Written by: Lennon-McCartney
Recorded: 23, 24, 25 September 1968
Producer: Chris Thomas
Engineer: Ken Scott
Released: 22 November 1968 (UK), 25 November 1968 (US)
John Lennon: vocals, backing vocals, lead guitar
Paul McCartney: backing vocals, bass
George Harrison: backing vocals, lead guitar
Ringo Starr: drums, tambourine
Available on:
The Beatles (White Album)
Anthology 3
Featuring one of John Lennon's best vocals on the White Album, Happiness Is A Warm Gun was made up of four distinct song fragments, and took its title from a gun magazine John Lennon saw in the studio at Abbey Road.
George Martin showed me the cover of a magazine that said, 'Happiness is a warm gun'. I thought it was a fantastic, insane thing to say. A warm gun means you've just shot something.
Anthology
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.
I told a story about a chap my wife Joan and I met in the Carrick Bay Hotel on the Isle of Man. It was late one night drinking in the bar and this local fellow who liked meeting holiday makers and rapping to them suddenly said to us, 'I like wearing moleskin gloves you know. It gives me a little bit of an unusual sensation when I'm out with my girlfriend.' He then said, 'I don't want to go into details.' So we didn't. But that provided the line, 'She's well acquainted with the touch of the velvet hand'.
A Hard Day's Write, Steve Turner
The lizard on the window pane was a recollection from Taylor's days living in Los Angeles. The man in the crowd, meanwhile, was from a newspaper report about a Manchester City football fan who had been arrested after inserting mirrors into his footwear in order to see up the skirts of women during matches.
The hands busy working overtime weren't masturbating, however, but referred to a story heard by Taylor about a man who used false hands as an elaborate shoplifting technique.
The final part of the verse was perhaps the most abstract, but came from earthy origins.
I don't know where the 'soap impression of his wife' came from but the eating of something and then donating it to the National Trust came from a conversation we'd had about the horrors of walking in public spaces on Merseyside, where you were always coming across the evidence of people having crapped behind bushes and in old air raid shelters. So to donate what you've eaten to the National Trust was what would now be known as 'defecation on common land owned by the National Trust.' When John put it all together, it created a series of layers of images. It was like a whole mess of colour.
A Hard Day's Write, Steve Turner
The second part of the song ('I need a fix 'cause I'm going down') contains Lennon's clearest reference to heroin while in The Beatles, although he later denied the line was about drugs.
Happiness Is A Warm Gun was another one which was banned on the radio - they said it was about shooting up drugs. But they were advertising guns and I thought it was so crazy that I made a song out of it. It wasn't about 'H' at all.
Anthology
The double-speed 'Mother Superior jump the gun' section, meanwhile, was inspired by his infatuation with Yoko Ono. Mother Superior was a name he used for her, and 'jump the gun' could be interpreted as a sexual metaphor.
An early acoustic version of the song, recorded at George Harrison's home in Esher, Surrey in May 1968 found Lennon reworking the words and chords of this section, at one point simply singing Ono's name.
The final part introduces the title phrase over the conventional doo-wop chord sequence (I-vi-IV-V) and a number of changes between 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4 time signatures. The song's complexity led to The Beatles spending 15 hours and recording 95 takes before being satisfied.
In the studio
24, 25 September 1968
On 23 September 1968 The Beatles began recording the song, with the working title Happiness Is A Warm Gun In Your Hand. They taped the first 45 takes of the song, with Lennon on lead guitar and guide vocals, McCartney on bass, Harrison on fuzz lead guitar and Starr playing drums.
The following day the group recorded takes 46-70. At the end of these it was decided that the first half of take 53 and the second half of take 65 were the best, and the two were edited together on the evening of 25 September.
With the edit in place, the group began overdubbing later that night. Lennon's lead vocals were supported by backing vocals from Lennon, McCartney and Harrison. Other additions were an organ, piano, snare drum, tambourine and bass.
During the mixing stage it was decided that the first instance of the 'I need a fix' line should be left out. The word 'down' can be heard on the final version, however, when the vocals were faded up slightly too early.
Related articles:
- Editing, recording, mixing: Happiness Is A Warm Gun
- Recording: Happiness Is A Warm Gun
- Recording: Happiness Is A Warm Gun
- Mixing: Happiness Is A Warm Gun, What's The New Mary Jane, Glass Onion, I Will
- Mixing: Happiness Is A Warm Gun, I'm So Tired, Cry Baby Cry
you have the time signatures wrong, this is correct:
* She's not a girl who misses much... (0:00-0:14):
o 4 bars of 4/4.
* She's well acquainted with the velvet touch... (0:14-0:45):
o 1 bar of 4/4
o 1 bar of 2/4
o 5 bars of 4/4
o 1 bar of 5/4
o 1 bar of 4/4.
* I need a fix cos I'm goin' down... (0:45-1:13):
o twice through a 3 bars/4 bars/4 bars series of 3/8 (i.e. 22 bars of 3/8).
* Mother superior, jump the gun... (1:13-1:35):
o thrice through a bar each of 9/8 and 10/8.
* Happiness is a warm gun... (1:35-2:43):
o 4 bars of 4/4
o 3 bars of 12/8 (with the drums doing 4 bars of 4/4 and 1 bar of 2/4!)
o 5 bars of 4/4 (the final bar entering free time)
o 1 bar of 2/4 (in free time)
o 5 bars of 4/4
A long time ago, I read that John Kelly, the photographer who shot the four portraits of the four Beatles that came as inserts with the White Album, met with Paul McCartney around the time of finishing that album (presumably to shoot Paul's portrait). Paul told him to listen to a tape of "Happiness is a Warm Gun." According to Kelly, McCartney told him something to the extent of "listen to this, it's the best thing I've ever heard."
Paul, and George, really liked this song. Having multiple tunes, themes, textures, etc., appealed to Paul. I believe this contributed to his later extension of that into his solo work - 'Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey', 'Band On The Run', 'Venus And Mars'.
Yeah, you didn't list eletric piano part. There is also organ part (or melletron) in first section.
Where, precisely? I've listened closely and cannot hear an organ, electric piano or Mellotron anywhere in this song. There was an organ part recorded along with a piano part, but they were left out of the final mixes.
At the VERY beginning, very quietly, you can sort of here it.
There is an organ or mellotron part that you can hear at the beginning of the mono mix. It is either very low or not included in the stereo mix. On the mono mix, it is most audible just after the first line "She's not a girl who misses much."
At the very END, I can hear something that sounds like a keyboard : when John sings his last "warm gun mama", there is a sort of trill (the notes c and d played alternatively very fast during the F chord, and then the notes b and c during the G chord). It's on the right channel (the same as the guitar solo).
According to the session logs there was even a tuba used but it is so buried in the mix that it is virtually unheard.
Is it true that Chris Thomas played on this?
Also, is there any specific reason that George Martin did not produce the song?
I'm not aware of Chris Thomas playing on it. He produced the song - and several other White Album ones - because George Martin was on holiday.
thanks for the info!!
any idea why they chose him to produce? he was only hired as an errand boy, if what i read is true...
sry for all these questions, its just i cant seem to find much info on the subject
I don't think he was hired as an errand boy. He was GM's assistant, so was probably mentored by him with a view to becoming a producer himself. Either way he was a talented musician and went on to produce in his own right (ie not as GM's stand-in).
Chris Thomas received a £36 bonus registered as four keyboard session fees, according to Billboard (March 6, 1993), p. A-22. That would be harpischord on Piggies, Mellotron on The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill, Piano on Long, Long, Long and Harpsichord on Not Guilty. So, I conclude, he did not play on HIaWG.
I guess John starts playing guitar with his fingers (arpeggios), and then takes his plectrum in the gap between "I need a fix cos' I'm going down..." and "Mother superior...".
Anyway, that's how I have to do if I want to play his part "as it is".
I can't think of any others songs where he does this. Am I wrong?
This has got to be one of my favorite Lennon tracks--ever. I think his vocals were great, and the music is interesting. As for the lyrics, I never really looked into it all that much, mainly becuase they probably would have some drug influence.
You don't get into the lyrics if they may have drug implications? Boy oh boy you must have trouble listening to their '66-'67 output
No. I know what most of their songs are about at those times--and that drugs influenced them. And I obviously know that they took drugs. It's just, I try not to emphasize on that, and just enjoy the music as a whole. I think I worded this weirdly, but I hope you get what I mean.
There is an organ in the beginning. It blends very smoothly with Lennon's appegio guitar. The Piano was in the chorus in the end of the song but it was wiped in the mix.In some of the bootlegs of the song, you can hear it clearly.