How Do You Sleep? Lyrics

Lyric discussion by lucyinthesky 

Cover art for How Do You Sleep? lyrics by John Lennon

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.

loved the quip about George in there. i definitely agree. this was below john, seeing as it was quite violent for a man who practiced such peace. that said, this was a response to Paul's equally petty (and pretentious, plus I sort of just hate Paul's solo work other than Yesterday so I'm inclined to dislike that song as well) song "Too Many People" which was an attack at John's preaching and relationship at Yoko. Hate to say it but he "started it." Still, i feel like it left a very bitter feel to the album. Glad they made up...

I agree. I'm a huge fan of John and all, and I don't mean to disrespect his memory, but he could really be an asshole. This song is an example. Paul, who "started it" had only 2 lines in Too Many People that were about John, and they weren't attacks. This song, is 100% an attack at John's best friend. It's really sad. He later felt bad and said it was about himself, but with all those references and all, there's no way.

I'm glad they made up before John died...

They had never really made up with each other