Beatles: Glass Onion Meaning

Song Released: 1968

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Glass Onion 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
Looking through the bent-backed tulips
To See how the other half lives
Looking through a glass...

1.  

   anonymous

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   Nov 20th 2012, 15:57 report

   
   

   It ain't that complex. You peel back layers of an onion to see further into it. With many many layers until you reach the core. Their lives were on display for all to watch. Hence, looking through a glass onion meant all the good and the bad of their lives was on display for all to see.

   
   
   
   

2.  

   anonymous

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   Jun 2nd 2012, 01:12 report

   
   

   A glass onion is a bottle of thick glass - looking through it would give distorted view - kids look through for fun; everybody sees it differently. - gerryu

   
   
   
   

3.  

   anonymous

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   Feb 25th 2012, 21:01 report

   
   

   It's really clear. Can't you all see through it? It's a song full of nonsense. And that's the truth. Don't waste your time and GET SOME LIVES!

   
   
   
   

4.  

   ng

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   Jan 5th 2012, 10:08 report

   
   

   The glass onion that John is looking through are his round glasses.

   
   
   
   

5.  

   anonymous

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   Nov 13th 2011, 19:34 report

   
   

   John actually wrote this song for no other reason than to confuse people. He didn't like the way people made their lives about interpreting The Beatles' songs, (ironic, right?) so he wrote all of this to get them talking. For example, "the walrus was Paul" line after John wrote and sang a song called "I am the Walrus." This made people wonder and debate about who really *was* supposed to be the walrus. Confusing much? Now you see my point. ;)

   
   
   
   

6.  

   anonymous

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   Jul 3rd 2011, 13:57 report

   
   

   A glass onion is a coffin with a glass top...

   
   
   
   

7.  

   anonymous

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   May 29th 2011, 21:27 report

   
   

   Onion glass is a glass (not plastic) syringe.
   

   
   
   
   

8.  

   Quick

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   May 3rd 2011, 06:40 report

   
   

   Even though John has stated that this is all gibberish to fuck with peoples mind when they try to interpret his songs I still believe it has some meaning. Many artists say the same thing, take Don Mcleans American Pie. he says that the song doesn't really have a meaning but it does... So to Glass onion I think it is mostly a way to fool people who try to understand the song but underneath it still a meaning.
   
   In verse 1: SFF is a fictive place/song just like GO and "another place to go" I belive (as others has stated) "go to hell you who tries to interpret my songs". "See how other lives" is bout fans trying to see how John and the beatles think by reading in the songs
   
   Verse 2: Is based on the Paul is dead hoax and by saying that Paul was the walrus he just messing with the fans minds but in the same time saying that, even though they are about to split Paul and John are still good friends. "Cast iron shore" is a reference to Liverpool.
   
   Verse 3: Once again he mention a song and this time (I believe) it is dedicated to the fans trying to figure the lyrics out and in the same time joking around with Paul is dead hoax. The fools are those who reading the lyrics to much and they still to this day "living there still" cause they cant understand these lyrics. reason for that is that they dig too deep, trying to use this as a proof for the death of Paul or something else. "Here's another place you can be" is either once again "go to hell" or John saying just let it go, don't bother reading this things but just listen to the song

   
   
   
   

9.  

   anonymous

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   Apr 25th 2011, 21:15 report

   
   

   you are all forgetting about one other drug..one that is smoked in a pipe that resembles an onion: methamphetamine. as we all know, thed fab four regularly experimented with drugs, including lsd, heroine, marijuana, etc. it is not unrealistic to believe they also tried speed. having been recently created, it was somewhat popular in the 60's..especially in europe. john references several songs here, in fact all of the verses are references to previous beatles songs. these songs all have one thing in common: having the reputation of being about drugs. if in fact this were true, why could this song's meaning not be to enlighten listeners on 'nother drug they enjoy as well. "here's another place you can go.."

   
   
   
   

10.  

    anonymous

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    Jun 13th 2010, 22:17 report

    
    

    This song was just John messing with all the people who tried analyzing his songs. Which is also why he refers to songs such as I Am The Walrus and Strawberry Fields, because both of those were meant to do the same thing.

    
    
    
    

11.  

    anonymous

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    Apr 25th 2010, 21:49 report

    
    

    John thought the PID's were funny and he decided that if he referenced the main images people would think he really was dead and then he could come out and tell them they were wrong

    
    
    
    

12.  

    bobdylan

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    Feb 15th 2010, 12:57 report

    
    

    I think Winneberger (Or whatever his/her name is) really did a fine job with this song, tracking down all the references, the word play. To add my two penny perception, I think the glass onion simply refers to John's glasses. They were pretty funky looking.
    The song's a joyful reflection on the Beatles catalog. Get it, reflection--it's a metaphor. I just smoked a dove-tail joint, so I'm sort of like looking though a glass, darkly, myself. HaHa!

    
    
    
    

13.  

    anonymous

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    Feb 15th 2010, 12:11 report

    
    

    the first guy was right. it is indeed just the beatles telling people not to read too much into their lyrics, its quite ironic that you lot have fallen for the exact same trap with this song

    
    
    
    

14.  

    anonymous

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    Feb 8th 2010, 17:26 report

    
    

    My thoughts are that john needed "filler" on his album, so he thought why not make a song just reusing lines and ideas from older songs. And the walrus was paul lyric was john just giving something to paul to soften the blow of him soon deciding to leave.

    
    
    
    

15.  

    anonymous

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    Nov 19th 2009, 08:55 report

    
    

    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.)

    
    
    
    

16.  

    Barclay

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    Oct 2nd 2009, 18:37 report

    
    

    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!

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
    
    
    
    

17.  

    Winnipegger

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    Sep 14th 2009, 14:00 report

    
    

    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.

    
    
    
    

18.  

    anonymous

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    Jul 28th 2009, 20:36 report

    
    

    To Steev, when John says the walrus was Paul, it is a hint for the PID myth, because in India the walrus is a sign of death.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
    
    
    
    

19.  

    anonymous

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    Oct 29th 2008, 12:05 report

    
    

    People made bongs out of anything made of glass, glass ornaments like balls and onions were common just heat with a torch and poke a hole in the side and the top install a bowl and a straw and you got a bong.
    
    Beatles were hippies they took lots of drugs. Hippies loved words with double meaning, I'm sure he wrote the song when he was smoking dope anyways, its a term druggies use sometimes, if you don't like it stop calling your lawn grass because the same smelly hippies call weed that too sometimes.. Besides someone killed that asshat Lennon anyways, I hear he was a asshole Yoko Ono was the ony one with real talent fuck the Beatles.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
    
    
    
    

20.  

    anonymous

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    Oct 20th 2008, 04:03 report

    
    

    A glass onion is a crystal ball. When you "look through a glass onion", you foretell the future; try to find hidden meaning; try to clarify; try to experience or explain the a different dimension of space and time.