Happiness Is A Warm Gun

[peace]

i like this song very much too.
and the meaning.. Beatles' songs always have more than one meaning:) just everyone understands and accept them their own way:) for me this song is a pure happiness:))

[peace]

how beautiful you've said - it becomes your own

[peace]

thanks. i like yours too (i'm always wondering if i spell words right )

[peace]

yeah, that one's really good hilarious!

[beatlestone]

One of John's great classics & it goes from blues to doo-wop, which is cool as well. It has taken on a more wicked kind of feel to it after he was killed in 80.

[lovinlennon]

Well I've heard that its either his sexual desire for Yoko, or for heroin, the gun like a syringe, but he didn't inject heroin so it wouldn make that much sense, he snorted it.

[beatlestone]

The sexual reference about the finger & the trigger is all about Yoko, I believe he was taking heroin, at the time & he never did use a needle during his addiction.

[imagineforlennon]

This is one of my favorites. Which reminds me the other day my brother said to my mom "happiness..." and i interrupted him and said "is a warm gun" lol they both looked at me with wide eyes. and my mom said "wow that was violent." BWAHAHAH!!! I told her it was a Beatles song. They both looked relieved after i said that.

[alynextexit]

One of my favs.
I love the version of the movie "Across The Universe", by Joe Anderson, too <3
It reminds me of all the things I love and, obviously, all the things that make me happy.

[lennonlegend]

I *love* Happiness Is A Warm Gun. The transition to the chorus near the end is pure heaven. The harmony is perfect. John really sang the song brilliantly.

I think he is the best rock and roll singer of all time. Powerful. Gritty. Strong. Weak. Sad. Sorrowful. Hopeful. Every box is checked.

[lennononmymind]

I agree. He is my all time favorite rock and roll singer. From "Girl" to "Revolution" to "Woman", he could sing any type of song. Nobody comes close to him in my book.

[wchero]

This is a very important song in a way. Because this is the song that hinted at who the beatles were singing about. the word gun is actually part of the name of that person.
You are right - there is a reference to heroin "I need a fix cuz i'm going down,..."
When you put this song together with some of the other songs on the white album, (sexy sadie, I want you, Rocky Racoon, Blackbird, yer blues, I'm so tired) it becomes clear that there was someone who was the focus of these songs, although this was never revealed, nor was it ever discovered by most Beatles fans.

[nomoreweather]

sounds interesting wchero.. don't know what you're talking about here. can you tell?

HIAWG is a fantastic song. great lyrics, really diverse musically. very cool. do do do do do do.. oh yeah.

[abonin9000]

i know the lines "the man in the crowd with the multicolored mirrors on his hobnail boots/lying with his eyes while his hands are busy working overtime" are about maharishi, who was rumored to have been trying to seduce some of the women at the retreat in india. having mirrors on your boots was a way of looking up women's skirts.

[matt72582]

I think John used any reference he could to write a song, and probably didn't care how it was interpreted, or did it on purpose. I think it was a number of things. George Martin mentioned how John told him how crazy it was Americans were so obsessed with guns, and how a warm gun meant it just shot someone. I'm sure it was some of that, some drugs and sex, and they both can be used interchangeably.

"I need a fix cause I'm going down..." Mother Superior could be Yoko/Heroin.

The most interesting thing about the song is the rhythm, the phrasing.. You could call it classical rap with actual instruments.