Happiness Is a Warm Gun

Happiness Is a Warm Gun appears on The Beatles (aka The White Album). Written mainly by Lennon and performed by him as lead vocal, it is a parody of a famous Peanuts book (by Charles Schultz) that was published in 1962: Happiness is a Warm Puppy. George Martin showed John Lennon a gun magazine headline that said, "Happiness is a Warm Gun." John thought the statement so insane that he built a song around it. Paul is quoted as liking this song more than any other on The White Album, and it is considered a true collaboration by all members of the group, in spite of unhappy divisions amongst the members at the time. Happiness Is a Warm Gun has three distinct sections and an outro: the first section ("She's not a girl who misses much") includes acid trip imagery over a bass line with distorted guitar and drums. Second is the "I Need a Fix" guitar riff by John Lennon, elaborated upon, followed by a round of the chorus "Mother Superior jumped the gun." The song ends with a doo-wop style send up (back up vocals singing "bang, bang, shoot, shoot"). Time signatures vary widely, mainly centered in 4/4 with additional beats in some measures, and triplets sounding in 9/8 and 12/8 before returning to 4/4 for the finale. At one point the drums are in a triple rhythm (like 12/8) while the rest of the band is in 4/4.