silverbeatle August 11th, 2005 10:17PM  

John was interested in critics trying to find the meaning of thier songs, and decided to write the craziest lyrics he could think of, just to see what they would say.

When ask what it meant he said "it means whatever you want it to mean"

anonymous January 22nd, 2006 12:35AM  

Although I don't know about the socialist symbolism, it is true that part of the song was based off of Lewis Caroll's Alice in Wonderland, specifically the story of the Walrus and the Carpenter. John Lennon wrote it as if he were the Walrus that tried to save the clams that were lead to their deaths. In the story though, it was in fact the Carpenter that tried to save the clams from being eaten by the Walrus. He later admitted his mistake, having misinterpreted the story. Also, Lennon had recently recieved a letter from a student in college who had been interpreting Beatles lyrics in class. He wrote a good portion of the song as a riddle for the class to solve.

CroftD1 March 14th, 2006 03:07PM  

First off must everything be tied to John as Wacked-Out Drug Songs!!! Lets have some respect shall we??!! He happened to be one of the most brilliant lyricists of his time and it pisses me off that people would be so rude to someone who did so much for the industry. Good Hell the guy is dead have some respect!! Any ways, addressing those that give a damn. To me is chuck full of inside jokes and things that sounded neat to toy with those that always looked for alternitive motives the Beatles lyrics. I second that the walrus is the symbol of death and that is why he chose it. About the Paul thing, he was just a very different writing style and wasn't as talented as John with the visual imagery like John's lyrics are full of. It was an annoyance of John's that it seemed like all Paul was a good at was a "silly love song" in Paul's response he wrote the song after they broke up in response "What's the Matter with a Silly Love Song?".

anonymous April 18th, 2006 10:07PM  

Just because an artist writes a song on LSD doesn't make it wacked out or nonsensical. Drugs allow musicians to take their music and thoughts in different directions, it doesn't neccesarily turn them into maniacs. Even if the lyrics do sound a bit strange, the beauty always lies within the insanity. Don't ever discredit the later work of Lennon.

sirshoelace June 22nd, 2006 07:52PM  

From Glass Onion:
"I told you 'bout the walrus and me, man
you know that we're as close as can be, man
now here's another clue for you all
.... the walrus is paul"

SOAD4lyfe234 June 26th, 2006 05:56PM  

Well, in Glass Onion it says the walrus was Paul but then in another song by John it says I was the Walrus but now I am Just John.

anonymous June 27th, 2006 07:33PM  

Glass Onion and that were written to confuse people further. Although I Am The Walrus was written to confuse their is going to be some hidden stuff in there.
Speaking as a songwriter who tries to write the odd song that's just supposed to confuse people you can't help putting in jokes and things that are relevant in the lyrics. The song as a whole might not mean anything but I'm sure differen't lines mean something in the warped mind of John.

anonymous September 20th, 2006 04:29PM  

Some of it has been said here but...

This is a very good read (-:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_am_the_walrus

Thorn495 January 9th, 2007 03:49PM  

We all go through the same feelings in life. "I am he, as you are me.." We're all equal.

We've divided ourselves.

This saddens Lennon.

I think he's just making a joke on society's dull game. "I am the walrus.. koo koo catchu!" We can make our own realities. Yes, pyschadelics opened that up in us. As long as our intentions are good, you won't get hung up.

anonymous April 15th, 2007 05:08PM  

There is so much meaning in this song. John was playing with those who were trying to read into every lyric. At first glance, the lyrics are nonsensical, but if you look deeper, you can see a bigger picture. He is talking about the hippie movement, and how it was moving away from the ideals that they started with. He’s crying. In the 4th verse, he is giving his view on free love. What is “yellow matter custard?” In the 6th verse, the expert texpert choking smokers are the stoned college, intellectual hippies and the jokers are authority figures laughing at them and their ideals. This is a direct warning letting the students know that not everybody is listening to them in a way that they might expect. Lennon is warning them that like him, the establishment can use their ideas against them. In the last verse, “Elementary penguin singing Hare Krishna” Lennon admitted that the line describing a penguin singing Hare Krishna was a conscious criticism of the spiritual naivety of putting all your eggs in one basket. If you look through the lens of the establishment, the song is nonsense. If you look through the lens of the hippies, the song is a warning.

anonymous December 27th, 2007 01:21PM  

John wrote this song to make everyone freak out and try and figure out the meaning. It really doesn't have one. It's just gibberish. He wrote it to confuse people.

anonymous January 3rd, 2008 11:28PM  

Basically Lennon had a couple different songs that he was trying to write, inspired by different acid trips. He got a letter from a fan saying that his teacher was having them interpret the lyrics, so he combined the songs and made a totally nonsensical one. He remarked to a friend, "Let the f*****s work that one out."

drencrom68 September 27th, 2008 10:32PM  

Do you people ever read what the author of a song
has to say about it's "meaning"?


"PLAYBOY: "I am the Walrus."

LENNON: 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 "Element'ry 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

PLAYBOY: The song is very complicated, musically.

LENNON: It actually was fantastic in stereo, but you never hear it all. There was too much to get on. It was too messy a mix. One track was live BBC Radio -- Shakespeare or something -- I just fed in whatever lines came in.

PLAYBOY: What about the walrus itself?

LENNON: It's from "The Walrus and the Carpenter." "Alice in Wonderland." To me, it was a beautiful poem. 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....""


There you go.

anonymous February 10th, 2009 06:40PM  

I am walrus and many Beatles songs wil probably never be fully interpretted. it might have had something to do with drugs but i think the writing of the Beatles is genuis. They are so ahead of their time that some people think these songs are weird and crazy when they are actually genuis.

alvi February 16th, 2009 07:05PM  

Since the first time I heard it I thought this is a great song.I don't know what Lennon refers to when he says "I am the walrus" but I'm absolutely shure that whatever it means he was talking abuot himself.I don't think that he wrote that kind of song just to make lyric interpreters try to work in vain.I think that they(us too)couldn't understand it.So he thought that telling them/us it doesn't has a meaning would make them/us look more foolish.As you all know,in the song "God" he says "I was the walrus but now I am John".You can see that he cares only about the fact of being John and he would do everything to make the others believe him.he says "Alright,i lied.I was the walrus but who cares.I am John now that is all what matters." In fact this is what we do in our everyday life.Tell the truth(because we have lied about something before)to make the others believe another thing we're saying(which we think is far more important).
Just think about it.Thinking is good!

nikkinikki April 5th, 2009 05:08PM  

ok, well since the main writer is dead, and no one really has any clue, why don't ya'll just kick back, turn the song on, and watch the clouds go by overhead? seriously, they'd most like you do that rather than arguing on whether or not this is a socialist or political matter. chiiiiilll out

anonymous May 14th, 2009 02:17AM  

This is a very random song by Lennon. The most logical explination for it is that they were high on drugs when singing or writing it yet it is still a good song. It is just basically an extreamly random and meaningless song and thats basically it.

thomasfly June 9th, 2009 02:20PM  

"I Am the Walrus" is the most glaring / salient example of Lennon's compositions that may be characterized as "lyrical impressionism" - the first example being “Hey Bulldog.”

From WikiPedia: the "musical impressionism (of the 19th century) focused on suggestion and atmosphere rather than strong emotion or the depiction of a story."

It’s not clear that Lennon consciously set out to create a new "artistic movement" in popular/rock music – in other words, that one day he said to himself, “I think I’ll write some songs that superficially appear to be nonsensical and meaningless – which, in fact, (may) HAVE NO concrete meaning - but which, nonetheless, strongly suggest some kind of meaning … conveying an interpretation and / or feeling subliminally.”

But, as if to acknowledge that he was “up to something,” "I Am the Walrus" itself refers to a previous example: "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds;" and the last example by Lennon (as a Beatle, at least), "Come Together," refers back to “Walrus” via the phrase, "he has walrus gumboot."

Precisely why Lennon wrote such songs is open to speculation. Probably he wrote them because he could (and not many good songwriters can), but Lennon also seemed to enjoy being a bit inscrutable at times, as if his ability to mystify the masses were evidence of his intellectual superiority (which perhaps it was).

Most interestingly (and hardly insignificantly, it seems) "I Am the Walrus" begins with a statement that is prima facie false: “I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together” - leading to an interpretation that (like "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds") is "hiding in plain sight" ...

in truth, I am CLEARLY (by definition!) not he, and you CLEARLY are not me, and (by inference) we CLEARLY are not all together - the latter circumstance being the reason that “I’m crying.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaWKjb0oRyo

Sheryl Crow has written song lyrics that also may be described as impressionistic - "If It Makes You Happy" is one example.

why_hate_lennon October 8th, 2009 08:38AM  

What the crap?!?!? Why does everyone think it is about drugs? I mostly think it is about what ever you think it is but who cares if they where on drugs when they wrote there music? It was good so why knock it?

anonymous November 5th, 2009 03:45PM  

The eggman is Eric Burdon, he told John Lennnon about something that happened to him where an egg did a lot,after that John called him the eggman.The walrus is the walrus from"The walrus and the carpenter