During the making of their iconic White Album, The Beatles weren’t getting along. The previous year, 1967, hadn’t been kind to them. They had lost their manager and dear friend, Brian Epstein, just as they were reaching their highest point with the release of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and the project that followed, Magical Mystery Tour, hadn’t been well-received. Frustrated, they went on a trip to India with their partners, but while they came back with plenty of great songs, it didn’t calm the tensions.

Then, John Lennon brought in a song that changed the game. Happiness Is a Warm Gun forced the members to work together and rekindle the magic that made them great in the first place. The complexity of the song made it difficult to get through, but the Fab Four came out of it with their enthusiasm renewed. It was one of Paul McCartney’s favorite songs, and every fan has a soft spot for it.

The Beatles Were Going Through a Tough Time Making the White Album

When they got back from India, the Beatles set to work on their eponymous double album, commonly known as the White Album, but despite their productivity, their relationship only got progressively worse as the sessions went on. On his return from India, John Lennon officially left his first wife, Cynthia, and got into a relationship with Yoko Ono. As fans know, the couple became inseparable, with Lennon bringing her over to the recording sessions with him, which no other member of the band did with their partners. Ono’s presence in the studio was uncomfortable for all the other Beatles, and they frequently got into arguments about it.

Additionally, the disconnect between the members was really affecting Ringo Starr’s morale and self-esteem, and he ended up quitting the band. When asked about it, Starr admitted that he felt like “an outsider” while Lennon, George Harrison, and Paul McCartney were performing better and playing in sync. Little did he know, the others were wrestling with the same feelings of inadequacy.

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The drummer went to see Lennon to tell him he was quitting the band, saying, “I’m leaving the group because I’m not playing well, and I feel unloved and out of it, and you three are really close.” Surprisingly, Lennon replied, “I thought it was you three!” When he went to see McCartney, he received the same response. Despite the reassurance, Starr ended up leaving the band for a couple of weeks and going away with his family to recharge, but eventually rejoined at his bandmates’ insistence.

After his return, the band did their best to improve their working and personal relationships. It worked, to some extent. They were more communicative and productive, but even then, for most of the songs on the White Album, they didn’t record together. Except, of course, for this great song.

The Song That Finally Brought Them Together

The recording of the White Album wasn’t smooth-sailing, but there was one song that had everyone on the same page. Many of the songs on the album don’t feature all four Beatles (in fact, Back in the USSR was recorded during Ringo Starr’s brief departure from the band), and even those that did weren’t always recorded with the four of them in the same room. Happiness Is a Warm Gun, however, is a different story.

Happiness Is a Warm Gun was written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon-McCartney, and the process of putting it together was not easy. Lennon combined three completely different pieces of music he had written, as listeners can hear in the song, and with the help of his bandmates, he managed to turn them into one brilliant song.

Lennon and George Harrison worked closely during the sessions, with Lennon reportedly asking Harrison for assistance. Harrison, who had spent years learning complex time signatures, helped him weld the three different pieces together in a way that made sense, just as he’d done in 1966 with the recording of She Said, She Said. The song’s challenging rhythmic issues forced the band to work together as a unit, and by the time they finished, after more than 70 takes, the feeling of satisfaction was plain to see.

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The song makes the listener aware of the feeling of relief. It starts with a section that Lennon dubbed “the Dirty Old Man.” It’s a soft, ominous few lines that describe unsettling behavior by the character in question. The time signature changes in the next section, “the Junkie,” where the narrator complains about needing “a fix”, and calls out to “mother superior.” Finally, the satisfying conclusion changes time signatures once again. “The Gunman (Satire of ’50s R&R)” features Lennon proclaiming that “happiness is a warm gun”, with McCartney and Harrison singing high-pitched backing vocals. McCartney later claimed that the song was one of his favorites, and Lennon was very happy with the results as well.