Gun Song – Happiness is a warm gun – The Beatles (?!)

I came across a Beatles song I’d never even HEARD of before. A gun song from The BEATLES?! Happiness is a Warm Gun, from the White Album. Hmmm… Looking at the lyrics, it’s clear they were pretty clueless about what they were singing about. Of course, being as it was released in 1968, perhaps not so surprising. There were a LOT of things done then in popular culture that made people say a all kinds of seriously weird and disjointed stuff. Can’t say they are not musically talented, and on a technical basis interesting. Also can’t say it’s a very good song as a song, IMHO, but here it is to you to make your own opinion of.

Hopefully, no-one needs much of an intro to the Beatles, but for the younger crowd, that was who Paul McCartney played with before Wings. For the whipper-snappers who don’t get that joke, never mind, just look them up.

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10 thoughts on “Gun Song – Happiness is a warm gun – The Beatles (?!)

  1. This English fellow that I went to university with Was a bit of a Beatles fanatic. He told me that this Song is a play on words with the word happiness. “A penis is a warm gun” Is what he told me This Word Meant In The rhyming slang the English use so much.
    My favorite gun song Is “Cleaning My Gun” By Mark Knopfler
    Keep up the good work.
    John V.

  2. The Beatles lyrics are bigoted and sarcastic against gun owners. That’s how I’ve always taken it since it was first released, and I was on the “other side” for the most part then.

  3. The Beatles did another one; Rocky Raccoon. It’s a Britt’s idea of life in the American West, I guess based purely on television and dime novels– Some guy picks a fight with you over a woman, and naturally you get into a shootout with him. Standard Clichés.

  4. This is one of my favorite songs from the lads, George’s guitar doesn’t gently weep at all and is so uncharacteristically raunchy it’s great fun. We always took it for granted that “a warm gun” was a euphemism for a syringe.

    • Interesting. I suppose that’s one of those things people could argue about forever with a song like this, where there are (possibly) all sorts of metaphors and tortured references and such, so there are all sorts of ways to interpret the song. I guess my personal preference is for less ambiguous words. I like any number of different styles musically, from the very simple the the technically complex and difficult, but when it comes to lyrics I prefer simple and understandable. Sort of like I can appreciate the technical and physical difficulty of ballet, but I don’t enjoy watching it. Similarly, I think this song is technically interesting, but don’t care to listen to it over and over.
      Next week’s gun song is at the other end of the spectrum. Musically pretty simple, but with very clear meaning.

  5. whippersnappers!

    And you’ve never heard the White Album? Where were you for meet the Beatles?

    My older brothers are welcome to chime in…..

    • After thinking about it, and listening to it another time or two, it’s likely that I HAVE heard it before, but only remembered the refrain of “mother superior’s got a gun.” I didn’t LIKE the song, in part because it didn’t make any sense, so I didn’t remember it. Never been a big Beatles fan. Never owned the white album, or even listened to it through if my older siblings had it. I was born mid-sixties, but my parents did a pretty good job of shielding us from the worst influences of that decade.

  6. Have you heard of “Taxman”. That may be more to your liking. How old are you anyway?

    • Yes, I’ve heard “Taxman,” and while it’s a pretty simple tune, the words are accurate enough. As for age, like I said, born mid-sixties. Still a tad on the healthy side of the half century mark.

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