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Beatles forums => Songs => Topic started by: on October 13, 2007, 09:23:29 PM

Title: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: on October 13, 2007, 09:23:29 PM
repeatedly in "Come Together"--I always found this stunningly and hauntingly prophetic. :'(

did he have a premonition as early as 1969 ??..or was this just the blackest kind of coincidence. Gives me chills & regrets.
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: alexis on October 13, 2007, 10:47:54 PM
I know what you mean.

Also, I noticed recently how prophetic-sounding that line from "Good Morning, Good Morning" is:

"Nothing to do to save his life, call his wife in".

THAT is scary.
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: harihead on October 14, 2007, 03:35:16 AM
According to many biographers, John frequently talked about death. You can hear it in interviews as early as 1964 (at least, that I'm sure of). For example, during one of their Australian press conferences in '64, when a reporter had commented on how alert the boys had looked while waving to the crowd. "You're really looking at the people, aren't you? You're very aware of everything around you."

John had answered in his typical blunt style. "I think you've got to be. You might get shot."

And of course all the reporters chuckled at this witty comeback. You can watch it yourself here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x5UUQM2Qy4

The thing is, I don't think it was a premonition so much as a preoccupation, perhaps because of John's own war with his ego, the common youthful fascination with death, or perhaps looking at the example of famous, charismatic people around him who were murdered (JFK, King, Bobbie). His own fame made him a target. The Beatles received death threats routinely, which would reinforce his perception that he could be murdered at any time.
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: BlueMeanie on October 14, 2007, 09:16:28 AM
Quote from: 829
repeatedly in "Come Together"--I always found this stunningly and hauntingly prophetic. :'(

did he have a premonition as early as 1969 ??..or was this just the blackest kind of coincidence. Gives me chills & regrets.

Well he doesn't say it on the original, so you mean on Anthology 3? Forgive me but, isn't 'shoot' (he doesn't say 'shoot me') just an Americanism for 'go', or 'now', or 'start' or some such? I never found anything sinister about it at all.
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: pc31 on October 14, 2007, 10:52:02 AM
john was told by a psychic that he would be shot to death....i think it was around the time of help...so he was preoccupied...
i'll see if i can find the story...
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: pc31 on October 14, 2007, 11:06:34 AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9P0fRYSn-s&NR i thought it was earlier than this but maybe this was it..
http://www.healthynewage.com/John_Lennon.htm
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: on October 14, 2007, 08:31:43 PM
Quote from: 568
I know what you mean.

Also, I noticed recently how prophetic-sounding that line from "Good Morning, Good Morning" is:

"Nothing to do to save his life, call his wife in".

THAT is scary.

YEAH !! thanks for reminding me of that one--and THAT one's even earlier in '67. I swear, there's spooky stuff going on with The Beatles from the get go. Not to mention all the fake Paul is dead garbage, the stuff about John is real alarming when you think about it (which I usually dont)
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: on October 14, 2007, 08:34:34 PM
Quote from: 483

Well he doesn't say it on the original, so you mean on Anthology 3? Forgive me but, isn't 'shoot' (he doesn't say 'shoot me') just an Americanism for 'go', or 'now', or 'start' or some such? I never found anything sinister about it at all.

nope, heard shoot me. Lot of friends alerted me to this, I didnt come up w/ it.

Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: alexis on October 14, 2007, 10:08:56 PM
Quote from: 551
According to many biographers, John frequently talked about death. You can hear it in interviews as early as 1964 (at least, that I'm sure of). For example, during one of their Australian press conferences in '64, when a reporter had commented on how alert the boys had looked while waving to the crowd. "You're really looking at the people, aren't you? You're very aware of everything around you."

John had answered in his typical blunt style. "I think you've got to be. You might get shot."

And of course all the reporters chuckled at this witty comeback. You can watch it yourself here: [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x5UUQM2Qy4[/url]  It's a fun watch from the beginning, but if you want to cut to the chase, it's at 5:50. Are you from Australia, Hari?
The thing is, I don't think it was a premonition so much as a preoccupation, perhaps because of John's own war with his ego, the common youthful fascination with death, or perhaps looking at the example of famous, charismatic people around him who were murdered (JFK, King, Bobbie). His own fame made him a target. The Beatles received death threats routinely, which would reinforce his perception that he could be murdered at any time.


Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: alexis on October 14, 2007, 10:11:22 PM
Quote from: 829
repeatedly in "Come Together"--I always found this stunningly and hauntingly prophetic. :'(

did he have a premonition as early as 1969 ??..or was this just the blackest kind of coincidence. Gives me chills & regrets.


I've read this lots of time, I have to admit every time I've listened, I've only heard the "shoot", never the "me". Though this is more than I used to hear, I used to think he was just saying "Shhh".

I wonder if it depends what version of the song one listens to?
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: on October 14, 2007, 11:35:39 PM
Quote from: 568


I've read this lots of time, I have to admit every time I've listened, I've only heard the "shoot", never the "me". Though this is more than I used to hear, I used to think he was just saying "Shhh".

I wonder if it depends what version of the song one listens to?

Yes this is very true. For years, w/ the old analog version of "Come Together" on the Apple single AND as the lead- in track on A. R., all I ever heard was "Shhhh" --like everybody else did, but since the advent of digital remastering and the Anthology version, I listened more closely to what my friends were telling me and I'm almost sure now they're correct---I actually hear "shoot me" now--and I tell you,it gives me shivers. Mind you it's hard to make out...but it's there (in the original too but it's not readily apparent)

Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: harihead on October 14, 2007, 11:56:30 PM
Thank you for finding the time, Alexis! I have a slow connection and didn't reload it to pick out the time of John's remark (5:50).

Nope, not from Australia, although I really must go there someday. I just loved this Aussie reflection on the Fab 4 visit. Cheers!
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: on October 15, 2007, 12:15:36 AM
oi oi oi aussie!  :) :) I have some friends in Brisbane (or "Brissy" as they call it)and they're all AcDc lovers (yipes!!!!) (although I do love the old Bon Scott stuff and Angus's guitar work!)

there ya go, mate

(nothing worse than a Yank trying to fake an aussie accent...pathetic, pathetic LOL)
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: harihead on October 15, 2007, 03:11:11 AM
I have a friend in Perth. I tell her she sounds nothing like Paul Hogan and she hits me. It's a great relationship!  ;D

What's the topic? (Quickly looks it up)

...no, I never heard the full "shoot me" either, and I still don't sing it that way. This was one of the first songs I danced to at my community club across the street from my house. We sang "Shhhoop!" (or something sibiliant like that).
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: BlueMeanie on October 15, 2007, 03:23:00 AM
Mr. M. Can you tell us exactly where you can hear 'shoot me'? 3 times I've listened now, and I'm convinced you're hearing what you want to hear! ;)
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: Sondra on October 15, 2007, 06:26:37 AM
Why at the Garden would he all of a sudden just sing "Shoot" then? I think that's all he ever sang to begin with. And I always thought it was shoop before too harihead! You can hear it a lot clearer on cd that it's "shoot", but I still don't hear any "me."

YXY_BlvpsUc (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXY_BlvpsUc)
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: BlueMeanie on October 15, 2007, 07:41:53 AM
Quote from: 216
Why at the Garden would he all of a sudden just sing "Shoot" then? I think that's all he ever sang to begin with. And I always thought it was shoop before too harihead! You can hear it a lot clearer on cd that it's "shoot", but I still don't hear any "me."

Always sounded like 'shhhhhhmn'  to me. I still hear no 'me'. Hee sang 'shoot' on the anthology version. But no 'me'.
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: Kevin on October 15, 2007, 09:31:03 AM
Quote from: 568
I know what you mean.

Also, I noticed recently how prophetic-sounding that line from "Good Morning, Good Morning" is:

"Nothing to do to save his life, call his wife in".

THAT is scary.

Sorry - but that's silly. John wrote how many hundreds of songs? and that one line is a premonition? He's bound to touch on a gloomy subject everynow and then. In a song that is about urban isolation? This is all something about nothing.
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: on October 15, 2007, 09:45:05 PM
Quote from: 483
Mr. M. Can you tell us exactly where you can hear 'shoot me'? 3 times I've listened now, and I'm convinced you're hearing what you want to hear! ;)


then I have about 8 friends here in the NY area that are similarly self-deluded, or else aurally-challenged.

you're obviously convinced I've "misheard", as I'm equally convinced that I didn't.  ::)
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: on October 15, 2007, 10:28:06 PM
Quote from: 483
Mr. M. Can you tell us exactly where you can hear 'shoot me'? 3 times I've listened now, and I'm convinced you're hearing what you want to hear! ;)

Then there are 8 other ppl I know in the NY area that are equally deluded?...or perhaps aurally-challenged?

You're obviously convinced that I "misheard", as I am equally convinced I did not.

what I heard was on the STUDIO version, not a LIVE version..!! ::)



Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: alexis on October 16, 2007, 12:45:03 AM
Quote from: 568
I know what you mean.

Also, I noticed recently how prophetic-sounding that line from "Good Morning, Good Morning" is:

"Nothing to do to save his life, call his wife in".

THAT is scary.

Quote from: 185

Sorry - but that's silly. John wrote how many hundreds of songs? and that one line is a premonition? He's bound to touch on a gloomy subject everynow and then. In a song that is about urban isolation? This is all something about nothing.


Hi Kevin - I know what you're saying, and of course there's no ESP involved here (is there?), but to me the line stands out like something in that movie The Shining. Like so many of John's lyrics, I always just sort of sang along with that one never really thinking about the meaning (kind of like "... Everywhere I go I hear it said ...  in the good and the bad books I have read" - what heck does that mean?), then recently it just sort of jumped out at me. It's exactly what would be said in an emergency room when there was nothing left to do. Probably just what the docs said that night in December.

You gotta admit, it is a weird line!
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: BlueMeanie on October 16, 2007, 08:45:13 AM
Quote from: 568




Hi Kevin - I know what you're saying, and of course there's no ESP involved here (is there?), but to me the line stands out like something in that movie The Shining. Like so many of John's lyrics, I always just sort of sang along with that one never really thinking about the meaning (kind of like "... Everywhere I go I hear it said ...  in the good and the bad books I have read" - what heck does that mean?), then recently it just sort of jumped out at me. It's exactly what would be said in an emergency room when there was nothing left to do. Probably just what the docs said that night in December.

You gotta admit, it is a weird line!

It's not a weird line at all. As you just said, it's what a doctor would say. The fact that he was shot 13 years later has no bearing.

And I still can't hear it Mr. M. I've listened again and tried very hard, but I can't hear it. If you're listening on CD can you give me the time of when he says it so I can here what you're hearing?

Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: The Swine on October 16, 2007, 10:59:16 AM
john knew he would die eventually. he already knew that in 1969. the rest is nonsense. i hear something like shooo. could even be sh*t.
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: Andy Smith on October 16, 2007, 03:34:25 PM
Never mind bout this, Happiness is a Warm Gun gives me the
chills at times as well! :-/
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: BlueMeanie on October 16, 2007, 03:52:27 PM
Quote from: 748
jcould even be sh*t.

Pig sh*t?
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: on October 16, 2007, 06:16:06 PM
Revolution 9 gives me chills ;D
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: Chris on October 23, 2007, 08:39:09 PM
It's "Shoot me." The reverb on his hand-claps completely covers up the "me" on the official version, but listen closely to Anthology 3.

Let's not forget he was on heroin in 1969. "Shoot" means many things.
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: on October 24, 2007, 11:54:09 PM
Quote from: 911
It's "Shoot me." The reverb on his hand-claps completely covers up the "me" on the official version, but listen closely to Anthology 3.

Let's not forget he was on heroin in 1969. "Shoot" means many things.


Yes Chris, that's been my contention all along...and the herion reference is an extremely good point. "Shooting-up" or "shoot me to death" is ironically prophetic nonetheless.
(the post-attribution of the phrase isnt so strange after all, since, like you said, this is 1969 we're talking about...spooky.)
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: Chris on October 25, 2007, 04:31:14 PM
Indeed; I always thought that was weird, as well. Perhaps if Yoko had screeched "shoot me" during the Toronto concert....nah, that's just mean.
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: on October 27, 2007, 04:11:05 PM
Quote from: 911
Indeed; I always thought that was weird, as well. Perhaps if Yoko had screeched "shoot me" during the Toronto concert....nah, that's just mean.

..or..if Lennon were still alive he would've done an update of "Crippled Inside", calling the new piece "Crippled B*tch" for H. Mills
..nah, that's "just mean" too

Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: Kevin on October 29, 2007, 03:41:00 PM
I asked my girlfriend (who isn't into the band at all) what she heard,  she said "shot." (not shoot.) Close enough, but it was a flawed experiment, because as she admitted she knew because I asked that she was supposed to hear something, and without that prompt might well have just heard a noise.
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: Sondra on October 30, 2007, 01:05:10 AM
I honestly think he was just singing a random noise and he liked the way shoot or shoop sounded. I don't think it was written into the lyrics, but that's my opinion. I just think he liked the sound of it.
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: BlueMeanie on October 30, 2007, 01:11:58 AM
Quote from: 216
I honestly think he was just singing a random noise and he liked the way shoot or shoop sounded. I don't think it was written into the lyrics, but that's my opinion. I just think he liked the sound of it.

Well, on the version on Anthology 3, he does sing 'shoot'. Not 'Shoot me'. But I can't hear it on Abbey Road. And I must have tried seven or eight times since this thread started! I think once you think you've heard it, you can't hear anything else.
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: Chris on November 01, 2007, 05:43:13 PM
You can't hear it on Anthology 3? It's pretty clear. In fact, I'm pretty sure that was why I realized after all those years that he'd been saying "Shoot me."

Silly thing to argue about, I guess.
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: TomMo on June 06, 2012, 05:44:45 PM
One DOES have to have a good ear and an excellent set of earphones to hear "Shoot me", but it IS there. John understates the "me". I'm sure the isolated vocal track would be the ultimate proof. I can't say I heard it in the years immediately following its release. I heard "shoo" or maybe "shoop", but that was on vinyl. If you have it on CD and can play it on a standard CD player (not on iPod thru earbuds). fiddle with the stereo separation and treble/bass. You'll hear it.

Yes, John did seem to have a premonition of his death by murder, according to several biographies. This may have turned into a preoccupation. The three Beatle/Lennon solo tracks that stand out are: "Come Together"; "Happiness Is A Warm Gun"; and "Whatever Gets You Through the Night" ("Don't need a gun to blow your mind").

But - and this is the most amazing part - if you go through Lennon's entire work, there are dozens of examples of references to words such as, "die", "dead", "death", "suicide", "kill", "gun", and so forth. John did have a morbid sense of humor, no doubt. I'm no psychologist, but I do believe lyricists have a way of revealing themselves, and John had more opportunities than most.

John also had (though not as much as George) associations with "spiritualists" with strong Buddhist/Hindu philosophies. Many of them might be labeled "mystics". Some of these mystics believe that a soul enters a new life already subconsciously knowing its ultimate fate. I'm not suggesting you believe as they do, but could John have come to know his own fate as a result of these associations? John has been quoted as saying that some of his intuition about his future had been confirmed through meditation, though he didn't mention any death premonition.

And if a "psychic" did predict his death, would Lennon have believed it or dismissed it? Read Larry Kane's book about the 64 US tour to find out the reaction to Jeane Dixon's prediction that the band would die in a plane crash. John took it seriously. George went so far as to call Jeane Dixon for confirmation. Later, John would say he was obsessed with Buddy Holly's death at the time.

And so, Beatle People, I offer all the above FYI. Does it prove anything? Nope. But is IS interesting.
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: Jema on June 07, 2012, 12:26:24 AM
And so, Beatle People, I offer all the above FYI. Does it prove anything? Nope. But is IS interesting.
I totally agree with you about it all being interesting! I personally believe that with all the references of lyrics, not only from Come Together, it's a little more then a coincidence to me because of the fact he was murdered. I know it's silly of me to think that, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who gets a little creeped out when thinking about it all  roll:)
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: TomMo on June 07, 2012, 03:58:04 AM
I totally agree with you about it all being interesting! I personally believe that with all the references of lyrics, not only from Come Together, it's a little more then a coincidence to me because of the fact he was murdered. I know it's silly of me to think that, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who gets a little creeped out when thinking about it all  roll:)

Absolutely, Jema. It IS creepy. Can't say I agree with all those conspiracy theorists who think the CIA/FBI killed John or the Satanists who claim the John conjured up the devil in Chapman by repeating "Shoot me". And his "preoccupation" with death could be explained by the loss of Julia, Stu, etc. Still, the morbid word choices in his lyrics are strange.
Title: Re: John singing "shoot me" over & over
Post by: Dcazz on June 24, 2012, 11:43:32 AM
The "me" in "shoot me" got buried by Pauls bass notes on vinyl. Until the remasters you really couldn't hear the whole thing. He also repeatedly moans "cuuuuum" on the fadeout behind and bettween the "come together line". You can hear both fairly well on the Cirque CD.