How Do You Sleep?

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"How Do You Sleep?"
Song by John Lennon
From the album Imagine
Album released	8 October 1971
Recorded	23 June-5 July 1971
Genre	Rock
Song Length	5:36
Record label	Apple Records/EMI
Producer	John Lennon, Yoko Ono, & Phil Spector
Imagine Album Listing
Oh My Love (Track 7)	How Do You Sleep? (Track 8)	How? (Track 9)

"How Do You Sleep?" is a song from John Lennon's 1971 album Imagine, in which he implicitly disparages former Beatles songwriting partner Paul McCartney. Musically stinging, featuring a particularly intricate slide guitar from George Harrison, it is a very hard song. Despite the overtness of the attack, Lennon later claimed that the song was more about himself than McCartney, and certainly one or two lines, notably "jump when your momma tells you anything", sound as though they are directed more at Lennon's relationship with Yoko Ono than Paul's with Linda. The overwhelming impression of the song, however, is an attack on Paul, such as in the lines "The only thing you done was yesterday/And since you've gone you're just another day." Considering the puns involved, these two lines particularly stand out since it was Paul McCartney who composed the Beatles' song "Yesterday" and also later in his solo career wrote "Another Day".

No doubt Lennon felt attacked by McCartney, who admitted that lines in the song "Too Many People" on the album Ram were intended as digs at John (though John and Yoko thought the whole album was intended as such). The song "How Do You Sleep?" was their reply. McCartney's song "Dear Friend" on the album Wild Life, set an end to their public battle (despite being recorded during Ram).

Besides making satirical reference to other McCartney songs (including Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band), the lyrics also refer to the Paul is Dead hoax ("Those freaks was right when they said you was dead").

It is said that McCartney's retort to this is Let Me Roll It.