Lyrics for How Do You Sleep? as interpreted by magicnudiesuit

How Do You Sleep? Lyrics
So Sgt. Pepper took you by surprise
You better see right through that mother's eyes
Those freaks was right when they said you was dead
The one mistake you made was in your head
Ah, how do you sleep?
Ah, how do you sleep at night?

You live with straights who tell you you was king
Jump when your momma tell you anything
The only thing you done was yesterday
And since you're gone you're just another day
Ah, how do you sleep?
Ah, how do you sleep at night?

Ah, how do you sleep?
Ah, how do you sleep at night?

A pretty face may last a year or two
But pretty soon they'll see what you can do
The sound you make is muzak to my ears
You must have learned something in all those years
Ah, how do you sleep?
Ah, how do you sleep at night?

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lucyinthesky
06-06-2002

Rated +2 
i hate this song. it saddens me, because it captures the bitterness that the ex-beatles felt when they split up, and the (mostly temporary) hatred that they felt towards each other, whereas they had originally been the "fourheaded monster". this song is a thinly veiled attack by john, on paul. the reference to yesterday refers to pauls most famous song. the pretty face thing is rather sadly jealousy, concealed by a taunt, because paul was said to be the best looking beatle (although clearly George was) the dead thing is a reference to the rather brilliant rumour that paul was killed and replaced by a lookalike. jump when your momma tell you is a reference to linda, as paul made sacrifices in his career to be with the woman he loved, as did John, although he fails to see this. as i said this is a horrible song. i am inclined to idolise lennon, but i do find it amazing that he could be so petty, and so unkind to a man that had previously been like his brother. i guess it was just a reaction to the grief he must have felt at the ending of such a powerful relationship. at least they made it up in the end.

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NewFoundGetUpKid0
06-06-2002

Rated 0 
nice interpretation

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mirkin
06-29-2002

Rated 0 
I heard after time Lennon said he realised the song was about himself and not Paul. Very Freudian.

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appypollyloggy
08-11-2002

Rated 0 
yes actually john said it was about him. in a few ways, john and paul are alike...they both lost their mothers, they both met and fell in love and gave up their career to be witht them...not sure if that has to do much witht the song but hey..

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meaningman
10-06-2002

Rated 0 
George Harrison plays on this song and in earlier versions George was known to tell John to take is easy on some harsher lyrics

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Jerrybear
04-28-2003

Rated 0 
The "another day" line is also a reference to a Paul song, in this case a solo song called Another Day.

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Buddy11
01-28-2005

Rated 0 
I believe Paul responded to this song in his own gentle way with Silly Love Songs....and I've taken the liberty to post my contention at the Silly Love Songs page...

It is sad that Lennon felt so much antipathy towards McCartney...perhaps he was more brave and honest as an artist....but I think Paul comes by his easy going nature just as naturally....and took a higher road....IMHO...

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doesntevenmatter
02-27-2005

Rated 0 
From what I know, Paul was extremely narcissistic and tried to run the Beatles. A lot of resentment, from all the Beatles could be expected.

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Backstage
04-10-2005

Rated +1 
It's such a sad memento of the end of the dream of the Beatles, and the worldwide community that formed around them. John should have left his song "God" as the last word in coming of age and ending the Beatles, but this song came later. Sad, too, that Ringo and George were there for the session. What a great clash of styles and personalities they were, though. Both very self-centered, both preternaturally talented, but John was intemperate and aggressive, Paul was overly politic and passive-aggressive, it seems. That two such young men could end up in the same four-person band is simply amazing and forms the core of the late 20th century's most important cultural phenomenon.

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erasmus11290
06-08-2005

Rated 0 
It's sad that John felt the way that he expresses in this song. But does anyone have any thoughts on what he means in the first line?

So Sgt. Pepper took you by surprise

I don't know.

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lennyfan6
06-17-2005

Rated 0 
I just learned of this song a couple of days ago, i mean, I have heard it, but i guess I really never read into it until a couple of days ago. Obviously this song is about Paul, but, the thing is, when I first heard this, I thought, wow, I cant believe he could write something so mean. But, after listening to it and thinking about it, you almost have to love the song. John has always wrote songs about what he felt passionatly about, be it war, peace, womens rights, etc. and that is what I, and I believe most, love about him. He didnt ignore his feelings on Paul cause they would be viewed as taboo (much like his views on peace) but wrote what he always did, how he felt. Its a powerful song that I think he regretted doing in hindsight, but he wrote what he felt at the time, and that made John great.

Does this remind n e one else about the rap battles that go on today when people fight through songs. Is this the first one? I wonder

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PaulDavidHewsoncol
07-01-2005

Rated -1 
... AND I THOUGHT ONLY RAPPERS HAVE "BEEF." By listening to this song, I was definately proven wrong. I never knew the ex- Beatles were so bitter to each other. However, I hate to say that in this song, JOHN LENNON IS A TOTAL HYPOCRITE.He should never have sang "the sound you make is musak to my ears/ you must of learned something in these years" because Paul McCartney taught John how to handle a guitar. Without Paul, John Lennon would still be playing his guitar upside down (or backwards, or whatever) like a banjo. Without Paul, he wouldn't have been the musician he was when he was alive. NOTE: I KNOW ABOUT RAP BATTLES BECAUSE I WAS STUPID TO CALL RAP "GOOD MUSIC" BEFORE, AND I ALSO KNOW A SAD (INSULTS ALL DELETED) PERSON WHO THINKS THE BEATLES SUCK, AND EMINEM RULES, EVEN THOUGH THAT CANDYMAN RIPPED OFF A ROLLING STONES SONG

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PaulDavidHewsoncol
07-06-2005

Rated 0 
If you have the vinyl "Imagine" or reverse speech technology, you should play this song backwards to hear John Lennon say, "Hey, Poor Lindy. So Mean, gets him nowhere."

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beatles4ever
11-08-2005

Rated 0 
This comment is for erasmus11290....Paul McCartney Came up with the idea for the Sergant Pepper and incidently that is one of their biggest records so Lennon might be implieing that all the sucess of "pauls" Idea went to his head and made him change

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beatles4ever
11-08-2005

Rated 0 
This comment is for erasmus11290....Paul McCartney Came up with the idea for the Sergant Pepper and incidently that is one of their biggest records so Lennon might be implieing that all the sucess of "pauls" Idea went to his head and made him change

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pro-voice
12-15-2005

Rated 0 
Despite each Beatle essentially contributing to the breakup, Paul was the first one who actually left for good, and made it public. Towards the end, each of them were taking extended leaves of absence (even Ringo), even during recording sessions. But no one had the guts to cut himself from the group for good, until Paul. I could see some resentment from John there, as he could just as easily have left, but didn't in the interest of the group.

It wouldn't be until years later that someone in his position could have really looked at the inevitability of the situation with a clear mind.

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underoath_55
01-08-2006

Rated 0 
nobody really described the whole song. The sgt pepper part was john saying that paul got big headed about the success. "Mothers eye" was referring to paul listening to everything linda said. Then he talks about the paul is dead rumors. "Straights who tell you, you was king" paul lived with some friends at one time who told paul he was the beatles and the other guys didnt matter. the "Yesterday" part was refering to yesterday being pauls #1 song, "Another day" is a song paul did after the beatles that never really went anywhere. "A pretty face may last a year or two" is john saying he doesnt think paul and linda will last long once she really gets to know paul. "the sound you make is muSAK to my ears" is john poking fun at pauls music. Then he ends it with saying paul must have learnt something about writing and playing music with all the years he was a Beatle. But dont get down on lennon, because play did the same thing in some songs just not as open. Paul wrote "Let me roll it" as a joke to lennons style of music. If you watch the "Imagine" dvd, it shows the recording of "how do you sleep" with george and john, and john adds a couple of names into the chorus but then they stop the take and do it over a little nicer.

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underoath_55
01-08-2006

Rated 0 
download Paul mccartneys "Too many people" thats an insult song he wrote back to john lennon. It talks about "preaching practies" referring to lennon and yoko. and in the intro paul sings "Piss off cake" directed to lennon

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majestikmoose9
01-09-2006

Rated 0 
First of all, it isn't "piss off cake," it's "piece of cake."

And I must say that I love this song. Not only does John's voice make the track powerful, George Harrison has some fabulous guitar work. A very funky track. And while I agree that "Too Many People" was a stab at John, I'd advise you to check out McCartney's "Dear Friend," which is a very interesting song directed toward Macca's former bandmate.

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robo
04-14-2006

Rated 0 
"So Sgt. Pepper took you by surprise?" - I think this should be read as a question. John is saying to Paul "So it took you by surprise that Sgt. Pepper was a hit?" Like telling him that he knew it would be a hit. The next line, still in the same context - "You better see right through that mother's (mother****er's) eyes." - is like saying "you better be satisfied with 'your' Sgt Pepper because the rest of ehat you did is crap."

"A pretty face may last a year or two but pretty soon they'll see what you can do." - This is about Paul being supposedly the one all the girls fancied in the beginning because of his 'puppydog eyes' or whatever.

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classicrockgirl
04-23-2006

Rated 0 
underoath_55:
i think the "mother's eyes" is a reference to paul's She's Leaving Home on sgt. pepper, when her daughter left the house. (some twisted crazy thing: john's the daughter?)
"pretty face" is probably a reference to Paul being the "cute beatle"

personally, this song is quite depressing in some ways (seeing as it's just insults put to music), but I think it's kind of cute. because john must really have loved paul to get so ANGRY and write something like this. aww.

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z4ckm0rris
12-10-2006

Rated 0 
Just a random thing or two...

Shouldn't it be "you live with straights who tell you you was gay"? I never even noticed he actually says "king"...granted "king" rhymes with the next line, but "gay" would rhyme with the rest of the verse, anyway. "King" doesn't make sense...any ideas?

Also, the interpretation that John subconsciously wrote this about himself is very interesting, and makes total sense. I believe it considering John apparently admitted this later on. Look at the lines like "So Sgt. Pepper took you by surprise?" If it took anybody by surprise it was John, because Paul was definitely the main creative force behind it.

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TheFifthBeatle
01-21-2007

Rated 0 
I heard a rumor that the original chorus was: "Paul, how do you sleep?" instead of "Ah, how do you sleep?" Don't know if there's any truth to it but it's a very interresting song.
I think classicrockgirl has a point in some way. The fact that John wrote these things about Paul must mean that he really liked him very much for a very long time, and became disappointed/angry with him. My personal belief is that he still liked him but didn't want to like him.

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tempguy
05-04-2007

Rated +1 
@ z4ckm0rris: The word 'straights' is not used in reference to sexual orientation, but the character and lifestyle of the people he is referring to - they are 'straight' as in straight edge, drug free, boring (in john's opinion), etc. In telling him he 'was king' they are pumping up his ego, and suggesting that he was the most important Beatle.

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tempguy
05-04-2007

Rated 0 
PS, as for the rhyme pattern, 'king' actually fits better than 'gay' would

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