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About

Genius Annotation

This is the eighth track from Imagine, John Lennon’s second solo album after the Beatles broke up. A scathing result of the Lennon/McCartney feud, this song is one of pop music’s first diss tracks. Lennon actually wrote it in response to the Paul McCartney track “Too Many People.”

According to the 1981 Playboy interview this is what Lennon said about the song in 1980, just before his untimely death:

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.

The inside cover of Imagine also featured a picture of Lennon holding the ears of a pig, which ridicules the cover photo of McCartney’s May 1971 album, Ram.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did John Lennon say about "How Do You Sleep?"?
Genius Answer

It’s not about Paul, it’s about me. I’m really attacking myself. But I regret the association, well, what’s to regret? 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.

–John Lennon (from the 1972 Imagine film)

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.

–John Lennon (from the 1980 Playboy interview)

What made John write this song?
Genius Answer

I heard Paul’s messages in Ram – yes there are dear reader! Too many people going where? Missed our lucky what? What was our first mistake? 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 Allen Klein publicly for the line ‘just another day’. A real poet! Some people don’t see the funny side of it. Too bad. What am I supposed to do, make you laugh? It’s what you might call an ‘angry letter’, sung – get it?

–John Lennon (Crawdaddy Magazine)

Credits
Written By
Lead Vocals By
Electric Guitar
Drums By
Wurlitzer By
Slide Guitar By
Recorded At
Ascot Sound Studios, Berkshire, UK (May 26, 1971) and Record Plant East, New York City, NY (July 4, 1971)
Release Date
September 9, 1971
Songs That Interpolate How Do You Sleep?
View How Do You Sleep? samples
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