There are a lot of heroin references in this song. Read Keith Richards book. Richards said Lennon would come over and they would binge on the needle. Richards said by the end of the binge the typical way Lennon left his flat was in the horizontal position.
Here's the real story. In 1962 Charles Schulz published his first book based on the Peanuts characters called, "Happiness Is A Warm Puppy" (about Snoopy) and it was a best seller and became a catchphrase. A gun magazine parodied the idea and John picked up on it. Who would believe Snoopy inspired this??
@@caydenscribner2640 The magazine was parodying the Schulz meme, coined in 1962. The expression was already in the lexicon. You can find it online. "Happiness Is A Warm Puppy". John wrote the song and was the one who saw the magazine, so Paul heard it out of context and inferred a serious intent. Paul apparently wasn't familiar with the Peanuts best seller. Most people got the reference.
@@caydenscribner2640 Considering Lennon wrote most of the song (with help from friend Derek Taylor) and sings the whole song, why would it come from Paul? Also, I have no idea if this is anything but I do find it humorous that in British "(H)apiness" could be mistaken for "A penis is a warm gun".
@@SelfPropelledDestiny now I get it. I got confused ig idk. I knew it was something related to an advertisement but I think John had more influence on it ofc since he sings on it. That’s how they divided the songs anyway.
I couple of decades ago, I was teaching English in Sweden to employees at a major electronics company. One guy seemed particularly pleased to meet an Englishman. After the first lesson, he asked me whether I knew about the Beatles. I asked him why he asked. He said one song really puzzled him and that was Happiness Is A Warm Gun. Did I know it? His eyes absolutely lit up when I started singing "She's not a girl who misses much...". Turned out he was a huge Beatles fan and so was I, and still am. He gave me a CDROM with every Beatles LP on it, which was a tremendous thing to have back then. Anyway, I had to tell him that it wasn't so strange that he was having trouble understanding this song. It's still one of my favourite Lennon songs, but it is weird.
Yeah, the documentaries all say he read a gun advertisement that literally read, "Happiness is a warm gun." So, basically, this song is a found poem. lol
One of the greatest songs...so complicated with timing changes, its crazy. Lennon saw a gun ad in a magazine while touring the US and he liked the ad that said "Happiness is a warm gun" however, could be heroin fix/making love..unfortunately. He went clean later as on "Cold Turkey". Take your pick son.
@@robinfoster7597yeah probably thought “what a fucking ridiculous ad, ima make a song with that cuz why not” lol I feel like they were just kinda screwing around at that point
This has always been one of my favorite Beatles songs... the one-two punch of this song following While My Guitar Gently Weeps blew my mind when I first heard the White Album. I always took the line to be more of a selfish happiness... the idea that caressing his gun brings the character literal joy and warm fuzzies inside, in the way that a teddy bear is happiness to a child. Love your reactions Marvin! (still waiting for you to check out Clutch though, lol)
"You know what that is? The blues...." You hit it on the head and clarified why this has touched me for 45 years. Lennon sings "Happiness, is a warm gun." From my experience this is the feeling of having the drug just ready to use - the 'joy' of the moment - the ritual of preparing the drug and getting ready to consume it and experience once again its heavenly fruits. Not a thought to the opposite and ugly side of addiction.
Lennon said he got the lyrics form advertisement. But he used to refer to yoko as mother superior from time to time..and they were involved with h at that time
There's a great book called "A Hard Days Write" that explains the genesis of each Beatles lyric... And the image of John "Donating to the national trust" is better left unexplored Great reaction, stay FAB x
I was always under the impression that the warm gun was reference to a syringe freshly pulled from the vein. Whatever his true intentions behind the lyrics are the world may never know. That being said it's by far my favorite Beatles song and on my top 3 list of all times and genres. Liked the video. You should have a listen to shadow on the sun by audioslave and react to that one. It was always an emotionally charged and powerful song, it has revealed a deeper layer since Chris took his life and he was named the best voice in Rock and roll some years back.
"You know what that is? The blues...." You hit it on the head and clarified why this hits a listener dead in their soul. The BeeGees did this 7 years later taking R&B Stylistic type music and transforming it into a Beatle-Type pop sensation.
It was Lennon doing the lead vocal "gospel growls" at the end. He sings lead the whole song. The "Happiness..." reference comes from a gun magazine that Lennon stumbled across, and found the motto both morbidly horrific and mildly humorous. Therefore, he thought it funny to create a satire where the music resembles some beautiful, love, angelic, gospel doo-wop while singing a shockingly horrible motto. Remember these guys had British senses of humor and even helped out Monty Python when they could.
@@thursdayaf22 oh yes he did. The part, “I need a fix cause I’m going down.” Is 100% factually about heroin. Which made the other members a bit sad because he had gotten into hard drugs.
John Lennon was great at picking up song titles from the strangest places. With this one, he was looking through a magazine and saw an ad for a gun manufacturer, and the ad said "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" He liked the sound of it and used it when writing this song. Great reaction.
John had a way with words Sometimes an offbeat way with words Sometimes a dark way Or even Frivolous He wrote a book or two He was an interesting charachter And a complex one. Bang bang shoop shoop
Please, please, please check out works by the Beach Boys from 1966-1973. Their music goes beyond surf/garage rock and into increasingly complex and sophisticated forms of art rock, lo-fi, chill-wave, folk, soul, funk, and pop. A number of rock enthusiasts here in the US and most people in the UK and Europe know this, but, sadly, it seems that most Americans overall still see them as only as a surf-rock party band. Several songs you might want to consider listening to are Surf's Up (the song), Feel Flows, Leaving This Town, Trader, Sail on Sailor, and It's About Time. You might consider the song Steamboat for a dreamy acid trip. There are dozens upon dozens of others, but I'm just throwing a few out that are pretty slick, but that go overlooked by the general American public. Check them out. You won't be disappointed, and you'll find a greater appreciation for the band as a whole.
this song is about heroin/sex, he was getting into heroin at the time and was in love with yoko, the magazine with the title that inspired the song acts mainly as a metaphor for these two ideas, "when i hold you in my arms and i feel my finger on your trigger" here he is talking about both sexual innuendo and heroin, the heroin link is also apparent in the earlier lyric " i need a fix cs im going down"
Lennon seen a gun magazine with that title, "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" on the cover. He was taken with how strange the "statement" was. And yes, that's john singing.
It was all word play with lyrics taken from a gun magazine article John Lennon was reading where the title of the article was Happiness is a Warm Gun. John just thought that title was insane. Also kind of weird looking back that John wrote this song but ended up being shot to death infront of his apartment building in New York on December 8th 1980.
Lennon was in the throws of his heroin addiction at this time , hence the “ I need a fix “ , the happiness is a warm gun came from a heading he saw on a magazine cover , but used the meaning as the gun is the heroin needle . Another great song you should check out is a solo Lennon song called “ cold turkey “ , about him quitting the heroin . You would love that song
John, had seen an Advert in America which read "Get Ready for the Long Hot Summer, HAPPINESS is a WARM GUN".... This was at a time of Anti-Vietnam riots and Civil Rights protest.... John was shocked by an advert for Firearms telling people it would make them happy.... P.S among the Surreal lyrics I love, "lying with his eyes, while his hands are busy, working overtime"..... I can remember thinking; How does he know that, he hasn't worked overtime in a factory.....
I'm having to reply this on a lot of comments, but the first section of lyrics in this song, were mostly penned by Beatles friend Derek Taylor. So maybe he did work overtime? Also The Beatles definitely "worked" their asses off, even if it wasn't the typical manual labor.
John Lennon big on word play. Loved putting together words that were polar opposites ie., “pornographic priestess” . They touched on ALL genres of music. Love you. 🙏🏼
The phrase was supposedly on the cover of a gun magazine. The man with the "multi colored mirrors on his hob nail boots" was a newspaper story about a guy who had mirrors on his boot for looking up girls dresses. "A soap impression of his wife which he ate and donated to the national trust"- is just nonsense lyrics from the session, the national trust I believe is the toilet/sewer system of England. The parts were supposed to be an encapsulation of rock and roll history- blues, doo wop. Lennon song, but a favorite of Paul's.
Yes, it’s John’s song (also his overdubbed vocal harmonies in the last chorus.) George Martin (producer)had a gun collectors magazine laying around - thus the title. ‘I feel my finger on your trigger’ - it’s about him and Yoko (mother superior) - it’s about sex! It’s not as dark as some folks like to think it is - and it was reportedly the favorite song from the White Album for the rest of the Beatles.
Yeah it was a given the song was never meat to be taken seriously. Also, as The Beatles were great musical geniuses, they arranged and and recorded it to be like 1950s style music....almost like "doo-wop" .
Yup, it's definitely a double entendre title, 'a penis' is a warm gun, the initial inspiration was a magazine article but John takes the title and runs with it (like on his song 'Come together' it's a sexual reference, as well as a rallying call, the noises John's making in the coda make that clear). Here there's a verse depicting a pervert with mirrors on his shoes to look up skirts, lying with his eyes while his hands are in his pants busy working overtime. In this song Mother Superior is Yoko, there's the line about 'going down', and the trigger... well, I think you get the picture. Lennon loved word play.
in the 1960s, Peanuts comics used the phrase, "Happiness is a warm puppy," so there were a lot of "Happiness is..." phrases around. Some gun magazine had the phrase "happiness is a warm gun," which was the idea for this song. It's a clever song, glad you did an interpretation. John Lennon is singing. There's a Beatles Bible where you can find all this stuff.
Right the magazine was sitting around the studio and Lennon saw it. The man with the multi-coloured mirrors and hands working overtime, came from other newspaper stories.
From the first time I heard this in 1969, I understood all the imagery to be sexual: lizard on a window pane, lyin' with his eyes while his hands were busy working overtime, I feel my finger on your trigger... I'm guessing it was a love song to Yoko.
Lennon is singing about Drugs...A warm gun is a needle...he wrote this song about Heroine...At one time he had a Heroine Habit...I think in the drug culture there are more than one way of saying needle...like guns...works and so on....Warm means the shit is cooked in a cap so goes the words Happiness is a warm gun...FACT...Bang Bang shoot shoot is the shot of Heroine...
More Lennon "word salad" songs: Strawberry Fields Forever, I Am The Walrus, And Your Bird Can Sing, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds. A Day In The Life, Tomorrow Never Knows and I'm Only Sleeping are also must listens.
I like that you're digging into the lyrics. Often times people that do the "First Time Hearing" channels take everything literally and you're not doing that. I've read that John Lennon would joke with his girlfriend, Yoko Ono, and call her Mother Superior when she would call him out on stuff. It's possible that Yoko is the warm gun. He sings, "When I put my finger - On your trigger" I think the meaning is he's doing something that triggers her, and that is proceeded by lyrics like, "I need a fix 'cause I'm going down." It's possible that Yoko is the fiery gun that picks him up or sets him straight when he's down or jonesing. Remember, the first line of the song is, "She's not a girl who misses much." and then, "She's well acquainted with the touch of the velvet hand" He's not singing, "A Velvet hand" he's singing, "THE Velvet hand. "THE" instead of "A" would mean the proverbial "Velvet Hand" which sounds like a poetic way to say that she knows what it's like to be on heroin. She may be giving John a hard time for wanting to get a fix uptown. I might be wrong but that's my interpretation And btw, this is John singing. The more you listen the easier it will be to figure out who's singing.
Happiness is a warm gun" was a line Lennon picked up from an American magazine. Lennon, who loved words and phrases put it to music. I'm almost afraid of what he meant but it's a stunning song
I don't mind the lyrics. They can be interpreted in nearly every direction. However, John's voice here is top-notch and musically this also is top-notch. What else to expect? :-)
Lennon song, happiness is a warm gun is bang bang shoot shoot is a sexual reference to male ejaculation. When I hold you in my arms and I feel my finger on your trigger is about clitoral stimulation. Lennon said in his last interview with Playboy mag. right before his death that yes, it was a double meaning. Pure Lennon Genius! This was in 68, they were very clever people at slipping this kind of stuff in. Bang bang shoot shoot harmony is Mccartney/Harrison. I'm not sure what you meant by McCartney high end. If you meant the high gun at the end, that's Lennon. Alot of music people thought this song was just 4 snippets of incomplete Lennon songs. No, the other 3 confirmed he brought it into the studio in complete form the way he wrote it. Only Lennon!
The Beatles grew steadily from the days of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" ... so that the white album is very diverse in terms of genre. So you have some pretty heavy stuff, then you have a few throw-backs or maybe just acknowledgement of days gone by ... such as the melody and lyrics of "When I'm 64". So glad that I grew in my musical tastes right along with them.
Everyone loves to suggest this song is about heroin, and of course there are references, but to ignore the more obvious references to Yoko, as casual listeners always do when they jump to "it's a heroin ballad!" is a grave disservice. Listen to this as a love/sex song and the meaning changes radically. A "warm gun" is a penis inside a loving partner.
I wasn't sure if I was going to come out and say it or not. "A "warm gun" is a penis". Lennon said the song is more about sex and Rock and Roll than drugs.
@@ChitwoodMitwood It's about revolvers, sex and Rock and Roll. To say it's not also about shooting up is a bit naive. You having been a user has no bearing on whether you can interpret lyrics or not. "Mother superior jumped the gun" is not talking about a firearm. I didn't know this but from Wiki, Lennon referred to each song section as "the Dirty Old Man", "the Junkie", and "the Gunman (Satire of '50s R&R)".
It was the song that helped to save the group. The tension was high throughout the sessions, with Ringo leaving...interestingly, the song wasn’t completed as the numerous takes and guitar work took a toll on John.
I saw an interview where Lennon said he wrote it, after seeing the front of an NRA magazine saying Happiness Is A Warm Gun and thought: That`s an insane thing to say, a warm gun means you just shot something
Actually, The gospel notes was Lennons voice, and The Happiness is a warm gun, they were referring to a needle. It was when they experimented with Heroin and the experience of one Heroin trip they had.
You said this song you like the way Paul McCartney‘s voice sounded at the end like a gospel. This song is all John Lennon. George and Paul are the back of vocals, but the main vocal is all John. And as far as happiness is a warm gun. He’s talking about a syringe. He put his finger on the trigger, which is a syringe plumber and put it in his arm. Nobody can do him no harm. Just in case you wanted to know.
This song has nothing to do about guns. It is about shooting drugs. The metaphor is that the syringe is the gun and the "plunger" of the syringe is the trigger. "When I feel my finger on your trigger, I know no one can do me no harm" means he is about to get really, really high. It gives you a warm feeling knowing that you will soon be "feeling no harm". "Mother Superior" could be pertaining to the person who helps him shoot up. "Jump the gun" means "push the plunger down". The first lyrics describe the sensations felt..."the velvet touch like a lizard on a window pane". Lennon's voice conveys the feelings, especially the screaming near the end. I've been listening to this song for 50 years and people have been trying to dissect the words and meaning ever since...just about like every Beatles song of that era.
Hey Man.. I don't know what you've done here, but somehow you've created an awesome soundmix for this song that sounds unique, and I've heard tonnes of them. This is some sort of fluke!
Another John song from The White Album that needs exploring. It's a Rocker from John called: Everybody's got something to hide except for me and my Monkey" Totally another obscure song not often heard.
The White Album is full of treasures and very diverse in sound and structure of songs.
Cry Baby Cry!
@@MidwestFarmToys ok
So stoked to see a reaction to one of their deeper cuts
This is one of John's best songs
Lennon was basically mocking the NRA and the American gun culture
he saw an NRA poster saying happiness is w arm gun
@Billy Boils LOL then what's the song about Einstein
@@52daytripper did not know, that bit-o-intel is a goood nugget
There are a lot of heroin references in this song. Read Keith Richards book. Richards said Lennon would come over and they would binge on the needle. Richards said by the end of the binge the typical way Lennon left his flat was in the horizontal position.
No he wasn't. He saw the title from a magazine article and created it from that. Great song!
Here's the real story. In 1962 Charles Schulz published his first book based on the Peanuts characters called, "Happiness Is A Warm Puppy" (about Snoopy) and it was a best seller and became a catchphrase. A gun magazine parodied the idea and John picked up on it. Who would believe Snoopy inspired this??
I thought it was a gun ad that paul mccartney saw and the ad said Happiness Is A Warm Gun and Paul used it
@@caydenscribner2640 The magazine was parodying the Schulz meme, coined in 1962. The expression was already in the lexicon. You can find it online. "Happiness Is A Warm Puppy". John wrote the song and was the one who saw the magazine, so Paul heard it out of context and inferred a serious intent. Paul apparently wasn't familiar with the Peanuts best seller. Most people got the reference.
@@caydenscribner2640 Considering Lennon wrote most of the song (with help from friend Derek Taylor) and sings the whole song, why would it come from Paul? Also, I have no idea if this is anything but I do find it humorous that in British "(H)apiness" could be mistaken for "A penis is a warm gun".
@@SelfPropelledDestiny LMAO idk if you replied to me specifically or not but idek what I said lol
@@SelfPropelledDestiny now I get it. I got confused ig idk. I knew it was something related to an advertisement but I think John had more influence on it ofc since he sings on it. That’s how they divided the songs anyway.
George Harrison's dirty, distorted guitar just kills it!
I couple of decades ago, I was teaching English in Sweden to employees at a major electronics company. One guy seemed particularly pleased to meet an Englishman. After the first lesson, he asked me whether I knew about the Beatles. I asked him why he asked. He said one song really puzzled him and that was Happiness Is A Warm Gun. Did I know it? His eyes absolutely lit up when I started singing "She's not a girl who misses much...". Turned out he was a huge Beatles fan and so was I, and still am. He gave me a CDROM with every Beatles LP on it, which was a tremendous thing to have back then. Anyway, I had to tell him that it wasn't so strange that he was having trouble understanding this song. It's still one of my favourite Lennon songs, but it is weird.
Perception is everything maybe we perceive it as to it correlates with our lives at the moment
A little satire by John after reading a gun magazine from what I understand.
Yeah, the documentaries all say he read a gun advertisement that literally read, "Happiness is a warm gun." So, basically, this song is a found poem. lol
One of the greatest songs...so complicated with timing changes, its crazy. Lennon saw a gun ad in a magazine while touring the US and he liked the ad that said "Happiness is a warm gun" however, could be heroin fix/making love..unfortunately. He went clean later as on "Cold Turkey". Take your pick son.
it wasn't that he like the ad, quite the oppsosite! He saw the phrase and thought that's crazy that your happiness comes from having shot something!
@@robinfoster7597yeah probably thought “what a fucking ridiculous ad, ima make a song with that cuz why not” lol I feel like they were just kinda screwing around at that point
@robinfoster7597 know I saw an interview where he said that it had that meaning also!
This has always been one of my favorite Beatles songs... the one-two punch of this song following While My Guitar Gently Weeps blew my mind when I first heard the White Album. I always took the line to be more of a selfish happiness... the idea that caressing his gun brings the character literal joy and warm fuzzies inside, in the way that a teddy bear is happiness to a child. Love your reactions Marvin! (still waiting for you to check out Clutch though, lol)
It's about SEX.
What a voice!!!!!!!!!!
one of my fave songs from one of my fave Beatle's album
Top selling album of the sixties. More from the White album pleez.
While you're at it check out Lennon's "Gimme Some Truth," another very raw and original track!
"You know what that is? The blues...." You hit it on the head and clarified why this has touched me for 45 years.
Lennon sings "Happiness, is a warm gun." From my experience this is the feeling of having the drug just ready to use - the 'joy' of the moment - the ritual of preparing the drug and getting ready to consume it and experience once again its heavenly fruits.
Not a thought to the opposite and ugly side of addiction.
Exactly how I see it.The ritual is the thing.
Clue: "and feel my finger on your trigger" Take it from the line before which starts "when I hold you....
Lennon said he got the lyrics form advertisement. But he used to refer to yoko as mother superior from time to time..and they were involved with h at that time
I've heard John Lennon was referring to injecting heroin and that is the gun ...definitley check out. Tomorrow never knows
There's a great book called "A Hard Days Write" that explains the genesis of each Beatles lyric...
And the image of John "Donating to the national trust" is better left unexplored
Great reaction, stay FAB x
La segunda parte de esta canción es sencillamente deliciosa. Recuerdo cuánto la disfruté cuando la escuché por primera vez.
Lennon sung all this...and the high notes
You were right the first time: there are many possible meanings. Most people I knew were pretty certain it was about shooting heroin.
It about the Gun culture in the USA at the time it was Written.....
One of my 3 fav Beatles songs.
I was always under the impression that the warm gun was reference to a syringe freshly pulled from the vein. Whatever his true intentions behind the lyrics are the world may never know. That being said it's by far my favorite Beatles song and on my top 3 list of all times and genres. Liked the video. You should have a listen to shadow on the sun by audioslave and react to that one. It was always an emotionally charged and powerful song, it has revealed a deeper layer since Chris took his life and he was named the best voice in Rock and roll some years back.
Happiness is a warm gun was a title that was on a gun magazine
One of johns best
"You know what that is? The blues...." You hit it on the head and clarified why this hits a listener dead in their soul.
The BeeGees did this 7 years later taking R&B Stylistic type music and transforming it into a Beatle-Type pop sensation.
It was Lennon doing the lead vocal "gospel growls" at the end. He sings lead the whole song. The "Happiness..." reference comes from a gun magazine that Lennon stumbled across, and found the motto both morbidly horrific and mildly humorous. Therefore, he thought it funny to create a satire where the music resembles some beautiful, love, angelic, gospel doo-wop while singing a shockingly horrible motto. Remember these guys had British senses of humor and even helped out Monty Python when they could.
It’s literal. He got the title and lyric from a magazine that George Martin was reading and was fascinated.
I know that story but I think he had heroin in mind too. He did double entendres alot
@@thursdayaf22 oh yes he did. The part, “I need a fix cause I’m going down.” Is 100% factually about heroin. Which made the other members a bit sad because he had gotten into hard drugs.
Basically the same way he wrote A Day in The Life, from articles he had read in a newspaper. Pure Genius!
@@rbking9296 True! Didn’t think about that. That song is just simply genius. Like mostly every Beatles song to be fair.
John Lennon was great at picking up song titles from the strangest places. With this one, he was looking through a magazine and saw an ad for a gun manufacturer, and the ad said "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" He liked the sound of it and used it when writing this song. Great reaction.
That was John on the end of the singing
Still sends shivers up me
I like this guy. I am a long time Beatles fan and l really liked his opinion on this song
John had a way with words
Sometimes an offbeat way with words
Sometimes a dark way
Or even Frivolous
He wrote a book or two
He was an interesting charachter And a complex one.
Bang bang shoop shoop
Bang Bang Shoot Shoot, you mean. The first portion of the song's lyrics was penned by Beatles friend, Derek Taylor.
Great reaction Smitty! Maybe 'Hey Bulldog' at some point. Thanks.
Yes! Hey Bulldog...if it's possible for them to have an underrated song it would be this one. Excellent choice.
My favourite Beatles song
Please, please, please check out works by the Beach Boys from 1966-1973. Their music goes beyond surf/garage rock and into increasingly complex and sophisticated forms of art rock, lo-fi, chill-wave, folk, soul, funk, and pop. A number of rock enthusiasts here in the US and most people in the UK and Europe know this, but, sadly, it seems that most Americans overall still see them as only as a surf-rock party band.
Several songs you might want to consider listening to are Surf's Up (the song), Feel Flows, Leaving This Town, Trader, Sail on Sailor, and It's About Time. You might consider the song Steamboat for a dreamy acid trip. There are dozens upon dozens of others, but I'm just throwing a few out that are pretty slick, but that go overlooked by the general American public. Check them out. You won't be disappointed, and you'll find a greater appreciation for the band as a whole.
this song is about heroin/sex, he was getting into heroin at the time and was in love with yoko, the magazine with the title that inspired the song acts mainly as a metaphor for these two ideas, "when i hold you in my arms and i feel my finger on your trigger" here he is talking about both sexual innuendo and heroin, the heroin link is also apparent in the earlier lyric " i need a fix cs im going down"
Interesting I thought it had a double meaning but I thought it was using a gun to hide the sexy part
It's John Lennon singing 'and he wrote it
Lennon seen a gun magazine with that title, "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" on the cover. He was taken with how strange the "statement" was. And yes, that's john singing.
It was all word play with lyrics taken from a gun magazine article John Lennon was reading where the title of the article was Happiness is a Warm Gun. John just thought that title was insane. Also kind of weird looking back that John wrote this song but ended up being shot to death infront of his apartment building in New York on December 8th 1980.
Good job man, nice video :D
Lennon was in the throws of his heroin addiction at this time , hence the “ I need a fix “ , the happiness is a warm gun came from a heading he saw on a magazine cover , but used the meaning as the gun is the heroin needle . Another great song you should check out is a solo Lennon song called “ cold turkey “ , about him quitting the heroin . You would love that song
*throes. I think the warm gun is his *ahem* junk and referring to sex. That part seems clear lyrically.
Great reaction! Very perceptive. I've subscribed.
Happiness is a warm gun is something that they read in a hunters magazine
It was about time
John, had seen an Advert in America which read "Get Ready for the Long Hot Summer, HAPPINESS is a WARM GUN".... This was at a time of Anti-Vietnam riots and Civil Rights protest.... John was shocked by an advert for Firearms telling people it would make them happy.... P.S among the Surreal lyrics I love, "lying with his eyes, while his hands are busy, working overtime"..... I can remember thinking; How does he know that, he hasn't worked overtime in a factory.....
I'm having to reply this on a lot of comments, but the first section of lyrics in this song, were mostly penned by Beatles friend Derek Taylor. So maybe he did work overtime? Also The Beatles definitely "worked" their asses off, even if it wasn't the typical manual labor.
John Lennon big on word play. Loved putting together words that were polar opposites ie., “pornographic priestess” . They touched on ALL genres of music. Love you. 🙏🏼
Here's some NEWS for you, ALL the Beatles Songs are Classic!!🤯
Boom✌️
The phrase was supposedly on the cover of a gun magazine.
The man with the "multi colored mirrors on his hob nail boots" was a newspaper story about a guy who had mirrors on his boot for looking up girls dresses.
"A soap impression of his wife which he ate and donated to the national trust"- is just nonsense lyrics from the session, the national trust I believe is the toilet/sewer system of England.
The parts were supposed to be an encapsulation of rock and roll history- blues, doo wop.
Lennon song, but a favorite of Paul's.
It's literal. That was John Lennon he even did the backup vocals. Remember this was done in the studio. Do 1 take and then sing along with yourself.
Yes, it’s John’s song (also his overdubbed vocal harmonies in the last chorus.)
George Martin (producer)had a gun collectors
magazine laying around - thus the title. ‘I feel my finger on your trigger’ - it’s about him and Yoko (mother superior) - it’s about sex!
It’s not as dark as some folks like to think it is - and it was reportedly the favorite song from the White Album for the rest of the Beatles.
There’s definitely a lot of misinterpretation in this song and over analysis of this song, but for the most part it’s talking about Sex
Yeah it was a given the song was never meat to be taken seriously.
Also, as The Beatles were great musical geniuses, they arranged and and recorded it to be like 1950s style music....almost like "doo-wop" .
Yup, it's definitely a double entendre title, 'a penis' is a warm gun, the initial inspiration was a magazine article but John takes the title and runs with it (like on his song 'Come together' it's a sexual reference, as well as a rallying call, the noises John's making in the coda make that clear). Here there's a verse depicting a pervert with mirrors on his shoes to look up skirts, lying with his eyes while his hands are in his pants busy working overtime. In this song Mother Superior is Yoko, there's the line about 'going down', and the trigger... well, I think you get the picture. Lennon loved word play.
in the 1960s, Peanuts comics used the phrase, "Happiness is a warm puppy," so there were a lot of "Happiness is..." phrases around. Some gun magazine had the phrase "happiness is a warm gun," which was the idea for this song. It's a clever song, glad you did an interpretation. John Lennon is singing. There's a Beatles Bible where you can find all this stuff.
Right the magazine was sitting around the studio and Lennon saw it. The man with the multi-coloured mirrors and hands working overtime, came from other newspaper stories.
From the first time I heard this in 1969, I understood all the imagery to be sexual: lizard on a window pane, lyin' with his eyes while his hands were busy working overtime, I feel my finger on your trigger... I'm guessing it was a love song to Yoko.
Lennon is singing about Drugs...A warm gun is a needle...he wrote this song about Heroine...At one time he had a Heroine Habit...I think in the drug culture there are more than one way of saying needle...like guns...works and so on....Warm means the shit is cooked in a cap so goes the words Happiness is a warm gun...FACT...Bang Bang shoot shoot is the shot of Heroine...
More Lennon "word salad" songs: Strawberry Fields Forever, I Am The Walrus, And Your Bird Can Sing, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds. A Day In The Life, Tomorrow Never Knows and I'm Only Sleeping are also must listens.
Truth. Lennon saw an outdoor magazine in George Martin's office open to a page and a story titled, "Happiness Is a Warm Gun". Look it up, true.
Great video! You should balance the volume between the music and your commentary. Enjoyed it!
That was Lennon, not McCartney.
I like that you're digging into the lyrics. Often times people that do the "First Time Hearing" channels take everything literally and you're not doing that. I've read that John Lennon would joke with his girlfriend, Yoko Ono, and call her Mother Superior when she would call him out on stuff. It's possible that Yoko is the warm gun. He sings, "When I put my finger - On your trigger" I think the meaning is he's doing something that triggers her, and that is proceeded by lyrics like, "I need a fix 'cause I'm going down." It's possible that Yoko is the fiery gun that picks him up or sets him straight when he's down or jonesing. Remember, the first line of the song is, "She's not a girl who misses much." and then, "She's well acquainted with the touch of the velvet hand" He's not singing, "A Velvet hand" he's singing, "THE Velvet hand. "THE" instead of "A" would mean the proverbial "Velvet Hand" which sounds like a poetic way to say that she knows what it's like to be on heroin. She may be giving John a hard time for wanting to get a fix uptown. I might be wrong but that's my interpretation And btw, this is John singing. The more you listen the easier it will be to figure out who's singing.
Happiness is a warm gun" was a line Lennon picked up from an American magazine. Lennon, who loved words and phrases put it to music. I'm almost afraid of what he meant but it's a stunning song
Great song. Great album.
I don't mind the lyrics. They can be interpreted in nearly every direction. However, John's voice here is top-notch and musically this also is top-notch. What else to expect? :-)
John (and the Beatles) was very anti violence and anti gun; it's so sad and ironic that that's the way he died. R.I.P. John Lennon
2020 sucked sit down and listen to a full album of the beatles.
John sang all lead vocals including the high falsetto showing his range.
Lennon song, happiness is a warm gun is bang bang shoot shoot is a sexual reference to male ejaculation. When I hold you in my arms and I feel my finger on your trigger is about clitoral stimulation. Lennon said in his last interview with Playboy mag. right before his death that yes, it was a double meaning. Pure Lennon Genius! This was in 68, they were very clever people at slipping this kind of stuff in. Bang bang shoot shoot harmony is Mccartney/Harrison. I'm not sure what you meant by McCartney high end. If you meant the high gun at the end, that's Lennon. Alot of music people thought this song was just 4 snippets of incomplete Lennon songs. No, the other 3 confirmed he brought it into the studio in complete form the way he wrote it. Only Lennon!
The Beatles grew steadily from the days of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" ... so that the white album is very diverse in terms of genre. So you have some pretty heavy stuff, then you have a few throw-backs or maybe just acknowledgement of days gone by ... such as the melody and lyrics of "When I'm 64". So glad that I grew in my musical tastes right along with them.
Lennon voice and the end
All Beatles' songs are CLASSIC Beatles. lol
The Beatles/Think For Yourself studio version
Lennon sings the end!
Everyone loves to suggest this song is about heroin, and of course there are references, but to ignore the more obvious references to Yoko, as casual listeners always do when they jump to "it's a heroin ballad!" is a grave disservice. Listen to this as a love/sex song and the meaning changes radically. A "warm gun" is a penis inside a loving partner.
I wasn't sure if I was going to come out and say it or not. "A "warm gun" is a penis". Lennon said the song is more about sex and Rock and Roll than drugs.
@@debjorgo Yes, that's what I said in my comment lol
@@joshiahayash And supposedly, John never shot heroin. He only snorted it.
I was a young heroin addict at the time and it was not a song about heroin , do your research .
@@ChitwoodMitwood It's about revolvers, sex and Rock and Roll. To say it's not also about shooting up is a bit naive. You having been a user has no bearing on whether you can interpret lyrics or not. "Mother superior jumped the gun" is not talking about a firearm. I didn't know this but from Wiki, Lennon referred to each song section as "the Dirty Old Man", "the Junkie", and "the Gunman (Satire of '50s R&R)".
It was the song that helped to save the group. The tension was high throughout the sessions, with Ringo leaving...interestingly, the song wasn’t completed as the numerous takes and guitar work took a toll on John.
"A soap impression of his wife, which he ate, and donated to the national trust"
It's John Lennon, not McCartney.
I saw an interview where Lennon said he wrote it, after seeing the front of an NRA magazine saying Happiness Is A Warm Gun and thought: That`s an insane thing to say, a warm gun means you just shot something
Yes John is expressing his delight in shooting people
Especially Yoko 😉
Do believe it was an article John read in a gun magazine in the states.
A lot of Beatles songs you probably never heard, more please, thanks 😎
It's Lennon at the end
Definitley. Similar to the final falsetto he sings In My Life.
the whole song is lennon
"And, in the End... the Paul you hear
Is equal to the Len that's near."
Lennon wrote and sings it.
Actually, The gospel notes was Lennons voice, and The Happiness is a warm gun, they were referring to a needle. It was when they experimented with Heroin and the experience of one Heroin trip they had.
Lennon was the only one
of them, who took heroin.
Was just about to say the same. They all smoked weed, they all took LSD, but only Lennon and Ono messed with heroin.
You said this song you like the way Paul McCartney‘s voice sounded at the end like a gospel. This song is all John Lennon. George and Paul are the back of vocals, but the main vocal is all John. And as far as happiness is a warm gun. He’s talking about a syringe. He put his finger on the trigger, which is a syringe plumber and put it in his arm. Nobody can do him no harm. Just in case you wanted to know.
This song has nothing to do about guns. It is about shooting drugs. The metaphor is that the syringe is the gun and the "plunger" of the syringe is the trigger. "When I feel my finger on your trigger, I know no one can do me no harm" means he is about to get really, really high. It gives you a warm feeling knowing that you will soon be "feeling no harm". "Mother Superior" could be pertaining to the person who helps him shoot up. "Jump the gun" means "push the plunger down". The first lyrics describe the sensations felt..."the velvet touch like a lizard on a window pane". Lennon's voice conveys the feelings, especially the screaming near the end. I've been listening to this song for 50 years and people have been trying to dissect the words and meaning ever since...just about like every Beatles song of that era.
Hey Man.. I don't know what you've done here, but somehow you've created an awesome soundmix for this song that sounds unique, and I've heard tonnes of them.
This is some sort of fluke!
Beatles song YER BLUES
Another John song from The White Album that needs exploring. It's a Rocker from John called: Everybody's got something to hide except for me and my Monkey" Totally another obscure song not often heard.
Do not try to make sense of a lot of the later beatles stuff 😂😂 you’ll go mad 😂
Unless you take acid then your get it 😂
While my guitar gently weeps
Here from 2NE1 videos :) My two passions :)
2018 Giles Martin remix of the White Album is highly recomended.
WOW!!!!
Mother Superior is code word for Heroin
He is talking about taking Heroin and the Gun is the Needle
"abstract" -- correct. Even if John did base his idea on a Gun magazine, the lyrics are simply impressions, very good ones.
Excellent artists, how Ironic that the night that Lennon was shot, that song was playing in the hospital as Muzak, which Lennon hated.
Lennon and Cobain both sang about guns and both met their end at the hands of a gun 🥹
love what you say
Try " Rocky Raccoon ".
Believe me they're all classics!!!
At this point you may as well do Bungalow Bill too
12 years after this John was murdered with a warm gun.
have u heard ``in my life`` in rubber soul? that song wasnt a hit, nr1 song, but i think its at least top 10 beatles songs
Only John is singing this song.