'' Record Mirror '' commented that the song starts as " a serene ballad , but is soon taken over in the true vein of this foremost stylist " , with the arrival of the " deep guitar " solo and lyrics referencing Mother Superior and the sensation of " my hands on your trigger " . The reviewer said that " The firearm becomes feminine and the lyrics ambiguous in this strange subject matter for a song . " Barry Miles wrote in '' International Times '' : " ' Happiness is a Warm Gun ' is one of the greatest numbers on the album . Again a very complex construction in which the music has three distinct phases ending with a touch of the '50s ... It has a fine developing deep bass line and uses a snatch from ' Angel Baby ' by Rosie & The Originals at the end . " Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of its release , Jacob Stolworthy of '' The Independent '' listed the song at number 2 in his ranking of the White Album 's 30 tracks , below Harrison 's " While My Guitar Gently Weeps " . Stolworthy described it as " A loaded weapon of a track " and " one of Lennon 's best songs " . In 2006 , '' Mojo '' placed it at number 8 in the magazine 's list of " The 101 Greatest Beatles Songs " . In her commentary with the selection , American singer-songwriter Tori Amos highlighted " Happiness Is a Warm Gun " as a rare example of social commentary that successfully makes its statement " without preaching " . Amos added : " The Beatles had the ability to make you think about the world , not just your own little world . They could put the microcosm and macrocosm in the same song . They sang of drugs and guns without telling me what to feel about it . That 's genius . " Beatles biographer Bill Harry comments on the irony of Lennon having written a song titled " Happiness Is a Warm Gun " and then , following his fatal shooting in New York City in December 1980 , becoming the " most high profile " of the many musicians who have died as a result of the wide availability of guns in the United States
fatal shooting in New York City
Murder of John Lennon
Happiness Is a Warm Gun