anonymous May 4th, 2006 04:53PM  

This song is actually John messing with all the people who tried to analyze his songs. He wrote a bunch of confusing lyrics that he knew people would take the wrong way!

seasend January 5th, 2008 12:58PM  

Maybe I'm reading into this too much, but my 10 year old daughter and I have been recently discussing The Beatles lyrics. To me the Glass Onion represents the many layers of John's personality and he has made it glass by his open and revealing lyrics. He sights several examples in the song to offer insight into what he was offering in those particular songs. Does this make sense to anyone else?

Thanks,
Steve...

anonymous January 13th, 2008 05:53PM  

For people saying it's about Lennon looking at Pauls dead body through a glass onion:

wouldn't it be more of a somber song if that were the case. excluding the last 10 seconds, the entire songs pretty upbeat. I think that, like in "strawberry fields" and all the other songs they mention, they were stoned out of their minds while writing this.

drencrom68 September 27th, 2008 10:21PM  

Glass onions were large hand blown glass bottles used aboard sailing ships to hold wine or brandy.

John just like the sound of it.

Again, listen to the Lennon Tapes or read the playboy interview.

Sheeszh!

Winnipegger September 14th, 2009 02:00PM  

This is just John being John. A lot of the song has to do with taking digs at people who tried, in all seriousness, to interpret his lyrics.

"I told you about Strawberry Fields,
You know the place where nothing is real
Well here's another place you can go
Where everything flows."

This is merely an allusion to his earlier song Strawberry Fields Forever, and promises the interpreter information about "another place [he] can go", which is most likely just Lennonese for "Go to hell, all you people who think that analyzing my lyrics gives you some insight into my head."

"Looking through the bent-backed tulips
To see how the other half lives
Looking through a glass onion."

Again, this is addressed to those same people. There is no such thing as a bent-backed tulip, per se. However, if one is looking through them or spying on someone, they would normally brush them aside with both hands to get a clearer view. The "other half" is Lennon himself, or anyone else who is the subject of scrutiny. If there actually was such a thing as a glass onion, it is likely that looking through it would distort reality and only give a partial picture of the subject, just as only analyzing his lyrics would. The picture would be incomplete, and not indicative of a total reality.

However, the Beatles are not just John Lennon, and John Lennon is not the Beatles -- he is just one part of it, and for this reason he introduces various things that refer to Paul:

"I told you about 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."

John wasn't the walrus as he stated in "I Am the Walrus", it was Paul that was the walrus, but this could have been mentioned just to fool people.

"Standing on the cast iron shore-yeah,
Lady Madonna trying to make ends meet-yeah.
Looking through a glass onion.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah.
Looking through a glass onion."

The "cast iron shore" is actually a local name for the Liverpool docks, but is likely incuded here because it sounded like an interesting scene if taken literally. Again, though, "Lady Madonna" refers back to Paul, who wrote the song of the same name.

In the same way, Paul is brought up again in the following passage, because he again wrote the song referred to:
"I told you about the fool on the hill,
I tell you man he living there still.
Well here's another place you can be,
Listen to me."

And again in the final lines, Paul is brought up, being the writer of "Fixing a Hole":
"Fixing a hole in the ocean
Trying to make a dove-tail joint-yeah
Looking through a glass onion."

"Dove-tail joint" is just another manufactured word combination, comparable to "bent-backed tulips" and "cast-iron shore". While there is such a thing in woodwork as a dovetail joint, the suggestion instead is that what is meant is a specific type of marijuana cigarette, but there is no such thing. It just sounds good within the context of the verse.

Barclay October 2nd, 2009 06:37PM  

I think that (possibly) this ill-tempered rant has got something in common with "How do you sleep". Lennon drops a few references to lyrics allegedly written by Paul McCartney - we hear that he, Lennon, told us about the Fool on the Hill, he mentions Lady Madonna trying to make ends meet, he also refers to fixing a hole. The phrase "the Walrus was Paul" in my mind reflects the notion that to a point Paul McCartney, like the Walrus, is his creation and reflects his desire to be both for and against the Establishment. The reason it is called Glass Onion is because although there are apparently layers of meaning it is all in fact clear - they weren't called "Lennon/McCartney" (i.e. Lennon first, McCartney second) for nothing!

anonymous November 19th, 2009 08:55AM  

first verse: This is a place better then strawberry fields,even though strawberry fields is a paridice. second verse:the anciant celts death symbol is a walrus,when the made this song there was a myth that paul is dead(the walrus was paul.) third verse:no meaning,if paul is dead then they are honoring him by naming two of his songs.(fool on the hill & fixing a hole.)