I Am the Walrus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "I Am the Walrus" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Single by the Beatles | ||
| from the album Magical Mystery Tour | ||
| A-side(s) | "Hello, Goodbye" | |
| Released | 1967-11-24 (UK) 1967-11-27 (U.S.) |
|
| Format | 7" | |
| Recorded | Abbey Road: 1967-09-05 - 1967-09-28 | |
| Genre | Psychedelic | |
| Length | 4:34 | |
| Label | Parlophone (UK) Capitol Records (U.S.) |
|
| Producer(s) | George Martin | |
| Chart positions | ||
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||
| the Beatles singles chronology | ||
| "All You Need Is Love" (1967) |
"Hello, Goodbye" (1967) |
"Lady Madonna" (1968) |
| Music sample | ||
|
"I Am the Walrus" (file info) |
||
| Magical Mystery Tour track listing | ||
| "Your Mother Should Know" (5) |
"I Am the Walrus" (6) |
"Hello, Goodbye" (7) |
| Love track listing | ||
| "Eleanor Rigby/Julia (transition)" (4) |
"I Am the Walrus" (5) |
"I Want to Hold Your Hand" (6) |
"I Am the Walrus" is a 1967 song by The Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon-McCartney. Lennon later claimed he wrote the first two lines on separate acid trips.[1] The song was used in the Beatles' 1967 television film and album Magical Mystery Tour, and was released as the B-side to the #1 hit "Hello, Goodbye". It is one of the Beatles' most striking and effective experimental songs from the psychedelic period, and is noted as being one of the most adventurous examples of Lennon's wordplay.
Lennon composed the song by combining three separate songs he had been working on. Additionally, when he learned that a teacher at his old primary school was having his students analyse Beatles' lyrics, he added a verse of specifically nonsensical words designed to confuse listeners.
The walrus within the song is a reference to the walrus in Lewis Carroll's The Walrus and the Carpenter. Lennon later expressed dismay at learning that the walrus was the villain within the poem (see below).
Contents |
[edit] Origins
The genesis of the lyrics is found in three different song ideas that Lennon was working on, the first of which was inspired by hearing a police siren while at his home in Weybridge; Lennon wrote the lines "Mis-ter cit-y police-man" to the rhythm of the siren. The second idea was a short rhyme about Lennon sitting in his Weybridge garden, while the third idea was a nonsense lyric about sitting on a corn flake. Unable to finish the ideas as three different songs, he instead chose to combine them into one.
Sometime later, Lennon received a letter from a pupil attending Quarry Bank Grammar School, which he had attended as a child. The writer mentioned that the English master was making his class analyse Beatles song lyrics. (John wrote an answer to the letter, dated September 1, 1967, which was auctioned by Christie's of London in 1992.)
Lennon, amused that a teacher was putting so much effort into understanding Beatles lyrics, decided to write the most confusing, unusual lyric he could. Lennon's childhood friend and former fellow member of the Quarrymen Peter Shotton was visiting, and he asked Shotton about a silly playground nursery rhyme that they used to sing when they were kids.
Shotton remembered the words:
- "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".
Lennon borrowed a couple of words from the rhyme, added the three old unfinished ideas and the result was the lyrics to "I Am the Walrus". Beatles official biographer Hunter Davies was present while the song was being written and wrote an account in his 1968 book on the band. Upon finishing the lyrics, Lennon remarked to Shotton, "Let the fuckers work that one out."[2]
An interesting observation about the music is that all the chords used are major chords or seventh chords, and all the 'musical' letters of the alphabet (A, B, C, D, E, F, and G) are used. The song ends with the descending progression A7, G7, F7, E7, D7, C7, and B7, repeated over and over as the song fades out.
It is likely that the line "See how they fly like Lucy in the sky" refers to Lennon's earlier psychedelic song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.
Lennon explained much of the song in an interview he gave to Playboy in 1980:[1]
- "The first line was written on one acid trip one weekend. The second line was written on the next acid trip the next weekend, and it was filled in after I met Yoko. Part of it was putting down Hare Krishna. All these people were going on about Hare Krishna, Allen Ginsberg in particular. The reference to "Elementary penguin" is the elementary, naive attitude of going around chanting, "Hare Krishna," or putting all your faith in any one idol. I was writing obscurely, a la Dylan, in those days." (Lennon said this despite the remarkably little-noted fact that the song's opening line, "I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together", seems an obvious parody of the opening line of the song "Marching to Pretoria", by The Weavers: "I'm with you and you're with me and we are all together.")
- "It never dawned on me that Lewis Carroll was commenting on the capitalist and social system. I never went into that bit about what he really meant, like people are doing with the Beatles' work. Later, I went back and looked at it and realized that the walrus was the bad guy in the story and the carpenter was the good guy. I thought, Oh, shit, I picked the wrong guy. I should have said, 'I am the carpenter.' But that wouldn't have been the same, would it? [Singing] 'I am the carpenter....'"
The song also contains the unusual exclamation goo goo g'joob. Various unsatisfactory hypotheses exist regarding the origin and meaning of these syllables. One claim is that the phrase was derived from the very similar "koo koo ka choo" in Paul Simon's song Mrs. Robinson, written in 1967. However, the film The Graduate, where "Mrs. Robinson" debuted, was not released until December 1967, a month after the release of "I Am the Walrus", and The Graduate Original Soundtrack (which contained only fragments of the final version of "Mrs. Robinson") was not released until January 1968. 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 Lennon was a reader and admirer of Joyce's.[3]
The unusual monologue buried in the mix towards the end of the song is a few lines of Shakespeare's King Lear (Act IV, Scene VI), which were added to the song direct from an AM radio receiving the broadcast of the play on the BBC Home Service (or possibly the BBC Third Programme).[2]
The basic backing track of "I Am the Walrus" featuring the Beatles was released in 1996 on Anthology 2. George Martin arranged and added an orchestral accompaniment that included violins, cellos, horns, clarinet and a 16-piece choir. Paul McCartney has said more recently that Lennon gave very specific instructions to Martin as to how he wished the orchestration to be scored, including singing most of the parts as a guide. A large group of vocalists (eight girls and eight boys), named "Mike Sammes Singers", took part in the recording as well.
The original 1967 stereo mix of the record has an interesting twist: At almost exactly two minutes into the song, the mix changes from regular stereo to "fake stereo", with most of the bass on one channel, and most of the treble on the other. The mix appears to 'wander' sonically in the fadeout, from left to right. The reason for the change in mixes was that the radio broadcast was inserted during the mono mixdown. The U.S. mono single mix also includes an extra bar of music before the words "yellow matter custard". The U.S. version opens with a four-beat chord while foreign mixes feature six beats on the initial chord.
In 2006, the first-ever stereo mix of the complete song (from beginning to end, including the "fake stereo" second half) was issued on the Beatles' album Love.
[edit] Who was the Walrus?
In the booklet that accompanies the Magical Mystery Tour album, "I Am the Walrus" is given the subtitle (in small print) "'No you're not!' said Little Nicola." The 1968 Beatles song "Glass Onion", written by Lennon, and featured on the White Album, refers to earlier Beatles compositions. Referring to "I Am the Walrus", Lennon sings, "Here's another clue for you all, the walrus was Paul."
In the 1980 Playboy interview, John responded to the confusion:
"I threw the line in — 'the Walrus was Paul' — just to confuse everybody a bit more. And I thought 'Walrus' has now become me, meaning 'I am the one.' Only it didn't mean that in this song."
Lennon also comments in The Beatles Anthology that he wrote the song at a point when the band was beginning to fall apart, and he hoped that by inserting this line in combination with "I told you 'bout the walrus and me man, you know that we're as close as can be man", he could begin to patch things up with the band.
Lennon said that the fact that McCartney was dressed as a walrus on the cover of the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour LP inspired the line. Also, Lennon himself was dressed as a walrus in the music video for "I Am the Walrus", instead of Paul who is wearing a hippopotamus costume.
Paul also responded to the lyric in an interview broadcast on a Beatles documentary on WYNY 1981:
- "[John] happened to have a line go 'the walrus was Paul' and we had a great giggle to say 'yeah, let's do that,' because everybody's gonna read into it and go crackers cause they all thought that John was the walrus."
On Lennon's 1970 solo album Plastic Ono Band, the song "God" contains the lines "I was the walrus, but now I'm John."
[edit] Cover versions
- Men Without Hats recorded a version for their 1991 album Sideways.
- Spooky Tooth recorded a version for their 1969 album The Last Puff.
- Leo Sayer covered the song for the 1976 ephemeral musical documentary All This and World War II.
- Joe Pop-O-Pie covered the song on Joe's Third Album.
- Manchester rock band Oasis covered the song live on numerous occasions, and released one version on the B-side to their 1994 single "Cigarettes & Alcohol". The track can also be found on their album The Masterplan.
- Marc Bonilla released an instrumental cover version on his 1993 album American Matador.
- A performance of the song by actor and comedian Jim Carrey appears on George Martin's album In My Life. At the end of his version, he cries, "There, I did it! I've defiled a timeless piece of art! For my next trick I'll paint a clown face on the Mona Lisa using the Shroud of Turin as a drop cloth!"
- Frank Zappa covered the song during his 1988 tour (actually, Ike Willis sang it). Zappa was refused the rights to issue his cover version of this and other Beatles tunes by then-catalog owner Michael Jackson, who was offended by Zappa's "Why Don't You Like Me?," which mocked the pop star. Thus, these recordings have yet to appear on an official release, although audience recordings have circulated on bootlegs.
- In 2004, the rock band Styx performed a cover of the song at Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival, where the song was received so well that it was the basis of a whole album of covers, 2005's The Big Bang Theory, as well as consistently being played by Styx during concert. Their cover reached the Top 10 on the Mediabase Classic Rock charts.
- The German singer Klaus Lage released a closely translated German version of the song on his 1980 debut album Die Musikmaschine.
- The German band Die Toten Hosen covered the song on their 1999 album Crash Landing.
- The punk band Gray Matter covered the song on their 1985 album Food for Thought
- The band Oingo Boingo covered the song on their 1994 album Boingo.
- Jeff Martin (of Racer X) made a heavy metal cover of "I Am The Walrus" on his solo album The Fool (2006), with bandmate Paul Gilbert.
- Japanese rock band Boris collaborated with noise legend Merzbow for a cover of "I Am The Walrus". This was released on the Walrus/Groon 12" EP in 2007.
[edit] Cultural references
[edit] Parodies
- "Piggy in the Middle" by the Rutles
- "The Mole from the Ministry" by XTC (under the pseudonym The Dukes of Stratosphear)
[edit] Television references
- Comedian Chris Farley referenced the song during a skit on Saturday Night Live in 1993. Acting as motivational speaker Matt Foley, Farley speaks to a group of teenagers who had just thrown eggs onto a house. At one point in his speech, Foley exclaims "Hey man, look at me go, I'm throwing eggs! I'm the eggman, GOO... GOO... GOO JOOB!"
- In the short lived Weird Al Show, there was a cartoon segment called "FatMan" where Al played a superhero of the same name who, due to a glandular problem, would become obese and have superhero-like powers. In one episode, an enemy by the name of "The Eggman" introduced himself, then following the barking of a Walrus in his helicopter commented, "and that's the Walrus," to which a nearby police officer exclaimed "Goo goo goo joob!"
- In the BBC comedy show The Office, Tim Canterbury references the song: "It's like an alarm clock's gone off, and I've just got to get away. I think it was John Lennon who said, 'Life is what happens when you're making other plans,' and that's how I feel. Although he also said, 'I am the Walrus, I am the eggman,' so I don't know what to believe."
- In Six Feet Under, a reference to the song is made in one of the characters' dreams. David sees his boyfriend Keith with a bucket of eggs; the latter then declares: "I am the eggman," to which David replies, "Goo goo ga joob?".
- The Simpsons has referenced the song multiple times:
- In "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer)", Homer eats too many hot peppers at a local chili fair and experiences what resembles a bad acid trip. He stumbles around the fairgrounds, and at one point has a vision of Jasper saying "Goo goo ga joob?".
- In Bart of War, Bart gets trippy from an old novelty Beatles soda, and begins hallucinating. He remarks, "Yellow matter custard, dripping from a dead dog's eye," as Milhouse morphs through the different phases of John Lennon's career.
- A SpongeBob SquarePants episode called "Sing a Song of Patrick" originally had the title "I am the Starfish". It was changed because EMI didn't allow the producers to parody it. (as the song in the episode was supposed to be hated by the Bikini Bottomites)
- In an episode of Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, the title characters eat bad sushi and envision themselves underwater. Ami exclaims, "I see a walrus and we are heading straight for it's mouth!" to which Yumi replies, "We're goning to be ku-ku-ka-chewed!"
- The Doctor Who serial The Three Doctors references the song. It happens when one of the Doctors tries to explain that he and the other two Doctors are all the same person. His explanation follows closely to the lyrics when he says, "I am he, and he is me..." Jo Grant, his main companion at the time, breaks in and finishes the line, "and we are all together, goo goo goo joob?" This confuses the Doctors until the assistant explains, "It's a song by the Beatles."
- Stephen Colbert has opened his show, The Colbert Report, with the line, "I am the walrus, koo koo ka-truth."
- In one episode of Yvon of the Yukon, Harland kills Yvon's pet walrus. Yvon is convinced that the walrus is still alive, and finds a man that looks like one. After he hugs the man for a long time, the man climbs onto a truck, and complains to Yvon, "I am not a walrus. I am the egg man!" as he throws eggs at Yvon.
- In a Family Guy parody of Kids Say the Darndest Things, Bill Cosby pretends to go skiing and yells the line "Goo goo goo joob!" for no known reason.
- The X-Files has referenced the song multiple times:
- In the episode "Eve", Dana Scully asks Eve 8, "Are you Sally Kendrick?" to which she replies, "No. But she is me... and I am her... and we are all together!"
- In "Hollywood AD", a speech purportedly by Jesus Christ recorded on the surface of a piece of pottery is translated as saying "I am the bearded cow-like sea beast." The original Aramaic is heard as "Goo goo g'joob."
- In episode 2.10 of the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "What's My Line, Part Two," Xander says, "I am the bugman, coo coo ka choo," when looking for information on an assassin made entirely of bugs.
- In the "Asses To Ashes" episode of The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air, when Philip Banks is congratulating Carl Robertson on his election victory, a forgetful Carl mistakens Philip's name. When Philip corrects him, Carl replies, "And I am the walrus, coo coo ka choo!"
[edit] Movie references
- Ferris Bueller: "I quote John Lennon: 'I don't believe in Beatles — I just believe in me'. A good point there. After all, he was the Walrus. I could be the Walrus - I'd still have to bum rides off of people."
- The Big Lebowski (1998) references the song as follows:
- The Dude: "It's like what Lenin said... you look for the person who will benefit, and, uh, uh..."
- Donny: "I am the walrus."
- The Dude: "You know what I'm trying to say..."
- Walter Sobchak: "That fucking bitch..."
- Donny: "I am the walrus."
- Walter Sobchak: "Shut the fuck up, Donny! V.I. Lenin! Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov!"
- In The Million Dollar Hotel (2000), one of the residents of the hotel (played by Peter Stormare) claims that he is the Walrus and complains that he never received "royalties" for all the songs he wrote for the Beatles. He plays "I Am the Walrus" during the film's climax.
- In The Breakfast Club, Brian mutters over his essay "Who am I? Who am I? I am the Walrus."
[edit] Other
- There is a musical reference in Veruca Salt's song "Volcano Girls" (explaining who the Seether was, an earlier Veruca Salt song):
"I told you about the Seether before.
You know the one that's neither or nor.
Well here's another clue if you please,
The Seether's Louise."
which is similar in lyrics and sound to "Glass Onion" (explaining who the Walrus was):
"I told you 'bout the walrus and me man,
You know that we're as close as can be man.
Here's another clue for you all,
The walrus was Paul."
- I.M.D. Walrus (I am dee walrus) is a character in Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie. He is head of "The Eggheads" which is a kind of scientific organization on the planet Kahani.
- 9-years-old Oskar Schell, the narrator of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer recalls his Dad who sometimes would whistle "I Am the Walrus" — "because that was his favorite song, even though he couldn't explain what it meant, which frustrated me."
- In Strong Bad's 151st email, Strong Bad (as he often does with postal abbreviations) confuses Matt M. WA for "Matt M., Walrus Association". An easter egg found by clicking "WA" brings up a mock business card for "Walrus Association", and the quote at the bottom reads "Koo koo ka-choo or summat", an obvious reference to the famous chorus.
- The main villain of the Sonic the Hedgehog Series is named Doctor Eggman, possibly referencing this song. Further, in the game Sonic Adventure 2, the character's theme song includes the line "I am the Eggman."
- In the spin-off Sonic the Hedgehog American comic book series published by Archie Comics, the story in Sonic the Hedgehog #75 is titled "I Am the Eggman" in reference to Doctor Eggman (see above).
- In Stephen King's Dreamcatcher, one of the main characters, Henry, continually quotes the song and calls himself the "eggman" or the "walrus."
- In the Broadway musical Avenue Q, the character Princeton makes Kate a mix tape with "I Am the Walrus" on it.
- The Beatles tribute band Yellow Matter Custard was named after a lyric in this song. It is composed of Matt Bissonette (of Joe Satriani), Mike Portnoy (of Dream Theater), Neal Morse (of Spock's Beard), and Paul Gilbert (of Racer X and Mr. Big).
- In the Ricky Nelson song "Garden Party", Nelson refers to John Lennon's attendance at at concert at Madison Square Garden with the words, "Yoko brought her walrus".
- In the Firesign Theater recording "The Further Adventures of Nick Danger" on the album How Can You Be in Two Places at Once When You're Not Anywhere at All, there are references to numerous Beatles songs, most notably "Rocky Raccoon", as well as the use of "Goo Goo ga Joob". The album cover also features the likeness of John Lennon next to Groucho Marx, a visual pun on Marx/Lenin, the architects of Soviet Communism.
- In the MMORPG RuneScape, while doing a treasure trail, you may come across a man named Uri who makes random jokes on culture. One of his jokes is: "I am the eggman. Or you one of the eggmen?". Your character will respond with "No, I am the walrus!".
- In a Ren & Stimpy comic,(in the back there was an ask Stimpy, who goes by Dr. Stupid, page) a child asked Stimpy "Who Am I?", Stimpy replies, "I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together. I am the egg man. They are the egg men. I am the walrus. Koo koo ka-joob!"
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Sheff, David (2000). All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-25464-4.
- ^ a b About the Beatles. I Am the Walrus.
- ^ The Modern World. The Beatles and James Joyce.
[edit] References
- Songfacts - I Am The Walrus - Accessed March 27, 2006
- ¹Miles, Barry. Paul McCartney - Many Years From Now. Secker & Warburg, 1997. Page: 357. ISBN 0-436-28022-1.
- MoreThings "existential" analysis of the song
