A song which features as one of The Beatles‘ most memorable tracks is “meaningless”, according to songwriter John Lennon.
The long-standing writing partner of Paul McCartney apparently hated that the song in question was relegated to being a B-side. In interviews given after the release of the song, Lennon would call I Am The Walrus a meaningless piece of work which would be indistinguishable from nonsense. It may be a fair assessment given Lennon wrote the song while in the midst of an acid trip, but the comment comes with a bit of resentment in tow. McCartney’s Hello, Goodbye served as the A-side to the single release, with I Am the Walrus dropped onto the B-side.
Despite his alleged resentment at the song’s positioning on the B-side, it marked a massive overhaul for Lennon as a songwriter. The Don’t Let Me Down hitmaker cited Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, and Lewis Carroll as influences on the song, which would feature as a Magical Mystery Tour highlight.
Lennon said of the song: “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 [Ono]… I’d seen Allen Ginsberg and some other people who liked [Bob] Dylan and Jesus going on about Hare Krishna. It was Ginsberg, in particular, I was referring to.
“The words ‘Element’ry penguin’ meant that it’s naïve to just go around chanting Hare Krishna or putting all your faith in one idol. In those days I was writing obscurely, à la Dylan. […] It never dawned on me that Lewis Carroll was commenting on the capitalist 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 realised 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? [Sings, laughing] ‘I am the carpenter …’
I Am the Walrus is an historic moment for The Beatles. Not only did it top the charts with Hello, Goodbye and Magical Mystery Tour, but it marked the band’s first release after the death of their manager, Brian Epstein. Some have spent decades trying to figure out who “The Eggman” may refer to, with some musicians even claiming it was them who Lennon had referred to.
Eric Burdon of The Animals once claimed to be The Eggman in question, though this remains unverified. Lennon would make a nod to who the Walrus was in Glass Onion, a song featured on The White Album.
He wrote: “I told you ’bout the walrus and me, man / You know that we’re as close as can be, man / Well here’s another clue for you all / The walrus was Paul.”
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