Comments on: Happiness Is A Warm Gun

By: GuitarJ

GuitarJ — Thu, 28 Mar 2019 15:34:24 +0000

Yeah but the McCartney tracks weren’t worth the effort – this one was, and the whole band generally felt that way about Lennon’s songs. It was to create true “Beatle-music” (to use John’s phrase) when they worked for days on a Lennon song like Strawberry Fields or Happiness Is a Warm Gun, whereas McCartney’s commandeering of studio time for, say, Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da or Maxwell’s Silver Hammer was to create McCartney-music. That’s the big difference, and it’s why Harrison and Starr were excited to play on Lennon’s work, even occasionally, into the early ’70s.

By: MikeP

MikeP — Sun, 24 Mar 2019 00:55:41 +0000

Funny how Lennon complained about spending a lot of time on certain McCartney songs, yet he was willing to spend 15 hours and 95 takes on this meaningless tripe.

By: Olde1649

Olde1649 — Tue, 13 Nov 2018 09:51:32 +0000

Among ‘Cred-Heads’ (people who appreciate the Incredible String Band) there’s a strong belief that this song was partly inspired by Robin Williamson’s ‘Mad Hatter’s Tea Party’ on the 1967 LP The 5000 Spirits. It’s a song with a similar structure: diverse fragments which go together to make up a whole.

By: David

David — Tue, 30 Oct 2018 14:25:16 +0000

Curiously this track was omitted on at least one version of the album. My friend brought the LP back from the far east around 1970. I didn’t realise the song existed until I bought the sheet music book shortly after. Imagine my puzzlement at seeing this unexpected and unusual song (the sheet music gives no clue as to how extraordinary it sounds).

By: swami7774

swami7774 — Tue, 14 Aug 2018 14:57:09 +0000

These were the best vocals Lennon ever sang.

By: Ryan D.

Ryan D. — Sun, 22 Jul 2018 09:10:21 +0000

During the “When I hold you, in my arms!” part, its hard to figure out. I always thought that Ringo kept playing 4/4 while John, George, and Paul are playing 3/4 over top of Ringo, which leads to a very interesting counter rhythm against each other. I’m pretty sure by the end of it, (Back into the chorus) they actually end up back on the 1 together, which is awesome. They definitely were aware of it too while recording it.

By: Twist and Speak

Twist and Speak — Sun, 20 May 2018 10:13:02 +0000

That’s correct. Paul played two basslines in this song, though, one on the Höfner bass and another on the Rick.

By: dgw28

dgw28 — Thu, 23 Nov 2017 14:51:43 +0000

My opinion – John just loved the way words sounded. He played with them for the lyrical effect rather than the actual meaning. It’s evident from his book, Spaniard in the Works. HIAWG is up there with Walrus and Strawberry Fields as one of John’s great songs.

By: Shakey Jake

Shakey Jake — Mon, 13 Nov 2017 23:26:24 +0000

This is who played what according to beatlesebooks.com
John Lennon – Lead and Background Vocals, Rhythm Guitar (1965 Epiphone ES- 230TD Casino), Organ (Hammond RT-3)
Paul McCartney – Bass (1964 Rickenbacker 4001 S), Piano (Hamburg Steinway Baby Grand), tuba, backing vocals
George Harrison – Lead Guitar (1961 Sonic Blue Fender Stratocaster, painted psychedelic), backing vocals
Ringo Starr – Drums (1964 Ludwig Super Classic Black Oyster Pearl), tambourine

By: John Pepper

John Pepper — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 20:53:51 +0000

My bet is on Paul, since he liked to fiddle in keyboard parts for John’s songs. The organ is probably Lennon.

By: John Pepper

John Pepper — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 20:52:50 +0000

That’s John’s rhythm guitar.

By: John Pepper

John Pepper — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 20:50:43 +0000

That’s John’s rhythm guitar. George is actually playing the distorted guitar in the right channel, along with the fuzz toned lead guitar in the middle (overdubbed).

By: JFrench

JFrench — Wed, 31 May 2017 03:42:32 +0000

Could be the way the word hap-PI-ness is enunciated

By: Hennyon

Hennyon — Wed, 03 May 2017 07:53:31 +0000

And, of course, “You’re Gonna Lose That Girl”. I bet there are more..

By: Hennyon

Hennyon — Wed, 03 May 2017 06:30:45 +0000

Off the hat I can think of two more songs featuring John’s falsetto voice; there’s a high note in “I Should Have Known Better” and a whole phrase in “Tell Me Why”.

By: Josiah

Josiah — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 09:53:54 +0000

Back in the beginning days of discovering The Beatles through dad buying The Beatles Rock Band on Xbox 360, he played me this and Hey Jude another time in the car. One of my first introductions outside of the game (the game obviously has a very short catalog across The Beatles as a band). Can’t remember my thoughts on it the first time, but I’m pretty sure I was taken away.

By: Young Fred

Young Fred — Sat, 12 Nov 2016 23:11:23 +0000

Great song from the start to the end. Playing it and making it sound right it is just lots of fun! Love the lyrics melody.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 27 Oct 2016 19:44:51 +0000

The organ is still there. If you listen in the very beginning, you can hear it behind johns guitar. In that outtake you can hear it a lot better but they definitely didn’t delete it, it’s just turned way down. I personally like it. It thickens up the guitar part a lot and also adds to the songs darkness

By: Eddie B.

Eddie B. — Mon, 27 Jun 2016 07:41:17 +0000

The songs Paul played drums on: http://www.feelnumb.com/2009/03/05/beatles-songs-that-paul-mccartney-played-the-drums/

By: John Stanley

John Stanley — Wed, 23 Mar 2016 18:16:06 +0000

actually, only the stereo mix has the slight mistake where the vocal was faded in too early, and you can hear the word “down”. the mono mix is correct and doesn’t have that.