Paul and Linda McCartney released Ram in 1971 during the height of the litigations that were on-going as a result of the Beatles break up.

There was no, doubt, a lot of  bad blood especially between Paul and John.  Paul has admitted to taking a couple of shots at John in Too Many People from the Ram album.  The specific lyrics in question are as follows:

“You Took Your Lucky Break And Broke It In Two”

“Too Many People Preaching Practices”

The meaning of the first line clearly refers to the breakup of the Beatles, while the second line refers to what Paul perceived as John’s overly preachy activism (think of John and Yoko’s Bed In for Peace).  It’s my second favorite song from Ram so let’s take a listen.

In New York John was recording his Imagine album and the lyrics to Too Many People did not go unnoticed.  When Imagine was released it featured responses in two forms.  First, a post card was included in the album with a picture of John holding onto a pig by it’s ears which was clearly mocking the cover of Ram which featured Paul holding onto the horns of a Ram.

The second response was in the form of the scathing lyrics to How Do You Sleep which were clearly aimed at Paul.

“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?”

Even after forty years I am still shocked by the bitterness of these lyrics and the personal nature of the attack on Paul.  Let’s listen to the song.

If there was any doubt that the Beatles were really over, this song pretty much sealed the deal.  Just thinking about it today makes me sad all over again.

Stay tuned tomorrow…we will further explore Ram as our Album of the week.