What Yoko Ono Thought About Being Called ‘Mother Superior’ in The Beatles’ ‘Happiness Is a Warm Gun’
TL;DR:
- John Lennon said Yoko Ono was the Mother Superior in The Beatles’ “Happiness Is a Warm Gun.”
- Yoko contrasted “Happiness Is a Warm Gun” with other pop songs.
- The song appeared in a scene from the Fab Four jukebox musical Across the Universe.
The figure of Mother Superior in The Beatles‘ “Happiness Is a Warm Gun” is Yoko Ono. During an interview, Yoko discussed what she thought about the song in relation to other pop songs. Notably, Salma Hayek played the character of Mother Superior from the song in a movie musical.
John Lennon explained how Yoko Ono inspired some of The Beatles’ lyrics
The book Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon includes an interview from 1972. In it, he explained the character of Mother Superior in “Happiness Is a Warm Gun.” “Mother Superior was you,” he told Yoko. “She was rabbiting on in the car one day, as is her wont, and I was saying, ‘Oh, Mother Superior jumped the gun again.’
“She’s always one jump ahead,” he continued. “So that was about Yoko, really, that little segment. And they’re all separate songs. I was telling you that.”
Yoko Ono compared The Beatles’ ‘Happiness Is a Warm Gun’ to the music of Ludwig van Beethoven
Yoko discussed her feelings about the track. “I really liked it because I didn’t realize that they can do things like that,” she said. “They do that in classic songs, you know. Instead of thinking of A-B-A, music form, sometimes they do collage things, you know. Not in Beethoven period, but later, much later, they started the collage things.”
Yoko felt the track stood out from other songs in the same genre. “And I didn’t see that in pop, and then he started this Mother Superior thing with ‘Happiness Is a Warm Gun,'” she continued. “It’s a whole collage. That was very beautiful.”
How ‘Happiness Is a Warm Gun’ impacted popular culture
“Happiness Is a Warm Gun” was not a single, but it impacted pop culture nonetheless. Marilyn Manson released a song called “Mother Inferior Got Her Gunn” that served as a B-side for “Get Your Gunn” from the band’s controversial debut album, Portrait of an American Family.
“Happiness Is a Warm Gun” also appeared in the Fab Four jukebox musical Across the Universe. One of the characters in the film sings the track while he hallucinates. In his hallucination, Salma Hayek plays the role of Mother Superior. According to Box Office Mojo, the movie earned over $24 million in the United States and over $5 million at the international box office.
“Happiness Is a Warm Gun” was not a hit but it impressed Yoko.
