I Am the Walrus

This song is freaking amazing!!! The lyrics always blow my mind, no matter how many times I listen to it!!!

@MetaLuna Anybody notice all the "Mister City Policeman sitting pretty little policemen in a row" telling us how we must interpret the meaning of the song—that it's just a joke—and who knows" Maybe it is. But their ain't nothin' funny about penguins and people kickin' Edgar Allan Poe..<br /> <br /> And it really is good pity.... <br /> <br /> And I am the egg man (now good sir, what are you?)<br /> They are the egg men (a poor man, made to tame fortune's blows)<br /> I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob (good pity)<br /> <br /> The artist must be willing relinquish some control over the intended meaning to some extent once they unleash their magnificence upon the world, how can anybody understand something by someone else perfectly?

Never knew that. I guess it takes knowledge to gain it.

Well its funny you say that, cause it sounds like in the last two lines that's what he's talking about, elementary kid just tearing poetry apart to find meaning, and before that, Expert texpert choking smokers<br /> Don't you think the joker laughs at you? Ha, ha, ha!<br /> All the smart people trying to take meaning out of nonsense that was written when the writers were just high, well we're laughing at you know<br /> this in response to the nonsense earlier in the song.

School teachers would have there students try to find the meaning of there songs and send them to John Lennon and he got tired of people miss interpreting the songs so he wrote this song so there was no meaning

i was told that also, but that doesn't mean you can't find a meaning, it just means he didn't have one in mind when he wrote it and wasn't trying to put a message in the song.

Spot on my friend!

George Harrison is on record as saying "the song was a joke". To me, it has bits of meaning here and there, but George's take is certainly believable.<br /> <br /> John Lennon was quite a character, to say the least. Sometimes I think his ability to be brutally honest was only slightly better than his ability to "fib". Either way, he could be absolutely brilliant in his biting, sarcastic lyrics, or he could just "record crap, if Bob Dylan can do it". He also had a real knack to utilize "artistic license" at times. such as in "Dear Prudence", when he sings "the wind is blow. The birds are sing. .."

Classic John.

@song4julia Yea he also sang Strawberry Fields...nothing is real. We can dig it.

Alice in Wonderland also had the character Humpty Dumpty who was an egg, and who said his words mean (paraphrased) "precisely what he meant by them, neither more nor less." I think Lewis Carrol was enquiring as to whether that is even possible.<br /> <br /> That may well be the 'eggman' reference. The singer's both the Walrus and the Egg/Man. Not the Walrus and the Carpenter.

Incidentally, the chant at the end is "everybody's got one", and I presume it refers to genitalia - everybody has genitalia, that of which it is impolite to speak in public (was, in the 60s, at least.) It's the kind of thing a parent in the 60s might say to reassure their child.

all this ridiculous nonsense about the chant at the end of the song being<br /> "Smoke pot, Smoke pot, Everybody smoke pot" is complete rubbish<br /> <br /> my mum revealed to me what it was by singing along with it randomly one day<br /> its an old childrens chant<br /> the first two sounds are meaningless noises that if i remember correctly are "oompa loompa" which has no connection to roal dahl's little characters<br /> the chant is "oompa loompa, stick it up your jumper"<br /> you're a bunch of idiots

The guy with the low voice is definitely singing "oompa loompa, stick it up your jumper", but the woman or whatever the high voice is doesn't sound like that at all.<br /> <br /> Maybe they're sing multiple lyrics at once just to confuse everyone?

The guy with the low voice is definitely singing "oompa loompa, stick it up your jumper", but the woman or whatever the high voice is doesn't sound like that at all.<br /> <br /> Maybe they're sing multiple lyrics at once just to confuse everyone?

reminds me of when thom yorke responded to an interviewer about so many bands copying their style, and what they have to say about it, after kid a came out and he simply responded with "well good luck with kid a"

Roger, I was with you all the way until the Eric Burden reference. "The Walrus and the Carpenter" was a Lewis Carroll poem, written in his jabberwocky style. John's interpretation of the poem was that is was a criticism of capitalism, but he incorrectly remembered the poem, thinking the Walrus was the good guy. When it was pointed out to him later, he realized that "I Am The Carpenter" would never have worked as a title. As for comments from other posts, there is some truth to John making fun of people finding meaning in his songs that weren't there. He did once say something about, "If Dylan can do it, so can I." Anyone who read either of Lennon's first two books, knows that he loved to write nonsense and make fun of the Queen's English every chance he got.

goid interpretation for this song!

The Eggman refers to Eric Burdon of The Animals who had a thing for breaking raw eggs on naked women.<br /> <br /> The song is intentionally confusing. John wrote it to keep the people who held such deep meaning on lyrics to all their songs. He thought that was funny because often he would just make up nonsensical words and phrases because they sounded good.<br /> <br /> The song does not contain any meaning, it was meant to be confusing to the analysts, especially the school children who wrote fan letters to him, one letter in particular.<br /> <br /> See the Beatles biography by Bob Spitz.

@magicnudiesuit <br /> <br /> It DOES hold all the answers. <br /> <br /> . . . for about 7 hours after you eat that little piece of paper ☺<br /> <br />

I think it was totally a spoof and as I recall it was inspired by some college professor who taught a course about Lennon's songs. In Glass Onion Lennon says" Here's another clue for you all, the Walrus was Paul." I think that Glass Onion was another way of Lennon breaking balls. <br /> <br /> I don't know if he was influenced by Marc Bolan who wrote mostly nonsense songs.

I think the lyrics refer to feelings and thoughts of dissociation, a detachment from reality as the singer observes apparent paradoxes and contradictions. Pigs that fly, pornographic priestesses, running policemen. Interwoven throughout is a plethora of tragedy, as the singer admits that over all this, "I am crying". <br /> <br /> Is this the same John that saw the sadness of the world in later songs like "Woman is the nigger of the world"?

Ok, as for the whole "Smoke pot, smoke pot, everybody smoke pot" and "Got one, got one, everybody's got one" is a major arguement (or so i've noticed). I listened to my iPod (on my speaker dock) at maximum volume and replayed the last minute of I am the Walrus. After all of the goo-goo-g'joobs, you begin to hear voices. They start out as, "smoke pot, smoke pot, everybody smoke pot," then it repeats again in deep voices. Then the voices pick up and you hear simultaneously "Smoke pot, smoke pot, everybody smoke pot" and "Got one, got one, everybody's got one." Do not focus on anything but the lyrics. The two phrases are so closely blended together, you can hear both. Focus on the pot phrase, you will only hear the pot phrase. Focus on the got one phrase, and you will only hear that phrase. <br /> <br /> Look for yourself. They are both there.

@ ^^ Wrong. Not according to the biographies, many of which were written by people that were with the Beatles at the time, including George Martin, Producer. No pot smoking references in there no matter how you try to hear them. They're singing "got one, got one, everybody's got one" and "oompah, oompah, stick it up your jumper".