienced along with Neil Aspinall and Lennon’s childhood friend Pete Shotton.
* The opening line was a Liverpudlian expression of approval, and the ‘velvet hand’ line was inspired by a fetishist Taylor and his wife met on the Isle of Man.
* Like the composer Wagner, Lennon felt that a song must have increasing excitement, climax and redemption. The song is built from pieces of several different little songs, with different melodies and rhythms, and one after another, the excitement is increasing. The climax is the falsetto, and finally the redemption is in the continuing call and answer.
* The original line: "When I hold you in my arms and feel my finger on your trigger," appears in unreleased, bootlegged versions of "I'm So Tired:" as "When I hold you in your arms, when you show me each one of your charms, I wonder should I get up, and go to the funny farm." This could mean the line was originally sexual but was put in as a metaphor for a gun later on.

## References

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Beatles\_discography
2. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Beatles\_(album)
3. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happiness\_Is\_a\_Warm\_Gun
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 https://www.the-paulmccartney-project.com/song/happiness-is-a-warm-gun/
5. ↑ https://genius.com/The-beatles-happiness-is-a-warm-gun-lyrics
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 https://www.songfacts.com/facts/the-beatles/happiness-is-a-warm-gun
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 https://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/happiness-is-a-warm-gun/