"Gun" - Various Artists
Television Series
U2 Related Tracks:
- "Happiness is a Warm Gun" (Intro from "Gun") - U2 (00:40)
- "Happiness is a Warm Gun" (Closing credits from "Gun") - U2 (00:29)
Background Information
Season one of Robert Altman’s Gun debuted on April 12, 1997 on ABC Television. The first season of the television show ran for six episodes, with the final episode airing May 31, 1997. The show aired at 10pm on Saturday night. A second season was never made. The show followed a gun throughout different crimes.
U2’s cover of The Beatles’ “Happiness is a Warm Gun” was recorded for this show. The song is used over the opening credits, and is a unique edit of the song. A shorter version is edited down from the opening credits version and used over the final credits of the film.
The original song, “Happiness is a Warm Gun”, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon and McCartney. The song featured on the 1968 album The Beatles, commonly known as “The White Album”. U2’s cover was released as two mixes, “The Gun Mix” which was released on the single “Last Night on Earth“, and Last Night on Earth“>The Best of 1990 – 2000 & B-Sides</a> album. “The Danny Saber Mix” was also released on the “Last Night on Earth“ single, and also on the Artificial Horizon fan club release. “The Gun Mix” was remixed by Joe Chicarelli and John X, and “The Danny Saber Mix” was remixed by Danny Saber. The version used here in the television series lists that the remix is by all three, Chicarelli, X and Saber. It appears to be a mix done for the television series and is not just an edited portion of one of the released takes of the song.
Gun was released on a variety of home video editions. A six-disc set containing the full first season was released on March 6, 2018 in North America. The series can also be watched on Amazon Prime, and was previously released as two 3-episode DVDs in North America. In the UK, a box set of the first season was released September 19, 2006.
U2 also contributed a song for Annie Ross to sing, “Conversation on a Barstool”, to Altman’s film Short Cuts (1993), and “Lemon” (The Perfecto Mix) appears on the soundtrack of his film Pret-a-Porter (1994). Bono and The Edge also contributed to the soundtrack to his film Cookie’s Fortune in 1999.
Liner Notes
Happiness is a Warm Gun:
Recorded by U2. Words and music by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Produced by Flood. Engineered by Rob Kirwan. Mixed by Rob Kirwan, Flood and Howie B. Remixed by Joe Chicarelli, John X and Danny Saber.