I Am The Walrus: A Beatles Gem

Recorded and released in 1967, it was included in the Magical Mystery Tour album (originally an EP in England) and in the motion picture of the same name. It also b-sided the Hello Goodbye single. Although the latter is indeed a good song, the fact that it was chosen to lead the single over Walrus could be due to Paul conducting the ship at that time after Epstein's recent demise, which has been referred by Lennon as a boiling point in their relationship. Anyway, I still love the boldness of the whole MMT project!

Lennon had been playing around with some song ideas, the first of which came along by hearing a police siren that inspired the lines "Mister City Policeman sitting...". Then he had another idea about himself sitting in his garden (which John enjoyed doing for hours) and the third was about sitting on a cornflake, probably derived from the latter one.
The walrus reference comes from Lewis Carroll's poem "The Walrus and the Carpenter", included in Alice Adventures in Wonderland sequel "Through the Looking-Glass". He didn't notice at the time the walrus was the villain in the story. He explained in 1980 "I should have said, 'I am the carpenter.' But that wouldn't have been the same, would it?". Carroll's style also inspired such hybrids as "crabalocker" and "texpert", nonce words in the fashion of his poem "Jabberwocky".

In Lennon words "'Walrus' is just saying a dream - the words don't mean a lot. People draw so many conclusions and it's ridiculous... What does it really mean, 'I am the eggman'? It could have been the pudding basin for all I care. It's not that serious." He also mentioned that the whole point of this seemingly nonsense lyrics was to unsettle a teacher of his old school who was teaching Beatles' lyrics as literature.

However, there are a few references to real people in the lyrics:

THE EGGMAN: This one is Eric Burdon, lead singer of The Animals, who was often called the EGG by his friends, an allusion to a sexual episode with a Jamaican girlfriend he had which involved...eggs.

ELEMANTARY PINGUINS: It was Allen Ginsberg he was referring to, among other people in the 60's who went from Jesus to Hare Krishna as it was the fashion. Lennon was skeptical about putting all your faith in one idol and considered this a childish practice.

SEMOLINA PILCHARD: This is quoted to be anti-drug zealot Detective Sergeant Norman Pilcher. Even though he didn't arrest John and Yoko until 1968, he was already known for arresting a number of celebrities on drug charges during the 1960s. On the other hand, semolina pilchard is Liverpool slang for sardine.

YELLOW MATTER CUSTARD:

"Yellow matter custard, green slop pie,
all mixed together with a dead dog's eye.
Slap it on a butty, ten foot thick.
Then wash it all down with a cup of cold sick".

Had you heard this one? It's in fact an old English playground tune that John's childhood friend Pete Shotton brought to his mind.

...The Beatles Bible for their help with Beatles facts; to Photobucket.com for the pictures;
and to AAShane for uploading the HQ video to YouTube.

Finally, thank you for stopping by! Don't miss the guestbook, it is open for all visitors.

SquiDirectory - A categorized Squidoo directory featuring an interesting variety of different subjects ranging from arts and literature, shopping, and eco friendly tips, to vehicles for sale, travel, and everything in between.