John Lennon’s final masterpiece of 1967 found him at his surrealistic, sneering best. ‘I Am The Walrus’ was included on the soundtrack of the Magical Mystery Tour TV film, and first released as the b-side of ‘Hello, Goodbye’.
Lennon had wanted ‘I Am The Walrus’ to be The Beatles’ next single after ‘All You Need Is Love’, but Paul McCartney and George Martin felt that ‘Hello, Goodbye’ was the more commercial song. The decision led to resentment from Lennon, who complained after the group’s split that “I got sick and tired of being Paul’s backup band”.
The song was written in August 1967, at the peak of the Summer of Love and shortly after the release of Sgt Pepper. Lennon later claimed to have written the opening lines under the influence of LSD.
The first line was written on one acid trip one weekend, the second line on another acid trip the next weekend, and it was filled in after I met Yoko.
All We Are Saying, David Sheff
‘I Am The Walrus’ was a composite of three song fragments. The first part was inspired by a two-note police siren Lennon heard while at home in Weybridge. This became “Mr city policeman sitting pretty…”
Hunter Davies recounted the beginnings of the second part in his authorised 1968 biography of The Beatles:
He’d written down down another few words that day, just daft words, to put to another bit of rhythm. ‘Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the man to come.’ I thought he said ‘van to come’, which he hadn’t, but he liked it better and said he’d use it instead.
The third part of ‘I Am The Walrus’ started from the phrase “sitting in an English country garden” which, as Davies noted, Lennon was fond of doing for hours at a time. Lennon repeated the phrase to himself until a melody came.
I don’t know how it will all end up. Perhaps they’ll turn out to be different parts of the same song – sitting in an English garden, waiting for the van to come. I don’t know.
The Beatles, Hunter Davies
The chord sequence was described by critic Ian MacDonald as “the most unorthodox and tonally ambiguous sequence he ever devised.” He ingeniously referred to the looped sequence as “an obsessive musical structure built round a perpetually ascending/descending MC Escher staircase of all the natural major chords”.
‘I Am The Walrus’ was one of the highlights of the Magical Mystery Tour film. For the performance, filmed in West Malling in Kent, Lennon tellingly wore an 18th century madman’s cap.
Simply fantastic, with Lewis Carrol words and precise metrics. Even in Brazil we consider this song and lyric as absolutely brilliant
even in Brazil? 🙂
Does anyone know why “I am the Walrus” is mixed they way it is? It goes from that typical 60s hard panned stereo to a sort of phased or double mono (left/right) from the middle part on, to end full mono (but sweeping from left to right) again in the babble part at the end.
I have always considered THAT to be one of the highlights of the song (apart from being it genious in terms of lyrics and chord progression and melody). Did I already mention that everything about this song is unmatched? 🙂
The radio broadcast was added to the mono mix, so they had to use that (converted into fake stereo) for the end of the song even in the stereo mix.
I remember reading that they spliced two different takes together, but the only “English Garden” take they had was a mono version.
What made the Sixties “The Sixties” was its fearless experimentation, the willingness to not only push boundaries but to go past them. Lennon was smirking when he thought “wouldn’t it be funny if me stereo song suddenly sounded SQUISHED, mono and out of Phase? People would be banging on their gear and screaming Bloody ‘El, I just bought this thing and somethings wrong with it!!! The fade out is another bit of serendipity: King Lear “Alas, I knew him well—aServiceable Villian..as dutious to the vices of thy Mistress…as Badness would desire!!! Rock is dead, today. All they play is Rap, R&B & Blue Eyed Soul!!! I am so depressed over it!!!
In my view, it is the very best of all Beatles’ songs. Most creative, both for the music and the words, and still very fresh… it really stands the test of time.
Many of my friends are all avid John Lennon fans. However most of my favorite Beatle songs turn out to be Paul McCartney’s. I have always considered I Am the Walrus to be a minor masterpiece and one of several Beatle songs at the height of their creativity.
A minor masterpiece? Weird inaccurate description.
“Minor masterpiece”… umh, I wonder if that’s not even an oxymoron.
There are expressions here that have some relation to reality. Selmelina Pilchard is liverpool slang for sardine. Yellow matter custard is a reference to Eric Burdon’s penchant for breaking eggs on the torsos of female groupies. At least that is the story I have heard. This song is a major masterpiece not a minor masterpiece because there is nothing else quite like it lyrically and musically. Listening to it now Walrus still amazes me with its audicity.
Semolina is a wheat derivative used to make pasta and cereal. Pilchards are, indeed, sardines. The ‘yellow matter custard’ derives as the article notes – John getting Pete Shotton to recall an old grotesque schoolyard rhyme. The use of ‘eggman’ is also likely to have come about as the article above professes. But I do agree – “I Am The Walrus” is simply a masterpisece in every sense. Strangely enough it really isn’t that far removed in the evolutionary scale from ‘Revolution 9’ which most people, except me, hate.
@Tweeze , “I Am the Walrus” is the Beatles at their psychedelic and sarcastic best. It is grown on me over the years, and it is one of my all-time favorite songs.
Thank you for pointing out the connection to “Revolution 9.” Incidentally, I think “Revolution 9” is a great piece of avant gard music. Pardon my poor spelling.
I thought “Semolina Pilchard” was a reference to that Pilcher fuckhead who hounded British musicians for possession of drugs until he was jailed for perverting the course of justice.
I thought that too
Coincidence. The Pilcher bust was in Oct 68. The names are different btw.
On your last statement, my friend, I must respectfully disagree – I have enjoyed ‘Revolution #9″ since I first got the White Album in ’68. Anyone who thinks it’s easy to assemble tape in that manner should try it – they’ll discover how mistaken they are.
Well, it’s easy to do, but difficult to get anywhere close to the same results …
Superb Lennon Song, great sounding song and one his most fantastic vocals. Thanks also to the Abbey Road engineer for recording his vocal on a cheap microphone done on purpose.
Yeah, love the tone of his vocal and the fantastic delivery. Every bit of it is intentional.
Right on! The vocal sound is so Lennon, just incredible and probably could never be replicated. I didn’t know they recorded on a cheap vocal might, that makes so much sense! I love how John really thought of his voice as just another instrument, a sound to be manipulated and changed just as one might use a different instrument or effect from song to song (especially pointed out in this song, where, as mentioned, he was inspired by a siren and tried to make his voice sound accordingly). And no one’s ever had an instrument like his
you forgot to say that ringo chanted as well, it says in beatles monthly/weekly thing, my guitar teacher told me.
Smoke pot, smoke pot! Everybody smoke pot! Is that what they are saying at the end?
That was the rumour in the 1960s, but I’m pretty sure it’s “Got one, got one, everybody’s got one”. I also once read that some people thought it was “Everybody f**k off”, which clearly isn’t the case!
With today’s modern CDs the ability to hear more clearly what resides in the soundtrack is much better. Even though a good vinyl copy has a warmth that is lacking in CDs, vinyl has a tendency to wear until the sound muddies. Even after muliple pressings of an album the 1000th copy isn’t quite as pristine as the 1st. I have a lot of Beatles’ vinyl in my collection. Some of the sound quality in songs like this are fairly atrocious and, yes, one could think that the singers are possibly maybe perhaps saying — something else.
What table and cartridge are you using?
With a heavy Scouse accent “Oom-pah, oom-pah, Stick it up your jumper”.
I used to listen to that song over and over with my ears to a large speaker to hear what they were saying. On one channel (stereo version) they alternated saying “Everybody hoo-hah” with “Everybody smoke pot”.
Maybe mixing “got one” and “hoo-hah” together made for the misunderstanding, but I thought it was clear. But “smoke pot” only alternates.
Also, listen to “Baby You’re a Rich Man” for more drug-fueled alternate lyrics.
I read that “semolina pilchard” was a reference to Detective Sgt. Norman Pilcher, the junkie-buster whose crossed path with The Beatles’ a few times.
It may have been, but John wasn’t busted until October 1968 – or about a year after this song. Semolina is a wheat used for pasta and cereals – in John’s case – pudding.
No Beatle crossed Norman Pilcher’s path in 1967 when Walrus was released.
His phony drug planting scheme originally nailed several pop stars including two Beatles (in 1968 & 1969).
He was eventually caught smuggling drugs into the U.K. and was sentenced to a term in prison.
Thanks—the sardine explanation was a lot more rational.
Also— doesn’t “see how they run like pigs from a gun” stike an almost Pink Floyd-esque chord?
Those lyrics are somewhere on the fine line between brilliant lyricism and acid nonsense.
In the new Lewisohn book (Tune In) he mentions that in 1958 John and Paul started writing a play about a Jesus-like character they called “Pilchard.”
Heard that John wrote this song because he was amused by the fact that school teachers in Britain were analyzing his songs in class, as if they were literature. True?
Yes. Have a look at page two of the article.
Where’s that video from? It’s not the original from Magical Mystery Tour.
Yes it is. I saw the original broadcast.
I, too, have seen the original broadcast. It is what was shown. John with that huge flower put me on the floor the first time I saw it.
Mclerristarr- If I’m not mistaken, this version is from the Beatles Anhthology video series. It’s mostly the entire original MMT version, but they seem to have added some home-movie type footage that wasn’t included in the original MMT movie…
Do you think that the original mono mix of I Am the Walrus made on September 29 1967 has an extra bar before “Yellow Matter Custard” part?
In the Anthology version there’s an extra bar before ” Yellow matter custard “.
If I do recall, the extra bar is only found on the U.S. single 45. (B side of Hello Goodbye) And if I’m not mistaken, the extra bar of music was because John missed his cue to come back in with his vocals.
I wish the extra music stroke on I Am The Walrus at 1:34 was mixed for true stereo so that we can hear the orchestra more clearly.
Listen to the track on the “Love” album. Amazing to hear that section in true stereo at last.
What if the people in the United Kingdom heard the extra bar leading to “Yellow Matter Custard” for the first time?
Who played the Mellotron in the song? It’s not mentioned at the top? Was it left out of the final mix?
I think John played the Mellotron and no it was never left out in the final mix.
As there is no Mellotron audible in the final mix (just electric piano and the cellos), so it is fair to say that it’s “left out”. I’ve owned several Mellotrons and worked on the one John used at home; I do know them VERY well.
Hi Brian. Thanks for the message (and I loved your book too). I didn’t realise you’ve used John’s Mellotron – now I’m incredibly jealous!
one of the beatles finest b-sides that could have been an a-side or equal.i am the walrus is an excellent song just like revolution, rain , and don’t let me down, who went out as a b-side.
Neither Paul, George or Ringo sang back-up vocals.
You’re absolutely right. I’m not sure why I listed them as having done so. I’ve corrected it now.
I can’t believe this was a B-side to Hello, Goodbye…I mean I can’t think of two songs more different in style, although i’ve never really heard a song like Walrus, so what else could go with this? This was Lennon at his best!
Totally agree. “Hello, Goodbye” is not a bad song but “Walrus” is musically much more valuable. It should have been on the A-side.
“The third part started from the phrase “sitting in an English country garden” which, as Davies noted, Lennon was fond of doing for hours at a time. Lennon repeated the phrase to himself until a melody came.”
I double checked the book, but I couldn’t find anything about that. Hunter Davie never said that. Where did you get that?
“He also had another piece of tune in his head. This had started from the phrase, ‘sitting in an English country garden’. This is what he does for at least two hours every day, sitting on the step outside his window looking at his garden. This time, thinking about himself doing it, he’d repeated the phrase over and over again till he’d put a tune to it.”
I have a first edition of the book. It’s on page 292, in the section ‘The Beatles and their music’. Later editions may be different.
I can confirm that Joe is correct. The quote is from the last paragraph on Page 292
in the First Edition of Hunter Davis book.
It doesn’t matter if John Lennon played the piano or the organ or the Mellotron.
Of course not, Daniel.
John clearly loved playing keyboards as well as guitar and he was proficient on both instruments.
Actually, re EGG MAN/Eggman – if you read Eric Burdon’s autobiography, it’s a Jamaican girlfriend who cracked an egg on Burdon during sex. Whoever runs this site should change this in the body text because it now reads as though Burdon traditionally cracked eggs on his sex partners. Totally the opposite, and a one-time-deal, it appears. Burdon told the story to Lennon and Lennon laughingly said to Burdon: “Go on, go get it, Egg Man”
Thanks for the clarification. Any chance you could transcribe the relevant part of Eric’s autobiography, so I can quote it in the article?
==Warning: adult themes==
“It may have been one of my more dubious distinctions, but I was the Eggman–or, as some of my pals called me, ‘Eggs’.
The nickname stuck after a wild experience I’d had at the time with a Jamaican girlfriend called Sylvia. I was up early one morning cooking breakfast, naked except for my socks, and she slid up beside me and slipped an amyl nitrate capsule under my nose. As the fumes set my brain alight and I slid to the kitchen floor, she reached to the counter and grabbed an egg, which she cracked into the pit of my belly. The white and yellow of the egg ran down my naked front and Sylvia slipped my egg-bathed cock into her mouth and began to show me one Jamaican trick after another. I shared the story with John at a party at a Mayfair flat one night with a handful of blondes and a little Asian girl.
“‘Go on, go get it, Eggman,’ Lennon laughed over the little round glasses perched on the end of his hook-like nose as we tried the all-too-willing girls on for size.”
Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
by Eric Burdon with J Marshall Craig
(Rowville, Victoria; 2003), pp. 61-62.
Thanks for transcribing that Deadman. My, what a fruity tale (although fruity isn’t really the right word in this case!).
An overrated piece of Muzak from the surrealist king
What? I think literally every part of this statement is incorrect. Muzak? Surrealist king? What and who are you talking about?
Overrated? Absolutely! Surrealistic King? I’m pretty sure. Muzak? Not hardly – it’s too disturbing for that. I LOVE Beatle songs, but if “Walrus” comes on, I TURN IT OFF. That’s how much it bothers me. Even more than “Blue Jay Way,” and that one is pretty creepy too! Even “Revolution # 9” is not as disturbing – it just sounds stupid to me.
Listening to the isolated vocal track is a real treat. The background vocal “swoops” are incredible. There are two distinct chants at the end of the song, the low voices are chanting, “Oompa, oompa, stick it up your jumper” while the high voices are saying, “Everybody’s got one, everybody’s got one”.
The orchestra track is simply astounding. What a fantastic arrangement. This song is surely a masterpiece in every sense of the word.
Whilst I agree that IAtW is excellent, I suggest that “a masterpiece in every sense of the word” is unnecessarily hyperbolic.
A masterpiece, originally, was a physical piece of work by a craftsman accepted as qualification for membership of a guild as an acknowledged master. A masterpiece was also the thesis submitted by a student in order to gain the degree of Master of Arts. A masterpiece can also refer to any very famous, valuable painting.
So, “I Am the Walrus” is not a masterpiece in EVERY sense of the word.
I was 16 years old when the Beatles first appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. I already owned a copy of I Want To Hold Your Hand and a full drum set. I was an instant Beatlemaniac and I remain so to this day. From the first time I heard I Am The Walrus it became my all time favorite song and it remains so to this day. I have listened to it thousands of times and many of those listenings are in good headphones.
I have always felt that there are three different parts mixed in together to achieve the final sound of the chorus in question. At 3:31 the Michael Sammes clearly sings “Oompa, oompa, thick it up your jumper” twice. Then at 3:37 Lennon can be clearly heard singing “Smoke pot smoke pot everybody smoke pot” and the Sammes singers are singing “Got one got one everybody’s got one.”
From that point till the end of the song all three phrases are mixed in together so that no one phase stands out. I feel John mixed it this way so he could have a giggle every time he heard the song knowing he was getting away with singing smoke pot smoke pot. He denied that he was singing smoke pot smoke pot but I have been able to hear it clearly since hearing the 45 on the radio in 1967.
Guys, do you know what I wish? I wish the extra bar before “Yellow Matter Custard” part was mixed for stereo since it was never located anywhere such as the Love Soundtrack and The Beatles: Rock Band video game except one of the worldwide single releases.
George Martin is often under-rated for his significant contribution to Beatles songs, like this one. If there was ever a 5th Beatle, it’s George Martin.
Regarding the words “elementary penguin, singing Hare Krishna “, at this time the devotees of Krishna were completing renovations on their first temple in Bury Place, London, and there was no place for their visiting spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada to reside, so John sent his paisley painted Rolls Royce to the airport to pick up the Swami so that he could reside at John & Yoko’s ( former Cadbury family estate ) in Ascot, Tittenhurst, for three months, enlightening John, Yoko and George about Krsna consciousness.
Instant Karma was later inspired by this visit. The ‘elementary penguin singing Hare Krishna” is actually Allen Ginsburg, the New York poet who used to begin his poetry recitals dressed in a tuxedo, looking like a penguin, while he pumped a harmonium he had purchased in India, while chanting the Hare Krishna mantra. Allen and Prabhupada became good friends.
One pertinent issue is missing on this page. Certainly Lewis Carroll’s Looking Glass served as inspiration for the characters in the song, but so too were they inspiration for James Joyce ‘s Finnegan’s Wake. Joyce uses many Carroll characters, not least cosmic eggman Humpty Dumpty whose last words after he falls off the wall and as his yolk is running out are “Goo, goo, g’joob”.
The literary references along with Liverpudlian slang and gutter rhymes and the Eric Burdon anecdote help underscore why this is such a great song and Lennon such a great lyricist. The song really does work on so many levels.
Where in Finnegans Wake (no apostrophe, btw) does Humpty Dumpty say those words? It’s been a long time since I read it but I’m all but almost certain that Lennon invented the phrase. It’s not in Carroll either.
Truth be told, it’s been awhile since i carved my way through FW; I got this story ages ago from an old Paul Simon interview in Rolling Stone where he was asked specifically about the similar phrase in Mrs. Robinson. A quick web search brought up the following
“It has also been noted that James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake contains the words googoo goosth at the top of page *557, where it appears:
…like milk-juggles as if it was the wrake of the hapspurus or old Kong Gander O’Toole of the Mountains or his googoo goosth she seein, sliving off over the sawdust lobby out of the backroom, wan ter, that was everywans in turruns, in his honeymoon trim, holding up his fingerhals…
It is not clear that Joyce is the source, or what it would mean if he were, but it has been a hypothesis put forward by fans of both artists alike.”
Either way, even if it’s not true, it certainly has permeated the legend surrounding the lyric, and should be included in the discussion if only for debunking purposes.
Interesting. Thanks for that. I know Lennon was asked about James Joyce after publishing In His Own Write and A Spaniard In The Works, and said he’d never read him before they were published. In a 1968 interview he said he’d since got a copy of Finnegans Wake and couldn’t see much resemblance between his and Joyce’s writing, apart from a bit of wordplay, and had only read a chapter of it.
“Q: A lot of people wrote about your book and said ‘Oh, James Joyce, Edward Lear,’ and so on. What did you think when they said that?
JL: Well, when they said James Joyce I hadn’t… I must have come across him at school but we hadn’t done him like I remember doing Shakespeare and remember doing so-and-so. I remember doing Chaucer a bit, or somebody like him doing funny words. But I don’t remember Joyce, you see. So, the first thing they say ‘Oh! He’s read James Joyce,’ you know. So I hadn’t. And so the first thing I do is buy Finnegans Wake and read a chapter. And it’s great, you know, and I dug it, and I felt as though he’s an old friend. But I couldn’t make it right through the book, and so I read a chapter of Finnegans Wake and that was the end of it. So now I know what they’re talking about. But I mean, he just went… he just didn’t stop, you know. Yeah.
Q: What actually, though, had you read that you KNOW was important to you when you were young?
JL: Only kids’ books, you know. Alice In Wonderland. The poems are all from Jabberwocky… started me into that kick.”
There’s a lot of gobbledigook in the Wake, and I think it’s probably a bit fanciful to imagine that Lennon happened upon the words “googoo goosth” and decided to incorporate it into IATW. Personally I’d file it under coincidence.
I’m willing to leave it to coincidence also, and that FW similarly co-opts Carroll’s characters. I’m trying to find that Rolling Stone Interviews book so I can re-read the Simon interview just to make sure my memory hasn’t completely failed me.
I’ve always been under the asumption that they’re saying “Everybody’s got one” as well but when I listen to the vocals isolated (Youtube) I swear it sounds like they’re saying `everybody smoke pot.’ I detect an `s’ sound after `everybody.’ Check it out let know what you think.
it does!
Other cool facts: Lennon composed the song by combining three songs he had been working on. When he learned that a teacher at his old primary school was having his students analyse Beatles’ lyrics, he added a verse of nonsense words to confuse the kids.
The walrus is a reference to the walrus in Lewis Carroll’s poem “The Walrus and the Carpenter” (from the book Through the Looking-Glass). Lennon expressed dismay upon belatedly realising that the walrus was a villain in the poem.
Hi Nina. Did you even read the article?
She might not have realised it goes over three pages. I didn’t at first.
The used to be a Telly show called “Thunderbirds” made by Gerry Anderson. It was huge in England and was enjoyed by adults and children alike. First shown in 1964 I think.
One of the episodes had a machine called the “crablogger” I often wonder if this was in John Lennon’s sub conscious when he wrote the lyrics.
If you get a chance, have a listen to the music each time the “crablogger” came on screen.
If you’re clever enough you can make sense out of anything.
If you’re desperate enough. you’ll believe it.
Nice thought.
The lyric ‘sitting in an English (country) garden’ was adapted/inspired from a popular British song at the time in which Jimmie Rodgers applied music to an old poem, recorded as a children’s record. Cynthia purchased this for Julian, which John inevitably heard playing at home. The original concept of the song came from Lewis Carroll’s poem ‘The Walrus And The Carpenter’. The melody can be heard as far back as 1966 during a chance recording of John with a mouth organ (keyed harmonica) on their last concert tour.
Are you referring to the (erroneous, imo) claim that Lennon was filmed using a melodica to compose the opening notes of Strawberry Fields Forever before their first appearance on Ed Sullivan?
Just a comment to throw into the mix: I have heard the story of John’s friend changing “waiting for the man to come” to “waiting for the van to come.” Whether a coincidence or not I will leave to those more knowledgeable, but there is a play titled “An American Dream” by Edward Albee in which two characters discuss sitting on a cornflake and waiting for the van to come. I am quite certain of this, even though I don’t have the play in front of me. I read the play in 1969 and was instantly struck by the cornflake/van conversation. I have never read anything to corroborate my information, but that doesn’t mean I am in error. On the other hand, I am one of those crazies who hears “Everyone’s f”*cked up” at the end.
At any rate, this is a great site!!!
I heard “Everybody’s f**cked up” on the “Walrus” fade-out, too. And I’ve read some Edward Albee, but not “American Dream.” I searched the ‘net for the script, but only was able to read a synopsis of the play. So, I wasn’t able to confirm any dialogue about two characters sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come. But I WAS able to determine THIS about the characters in “An American Dream:” That everybody’s f**cked up.
All fine and well, but the voices speaking at the end, what are they saying? It’s either three or four voices taken off of some radio or TV show, or perhaps one person doing several voices, the only word I can make out clearly is “grandfather” at one point it sounds like someone saying, quite emphatically, “in the service of a villain.” Where did this come from?
It’s from King Lear. You didn’t read to the end of the article, did you? 😉
Paul is Dead folks love this song. The verse from King Lear at the end “Oh! Untimely death!” Is thought to be a clue to Paul’s death. Not much of a clue in itself, but combine it with the “cranberry sauce – or I buried Paul” on Strawberry Fields Forever” and verses from “Fool on the Hill” – you get a bunch of “clues” on the Magical Mystery Tour LP. Why use that exchange and verses from King Lear? What does it have to do with anything? – or maybe here’s another clue for you all…the Walrus was Paul.
just a brilliant song…nothing like it today…let them try
I love the song, but I’m pretty sure John Lennon was the Walrus because he says so himself. He wrote a song after the Beatles had broken up called God and John says: “I was the Walrus, but now I’m John.”
I prefer the Anthology version. With only electric piano ( which is different from the piano of the Magical Mystery Tour version ), guitar and drums. I think the vocals are exactly the same track. By the way, who plays the drums on the Anthology version ? Paul or Ringo ?
Anthology version is (if I understood it right) the final one without overdubs and it sounds like it.
Ringo was playing the drums on both the Anthology 2 and master version of “I am the Walrus”. Paul is the one playing tambourine and although he did play bass on the early takes, he switched to tambourine and overdubbed his bass later on, hence there is no bass on the Anthology 2 outtake.
Wow, this is a song, that I am literally able to listen to, an unlimited number of times.
I’ve heard it for 40 years.
Firstly, if you need meaning, most reviewers are accurate- it was designed by Lennon in response to a school attempting to actually study Beatles lyrics, and analyze them.
But a discussion of this song, is far better, to get into interpretation, and trivia.
You can see that 81people here, and 300 people on sing365.com, have reviewed this, and on this site, most great songs, get much less.
George Martin, in interviews, waxes eloquently, as to how he was very displeased at being presented with this tune, to record. He was ticked at John for writing it, and tried to get the band to discard it, before recording. (Of course, he still helped them record it.)
He also feels the need to illustrate how he strongly “disapproved of the boys’ drug use”(to say nothing of his probably using hot toddies, martinis, tobacco, etc.,unless he didn’t) .
But the Beatles had the best wisdom, and spent a lot of time, on this stunning gem.
George Martin, of course, was so, so great, and together, they prepared this classic, with all the wonderful effects.
Last year, I listened to it, about 60 times, in a month, even though of course, I heard it in the day.
It may be a good idea, for fans to provide their own interpretation.
I do, and then the songs carry further significance.
By the way, I have seen a few covers of this, on video, and while I realize it is harder to play live obviously, the ones I saw, were a shallow, and hollow interpretation, of Lennon’s masterpiece.
Finally, in placing quotes you have heard or read that John has said, regarding anything, remember that his desire was to always, yes, always, keep people guessing, and to use figurative terminology, in virtually everything.
One of The Beatles and John Lennons greatest songs. When I first got my copy of the Magical Mystery Tour album in 1980, this was instantly my favorite song. From beginning to end this song is amazing and one only John Lennon could have written and The Beatles recorded with George Martin as the producer. He had worked with the Goons, no wonder he loved working with The Beatles. A couple of years later Monty Python arrived and The Beatles were fans of that ,which lead to George Harrison’s involvement with them. I just love this on The Magical Mystery Tour DVD I got a couple of years ago.
Just some further comments. I love this songs intro and great fade out and all the changes of tempo etc in between.One of my personal favorites of all time.
Lennon was definitely at this peak in 1967 with “I Am The Walrus” and a few other gems that year, like “A Day In The Life”, “All You Need Is Love”, “Strawberry Fields Forever”, “Baby You’re A Rich Man”, “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds”,etc… Pure genius!
Not to mention the early Beatles years of pure genius!
One of the most over-rated Beatles songs. If this had been the band’s debut, it wouldn’t have charted.
Lyrics: If Barack Obama put out a song with a bunch of random nonsense, people would grasp meaning in it too; numerologists can find anything they like encoded in the bible. It’s playful in a mean, bully way, not the childlike, carefree playfulness of Hello Goodbye. It tries to beat you over the head with sophomoric ‘deepness’, contrast the subtlety of Blue Jay Way which George tongue-in-cheek insists is mundane. If you’re gonna do a nonsense song, at least make it funny (Mean Mr. Mustard); Walrus is about as funny as Tourette’s syndrome.
Music: The tune is OK, a bit over-produced (like so much late Beatles work). There’s no rock in it, no “Beat”, it’s Beatless. You can’t dance to it, sing along with it, even whistle it in the shower.
Wow, can you miss the point any more than this? Deep? Not. And intentionally so. It’s NONSENSE lyrics. Get it? As for “no rock”… please. Crank this up and it kicks ass. But no worries. Everyone else in the world is wrong and you’re right. Troll the Monkees page.
Add me to the people who considers it the best Beatles recording.
People who complain bring their expectations and their biases to the question, of course. However, calling a purposely overproduced work “overproduced” is naive. Naivete is okay, but why must cluelessness so often declare itself with such a pompous tone? Not “getting it” would not seem a point of pride, in this case.
Whatever its origins and Lennon’s intentions and the haphazard manner of its coming together, and we’ve heard all about that, it continues to be the most successful and affecting absurdist recording – a bomb-throwing art song – ever. I never hear it without being left exhilarated and empty at the same time, as the charm of the nonsense opens a trapdoor to reveal the noisy meaninglessness of life. Interestingly, it escapes feeling dated, despite the gimmickry and druggy 60s hipness, and remains current.
THIS is classic Beatles.Sorry Paul,but 1967 was John’s year with “Strawberry Fields Forever” (so what if was recorded in late 1966,it came out early 1967).”A Day In The Life” & “All You Need Is Love” and this.I don’t know if it was his new plaything Yoko,experimentations with drugs,life through his eyes or combination of the three but he was on fire creatively.
For many years Strawberry fields was my favourite but this one is so much better.
To my honest opinion , its the best song ever ..period.
Not just Lennon at his best but music in its best.
Even now , 48 years (!!!) later , its sounds so good .
But one thing I dont understand in this song , its starts as stereo an goes into mono.
I read that this was done because Lennon taped the radio broadcast ( mono) on the master track.
Or something like that.
But with all the technikes in the studio , why didnt they mixed it into stereo?
Cant find a good answer to that question , why not the whole song in stereo ?
In his book about The Beatles, Jonathan Gould (2007) describes the year 1967 with The Beatles great singles: Strawberry Fields Forver, All You Need Is Love and I Am The Walrus — all are, as we know today, Lennon compositions.
But 1968
Ned Rorum in New York Review of Books, January 1968,
Readers Digest 1968,
The Pengiun Stereo Record Guide first edition,
and Das Grosse Lexikon der Musik 1978,
and many many others for many many years wrote that McCartney was the songwriter, or melody composer in The Beatles, not Lennon.
How could this happen? That contributed to the split of The Beatles.
Once again, Johan, obsessed with your sad hatred of McCartney.
BTW, I didn’t realize you were there, witnessing the demise of the group and what contributed to it.
I wonder if Lennon’s self-righteousness and ego (i.e. look at ME! I”M the important one”) had anything to do with the eventual breakup? I suppose in your eyes, it never existed…..
There’s a spot near the end of the song, shortly before “O, untimely death!” that I can’t entirely make out. the end of the sentence goes something like “you two eggmen down by the dumpster” I can’t understand the beginning though.
I had always assumed John thought he was the Walrus because of the moustache !!
It is also interesting that in Glass Onion, John sings “the walrus was Paul”. That was probably after he discovered that the walrus was the bad guy in the Alice story.
Each time I listen to this song I am amazed by the artistic composition and arrangement. I wonder if these little strings phrases under the verses were John’s or George Martin’s idea. I would even suspect that Paul was involved as he loved these little melodic ornaments. Take the phrase which goes parallel to “… see how they run…”, the strings play a descending line of notes including all 12 half tones, a full octave. You probably don’t learn that in music school to apply in a composition (for practise, yes). But it fits perfectly and makes this part so interesting, and also funny in a sense. Or take the Escher’s staircase-like chord progression in the last part of the song. Just so innovative and brilliant.
That’s the unique blend of the Beatles: they were intelligent, they had humor, and they were bold, they tried out the unheard. And with George Martin they had the congenial mentor to help put that into music. That song is a piece of art, like a great painting.