Talk:How Do You Sleep? (John Lennon song)

Answer songs

What on earth is that talk about "answer songs"? Is that in ANY way official? Paul McCartney has said, in the book "Many years from now on", for example that he didn't start, and didn't want to start arguing with John. I can't understand how the lyrics could be interpreted as insults to Lennon, whereas "How Do You Sleep" is obvious. There's a nig difference there.--Deadworm222 21:34, Jan 17, 2005 (UTC)

I've added a reference in the article to an interview where McCartney talks about the meaning behind some of the lyrics in "Too Many People." Tripscafe (talk) 21:36, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps John and George are spilling the *truth*? Paul Is Dead

Besides the appalling grammer the Stone Roses comment is completely false so I'm deleting it. Baba Alex 14:38, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

"Dear friend" from the album "Wild Life" was the end of the battle, not "let me roll it"!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.178.186.211 (talk) 13:36, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

Though there is a reference in John Blaney's Lennon book to "Dear Friend," I think that without a quotation from either Lennon or McCartney, it's just speculation as to what McCartney meant by either of the songs. Tripscafe (talk) 21:44, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

Similarities with other Lennon songs

Does anybody notice the way "How Do You Sleep?" and "Steel And Glass" sound incredibly similar?--Taylor (talk) 09:35, 18 November 2007 (UTC)

Yes, you're absolutely right. And as it was written during John's "lost weekend" which the lyrics refer to, we can presume that this time he firstly very clearly talks to and about only himself, and secondly he consciously, deliberately and ironically does so by referring to "How do you sleep". - And this time he clearly exposes himself to mockery and hence qualifies the earlier song in a new way. (Although this one is weaker than it's predecessor, Johns capability of self-accusal and -irony is very sympathetic and should soothe those thinking of the earlier song as being unjust.)--Ascola (talk) 21:21, 6 April 2009 (UTC)

So Sgt. Pepper took you by surprise

The article currently states "The song also begins with the puzzling statement 'So Sgt. Pepper took you by surprise,' a sentiment which applies more to Lennon than McCartney, the latter having been the principal driving force behind creating the album.". Actually, I believe that that line is addressed to the audience, not Paul. That is to say, Sgt. Pepper took the world by surprise. The next line is "You better see right through that mother's eyes". Again, the "You" in the line is the audience. A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 16:29, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

This is a perfectly reasonable hypothesis, and would fit the known facts very well. However, if it is right, we would have to conclude that Lennon was a very sloppy lyricist : the word "you" or "your" occurs in each of the 4 lines of the first verse, with no lyrical indication that it switches from the audience to Paul.

"So Sergeant Pepper took you by surprise,

You better see right through that mother's eyes,

Those freaks were right when they said you were dead,

The one mistake you made was in your head"

It doesn't seem a natural-sounding change of focus from one "you" to another, rather it appears we should take it as the same. And even if Lennon intended it to be both "the audience" and "Paul", wouldn't one of the musicians present, e.g. George Harrison, have pointed out the ambiguity? 88.105.202.183 (talk) 17:29, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Lennon no way would not have noticed the ambiguity of the you by himself had he really intended to talk to the audience rather than to Paul (or to himself). He might instead have meant to say that Paul was somewhat overstrained by the audience's reaction to Sgt. Pepper which changed public cognition of The Beatles forever by suddenly perceiving ambitious artistry which seemed not to have been there before (when in fact it had already been there in the two records before). Meaning that Paul is attacked to be just able to make nice little meaningless songs but was accidentally thrown into a different league by Sgt. Pepper.

(The tragic thing about it anyway is that John wasn't right to attack Paul like that because Pauls first two solo-albums were - almost - just as good as his own, and though it is true that most of what was still to come by Paul in the 70ies wasn't going to be of the same standard anymore - apart from "Band on the Run" of course - just like John predicts: "But pretty soon they'll see what you can do" (the audience here is referred to as they, and again I don't believe this changes during the song because it would cause a complete confusion), again the same was true for Lennons own work which never reached the height of his first albums again and has since remained more of an ever promising potentiality rather than a full reality, due to his death. While Paul went on recording one major album every decade and a lot of more or less nice but often dispensable other albums. Lennon didn't have those other decades anymore.)--Ascola (talk) 20:14, 6 April 2009 (UTC)

Yeah ... it's not really "puzzling" at all. The line addresses the listener. To paraphrase: "So Paul ( "Sgt.Pepper" ) surprised you? You better see past his b.s.!". It's not that far fetched , I mean , Lennon still referred to Ringo as "Billy Shears" , on the song "I'm The Greatest". ( Which he wrote for the "Ringo" album. ) Harvey J Satan (talk) 18:23, 20 February 2015 (UTC)

How do you figure?

I've removed this paragraph:

This track also features an unexplained curiosity : although it starts in stereo with the strings tuning up, background "chit chat", throat-clearing and "shush", as soon as the song proper begins (with the lyric "So Sgt. Pepper took you by surprise"), it switches to mono for the remainder of the song. Bearing in mind that by 1971, everything was recorded in stereo, this is a mystery. There may be some quite trivial explanation, or it may have been a "coded" reference by Lennon to McCartney that he, Lennon, should have been regarded as the true avant-garde member of The Beatles, and that Paul was still mired in his "old-time music hall" ways, in thrall to an era perfectly captured by a mono recording.

pending citation. Highly dubious. Radiopathy (talk) 12:46, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

I agree with your decision. Belasted (talk) 15:20, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

Bias

terrible article actually, we need sources not original research, so I'm deleting some of it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.231.28.185 (talk) 02:19, 24 May 2009 (UTC)

Fill me in on sources for McCartney song attacks

Having read only a few dozen Beatles' books, I admit to not knowing the whole picture. But in what way are upbeat McCartney songs such as Dear Friend and Let Me Roll It conceived as being an attack on Lennon? Or an attack on anything? (I see the reference to John Blaney's book, above, but I don't have that book.) Piano non troppo (talk) 07:57, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

Let Me Roll It an attack? Far from it. Radiopathy •talk• 16:06, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

Citation

Here's a video of the exact moment Lennon says "How do you sleep, ya cunt." I'm not sure how to cite it in the article, or if it's citable.. but it is a fact that he said that and I don't believe a citation is needed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJgJATqKieI&t=1m35s

The link cited above is no longer accessible.

From 1975, Lennon says that the song is ultimately about him (John) and that he (John) regrets the association of it to Paul. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps_O7munVTI — Preceding unsigned comment added by ErikWilbury (talk • contribs) 22:31, 4 September 2019 (UTC)

John Lennon on piano or guitar (or both)

Did John Lennon play piano or guitar in the song or did he overdub both? In https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9067LQORNQ Lennon is playing a semi-acoustic guitar. It says in the personnel section that Lennon played piano (alongside John Tout) with Nicky Hopkins on electric piano. What's the accurate information about what instrument(s) Lennon played in the song?--Kevjgav (talk) 08:01, 24 September 2015 (UTC)

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-- Marchjuly (talk) 04:14, 6 February 2020 (UTC)