What does the lyric Happiness is a Warm Gun mean?

From the Beatles song. I’m thinkning that a gun that’s just been fired is warm. If a gun is warm someone nearby did something wrong - So, if someone is happy, it’s usually because they’ve done something wrong.

What do you think?

Supposedly, John saw an article in a gun enthusiasts magazine with the same title and thought it would make an interesting song title.

A warm gun doesn’t necessarily mean someone has ‘done something wrong’; not that I can fathom, although he was shot to death by a psychopath.

I suspect Mr. Lennon was using this phrase as sexual inneundo. Or just his wacky sense of humor.

John saw it as a gun mag article title. Saw the sexual implications. Ran with it. Nothing bad.

Check out the book ‘Hard Days Write’. It explans the story behind all the Beatle songs.
A must-read for fans.

The beginning part about “She’s not a girl who misses much…”, that is about Yoko.

I don’t know what the "Mother Superior jumped the gun… part is about. Probably Drugs.

The end part "Happiness is a warm gun… is about a gun article John saw. It is also a take off of “Happiness is a warm blanket” from the Peanuts comics.

Peanuts ran with this “Happiness” thing for awhile. I think Schultz put out a book that consisted of cartoons with nothing but variations on the phrase.

So what would the phrase mean in the context of the gun article. Happiness is having shot something?

Well, a gun barrel does get hot when it’s fired.

pesch wrote:

In particular, the one “Happiness” phrase that caught on more than any other was:

Happiness is a warm puppy.

I’m guessing the gun magazine ad was parodying this specific “Happiness Is…” quote.

I’m not sure if this is just so obvious to everyone else that they didn’t feel the need to mention it, but the phrase “Happiness is a Warm Puppy” was popularized by Charles Schultz in the late fifties or early sixties. I have always assumed that the title was a play on this.

Wasn’t John’s pet name for Yoko “Mother”?

Mother superior is sexual innuendo for the female on top position, I would imagine.

… and “jump the gun” is, well, you know :slight_smile:

From: The Ultimate Beatles Encyclopedia, and I paraphrase:

George Martin found an American gun magazine which he showed to John. On the cover was the caption Happiness Is A Warm Gun In your Hand. John thought this was outrageous on the basis that if you have a warm gun you have just shot something.

The song was assembled from 3 other numbers John had part written. It was banned by the BBC because of suspected sexual symbolism. Some people in the media speculated that Happiness in this context stood for heroin, an assertion which John denied.

Barry Miles in Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now contends that John found the magazine and that there was a picture of a smoking gun on the cover. The Happiness Is A Warm Gun In Your Hand caption appeared above the magazine’s leading article.

John thought it was a fantastic, insane thing to say. Paul likened the song to Bungalow Bill as a ‘piss-take’ pf people who really agreed with the statement. Both Paul and George were reported as choosing Happiness Is A Warm Gun as their favourite track on the White Album. John also liked it a lot and considered it one of his best.

“When I hold you in my arms and feel my finger on your trigger…”
Man, I love that line.

And yeah, John did refer to Yoko as “Mother”.

It’s a fine , bold, lyrical stance. The piss poor part is that some deranged fool decided to accentuate his problems with the upward life of another. If understanding can happen in retrospect, I hope that a warm gun/trigger finger realized/ will teach us how to avoid calamity.

Either directly or indirectly, yes. The “happiness is a warm puppy” schlock from Schultz generated a lot of calendars, posters, etc. I think it was also the title of one of his best-selling “Peanuts” collections. If he pulled it from a gun magazine, THEY were making a play on the “warm puppy” thing.

FWIW, I always heard it as a drug reference - it also contains the lyric:

That and the “hold you in my arms and feel my finger on your trigger” line.

Whatever way you interpret it…it has some pretty cool, weird-as-hell lyrics:
“The man in the crowd with the multicolored mirrors on his hobnail boots.”
“A soap impression of his wife which he ate and donated to the National Trust.”
Not to mention the good music that goes along with it. The crazy feel change when John goes into his “feel my finger on your trigger…” part blows my mind. And I love the slide that seems to go too long, but ends at just the right time in between parts earlier in the song.

Its one of my favorite White Album tunes as well.

To me, “hold you in my arms and feel my finger on your trigger” is pretty clearly a sexual reference. How could it be a drug reference? Is “you” supposed to be a syringe? I guess it could, but then “hold you in my arms” doesn’t really work in reference to a syringe - how would you hold such a tiny object in your arms?

Because heard it as “arm” - singular, probably set up by the rest of the lyrics. The song conjured up images of somebody shooting up, as far as I was concerned. And I know other people thought of it this way, too.

Probably smirking to ourselves as kids because the adults let that one slide, when they objected to Steppenwolf’s “The Pusher”.

Yes, it was.