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71Tele
A little bit obsessed with this song right now...
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His Majesty
That ain't no Marshall amp.
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Elmo Lewis
I always thought it was a reference to heroin and the "gun" being a needle.
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His Majesty
Lennon got the title from an Amercian National Rifle Association slogan 'Happiness is a Warm Gun in your Hand' which George Martin saw in a magazine and showed to John.
Lennon: "I read it, thought it was a fantastic, insane thing to say. A warm gun means you've just shot something."
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tattersQuote
His Majesty
Lennon got the title from an Amercian National Rifle Association slogan 'Happiness is a Warm Gun in your Hand' which George Martin saw in a magazine and showed to John.
Lennon: "I read it, thought it was a fantastic, insane thing to say. A warm gun means you've just shot something."
Okay, then the NRA got it from The Peanuts!
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tattersQuote
His Majesty
Lennon got the title from an Amercian National Rifle Association slogan 'Happiness is a Warm Gun in your Hand' which George Martin saw in a magazine and showed to John.
Lennon: "I read it, thought it was a fantastic, insane thing to say. A warm gun means you've just shot something."
Okay, then the NRA got it from The Peanuts!
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theimposterQuote
Elmo Lewis
I always thought it was a reference to heroin and the "gun" being a needle.
I think Lennon refuted this notion in interviews. At work so I don't have any of my Beatles books with me, but I know he's at least discussed it.
Yes - hodge podge is a good way to describe it. It's a great song - one of my ALL TIME FAVORITES...Love all the stuff going on it. And I agree the "happiness" started w/ Peanuts.Quote
His Majesty
That I need a fix part obviously relates to heroin usage and in context the title/chorus implies it does, but it's far more ambiguous.
The first verses were free associated, random lines by Derek Taylor and John.
It's a hodge podge of varying influences, references and musical ideas.
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memphiscatsYes - hodge podge is a good way to describe it. It's a great song - one of my ALL TIME FAVORITES...Love all the stuff going on it. And I agree the "happiness" started w/ Peanuts.Quote
His Majesty
That I need a fix part obviously relates to heroin usage and in context the title/chorus implies it does, but it's far more ambiguous.
The first verses were free associated, random lines by Derek Taylor and John.
It's a hodge podge of varying influences, references and musical ideas.
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Turning To Gold
I always thought it was John, but now I kinda tend to think it could be either one... but I'm sticking with John. Here's why:
Lennon plays that descending arpeggio bit in the very beginning ("she's not a girl who misses much" ) and the guitar tone on that part is kinda murky. Even though it's a Leslie, it sounds to me like the tone knob is rolled off on the guitar. That's John. I think George is playing the trebly, staccatto guitar "burst" parts that come in on the "she's well acquainted with the touch of the velvet hand" blah blah blah bits. The murky fingerpicking bits keep going all through that first section, they're centered in the mix and the stacatto bits are on the right.
Then when it goes into that "I need a fix" part, there's an edit, and there's suddenly no more arpeggio guitar...it's gone. But the lick that comes in, it really sounds to me like Lennon's hollowbody Epiphone casino, with fuzz. That guitar tone is very murky, not a whole lot of treble -- to me it's the same way that the tone is murky in the very beginning of the song, which was Lennon, just with no Leslie and more fuzz this time. It's not that high piercing wailing sound that George (or Paul) would normally use for a lead. And it's still in the center of the mix, where John just was.
My main reason for thinking all this, is that I can point to lots of examples on the White Album where George has that trebly, piercing guitar tone and plays those sharp, staccato type chords -- Savoy Truffle, for example, which was recorded on October 5, about one week later. And "Hey Bulldog" from earlier in '68 has George playing those same type of ascending riffs as the "Mother Superior jumped the gun" riff, with a similar guitar tone.
Then the guitar stops playing that solo, when Lennon starts singing "I need a fix cause I'm goin' down" -- to me that's another clue, since at this point in his studio career, Lennon very seldom sang and played guitar at the same time, you can kind of see that happening all over their recordings. Unlike the early days, by 1968-69 in the studio he's usually either JUST singing or JUST playing guitar, seldom doing both at the same time, until they got back into it with Get Back or Let It Be. So that makes me think it might be Lennon playing that lead, and George is just kinda vamping along, with the other guitar, waiting for the "Mother Superior" bit to start.
THEN when it goes into the "Mother Superior jumped the gun" part, the guitar in the right speaker, it jumps right into the riffing thing, which to me sounds very George-like, but it kinda jumps in a half second late, like "Ah, got it! Next part!" instead of leading the way into it.
I also feel like the guitar that is playing the main lick or solo we are talking about is John, because it just has that AUTHORITY to it, that guitar KNOWS how this crazy complicated song goes, while the second guitar in the right channel, is just kinda filling in or vamping through that part, trying to keep up. And the lead has that Lennon THING -- it's kinda lewd and risque sounding, it has a little musical joke in it with that ridiculous bending note....George wasn't ever quite so cerebral and earthy, in what he played.
This is all just guessing. It could very well be George, he played some great stuff on the White Album, no argument there.
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Elmo Lewis
I always thought it was a reference to heroin and the "gun" being a needle.