Number 14 - How Do You Sleep?

Beatle involvement:  

John and George

Listenability: 3.5 out of 5

An anti-Paul song written by John that features George on slide guitar. John plays the slightly distorted guitar whose low descending notes you can hear during the verses and whose powerful chords can be heard in the chorus. George plays slide guitar which can be heard only quietly in the mix apart from the guitar solo. George’s presence on the track adds extra venom to the song.

Although the song is a deliberate direct attack on Paul many of the song's criticisms of Paul don’t stand up to scrutiny. Paul gets attacked for having ‘Mama’s eyes’, and being a weak song writer who would eventually be caught out by the public. In fact it was John who was far more emotionally attached to his ‘mama’ than Paul was. And commercially at least, Paul was having more success as a song writer than John was at this stage. It all makes sense when John realizes that he is actually projecting his own insecurities onto Paul and that the song is really about John himself.

What they said about it:

John:

That’s the nasty one.  

Taken from 'Give Me Some Truth' documentary.

I know you'll all be wondering about this one! it's been around since late '69 in a similar form to this - but not quite (ie more abstract). I'd always envisioned that heavy kind of beat for it and wanted to record it whatever the lyrics turned out to be. When I heard Paul's messages in Ram - (yes there are dear reader!) too many people going what? Missed our lucky what? 'documentary my dear Datsun' 'can't be wrong' huh! I mean Yoko, me and other friends can't all be hearing things. So to have some fun I must thank Mark Allen Klein publicly for the 'line' 'just another day', a real poet! Some people don't see the funny side of it at all. Too bad. What am I supposed to do, make you laugh? It's what you might call an 'angry letter' only sung, get it? George Harrison's best guitar solo to date on this cut - as good as anything I've heard from anyone - anywhere. Nice piano from Nicky - I'm singing sharp again - but the rhythm guitar makes up for it! A good 'live' session from all the band (strings added as usual in RP.)  

Taken from John's Handwritten notes. Letter 150. The John Lennon Letters. Edited by Hunter  Davies.

Question:  Is there a song on your album 'Imagine' that refers to Paul... lines about a pretty face and the sound of Muzak? 

Er, there's a song which COULD be a statement about Paul. It could be interpreted that  way. But then, it could be about an old chick I'd known.  

John Lennon Interview: Hit Parader magazine, February 1972

Question: In retrospect now do you regret ‘How Do You Sleep?'  

No, somebody said the other day ‘It’s about me’. You know I regret .…there’s two things I regret. One is that there was so much talk about Paul on it they missed the song, it was a good track. And I should’ve kept me mouth shut, not on the song, it could’ve been about anybody, you know. And when you look at them back, Dylan said it about his stuff, you know, most of it’s about him. I wrote a sort of son of ‘How Do You Sleep’ on ‘Walls and Bridges’. I can’t remember the name…’Steal and Glass’. Which I thought was about a few people, then I realized, it’s me again.So it's not about Paul, it's about me, you know. I'm really attacking myself. But I regret the association...but what do I have to regret, you know? He lived through it. The only thing that matters is how he and I feel about these things and not what the writer or commentator thinks about it. Him and me are okay. 

Old Grey Whistle Test. March 1975 

I used my resentment against Paul that I have as a kind of sibling rivalry resentment from youth to create a song... not a terrible vicious horrible vendetta... I used my resentment and withdrawing from Paul and the Beatles, and the relationship with Paul, to write 'How Do You Sleep.' I don't really go 'round with those thoughts in my head all the time.  

Taken from Playboy interview 1980.

Question: Just a quick aside, but while we're on the subject of lyrics and your resentment of Paul, what made you write 'How Do You Sleep?,' which contains lyrics such as 'Those freaks was right when they said you was dead' and 'The only thing you done was Yesterday/And since you've gone, you're just Another Day'?
You know, I wasn't really feeling that vicious at the time. But I was using my resentment toward Paul to create a song, let's put it that way. He saw that it pointedly refers to him, and people kept hounding him about it. But, you know, there were a few digs on his album before mine. He's so obscure other people didn't notice them, but I heard them. I thought, Well, I'm not obscure, I just get right down to the nitty-gritty. So he'd done it his way and I did it mine. But as to the line you quoted, yeah, I think Paul died creatively, in a way. 

Taken from Playboy interview 1980.

 Paul:

I think it's silly. So what if I live with straights? I like straights. I have straight babies. It doesn't affect him. He says the only thing I did was 'Yesterday.' He knows that's wrong. (Paul motions to the studio below) I used to sit down there and play, and John would watch me from up here, and he'd really dig some of the stuff I played to him. He can't say all I did was 'Yesterday' because he knows and I know it's not true. 

Melody Maker 1971

The answer to John was well - I was sleeping very well at the time. Before John died I got back a good relationship with him. That was very special. The arguments we had didn't matter. We were able to just take the piss about all those songs; they weren't that harsh. In fact, I have been thanked by Yoko and everyone else for saving the Beatles from Allen Klein. Everything comes round in the end. 

 The Times, London 2008

Klaus Voorman:

Question: ‘How Do You Sleep’ – quite a scathing attack on McCartney, isn’t it?Well that’s a sort of gift John has and he doesn’t mind being rude. He didn’t mind being rude to me or anybody else and he just wanted to write a rude song. Like I say, he didn’t mean it forever and I’m sure he didn’t think about it all. But at the time that’s the statement, the way he felt and it’s perfect. I love it. You have all those hassles with Allen Klein and Eastman and there were dirty things going on. Nobody can really look behind the curtains and it’s impossible for the outsider to really know.Taken from: The Prism Archive prismfilms.co.uk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=SHXnk2EpRZk&NR=1 

Alan White:

How much comfortable did you feel recording “How Do you Sleep?” (John Lennon’s song about Paul McCartney)? 

(Laughs) Well, before we did the song, John gave us a paper with the lyrics. He said: “Read the lyrics of the song and tell me whether you want to play in it or not. That’s the subject of the song”. I said “No, I don’t have any problem. I want to play in this song”. I thought it sounded great. This shows the musicianship John Lennon had at the time. He was the top of the top.

HIT CHANNEL EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: September 2012

Other bits and Pieces:

Did Yoko write part of the song?

In John Blaney's book '1970-1972 People for Power' he quotes Denis Felix of Oz magazine as saying, "Yoko wrote many of the lyrics. I watched her racing into the studio to show John, and they’d burst out laughing. The mood there wasn’t totally vindictive – they were taking the piss out of the head master…"

Was Ringo present at the time?

Again in '1970-1972 People for Power', John Blaney writes: Ringo Starr, who was visiting the studio at the time, was upset by the song and reportedly told Lennon, ‘That’s enough, John.’