I Am the Walrus Lyrics



Lennon/McCartney


I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together.
See how they run like pigs from a gun, see how they fly.
I'm crying.

Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come.
Corporation tee-shirt, stupid bloody Tuesday.
Man, you been a naughty boy, you let your face grow long.
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen.
I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob.

Mister City Policeman sitting
Pretty little policemen in a row.
See how they fly like Lucy in the Sky, see how they run.
I'm crying, I'm crying.
I'm crying, I'm crying.

Yellow matter custard, dripping from a dead dog's eye.
Crabalocker fishwife, pornographic priestess,
Boy, you been a naughty girl you let your knickers down.
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen.
I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob.

Sitting in an English garden waiting for the sun.
If the sun don't come, you get a tan
From standing in the English rain.
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen.
I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob g'goo goo g'joob.

Expert textpert choking smokers,
Don't you thing the joker laughs at you?
See how they smile like pigs in a sty,
See how they snied.
I'm crying.

Semolina pilchard, climbing up the Eiffel Tower.
Elementary penguin singing Hari Krishna.
Man, you should have seen them kicking Edgar Allan Poe.
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen.
I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob g'goo goo g'joob.
Goo goo g'joob g'goo goo g'joob g'goo.

 
Lead Singer: John

Recording: 9/5/67, 9/6/67, 9/27/67, 9/28/67
Mixing: 9/5/67, 9/6/67, 9/28/67, 9/29/67, 11/6/67, 11/17/67
Length: 4:35
Take: 17

Anomalies

0:04
Orchestra brought up too early, rattling is heard before they begin to play
1:35 * NEW *
Edit as John comes in with "yellow matter custard". Listen to the Anthology version, John's voice cracked on the last "I'm crying" (hence, after editing, it sounds like "I'm cry"). The first attempt at "Yellow matter custard" also fails. The take was edited to cover this. Listen to the orchestra (right) and you can hear the edit clearly. There is also some drum editing.
3:54-4:33
Not really an anomaly, but seems to keep popping up, so I'll include it. Towards the end, there is talking, fading in and out of the mix. It's from Shakespeare's 'Tragedy of king lear' - the scene is like this ... times added as a guide

Osw. Slave, (3:53) Thou hast slain me:- villian, take my purse. If ever thou wilt thrive, (4:02) bury my body, and give the (4:05) letters which thous findest about me to (4:08) Edmund Earl of Gloster. (4:10) Seek him out upon the British party. :- O, (4:14) Untimely Death!
Edg. (4:23) I know thee well, a (4:25) serviceable villain. As duteous to the (4:27) vices of thy mistress as badness would desire.
Glo. What, is he dead?
Edg. (4:31) Sit you down father, rest you. (Ends) Let's see these pockets, the letters that he speaks of may be my friends.. He's dead. I am only sorry he had no other deaths man.

How did this get there? Well, it was being broadcast on the radio at the time of the recording, and got mixed in for effect. They just tuned to a station and - there it was! This was not a planned thing, according to evidence in Lewisohn's book. The play was being transmitted on the radio at the time the mixing was being done (compare studio records with an extract from the Radio Times progam listing magazine), and was added live into the mix. This is the reason the mix slips into mono if you listen to the stereo version. It would be impossible to exactly duplicate the mix as the Shakespeare was not recorded anywhere but the finished master.

Very End * NEW *
The whole track seems to speed up just as it fades away to nothing
John Lennon wrote this, but it was released as the B-side to "Hello Goodbye," which Paul McCartney wrote. This angered Lennon because he felt this was much better.
Lennon wrote most of this while tripping on acid.
The up and down rhythm was inspired by a police siren Lennon heard.
Lennon made sure the lyrics didn't make sense so he could confuse all the people trying to analyze his songs. Lennon once said to his friend, Pete Shotton: "Let the f**kers try and work that one out, Pete!" (thanks, Emery - San Jose, CA)
The voices at the end are from a BBC broadcast of the Shakespeare play King Lear.
Inspired by the poem The Walrus and The Carpenter from Alice in Wonderland.
The line, "Yellow matter custard, dripping from a dead dog's eye" was adapted from a schoolyard rhyme Lennon remembered.
The choir at the end sings "Oompah, oompah, stick it in your jumper" and "Everybody's got one, everybody's got one."
The BBC banned this for the lines "pornographic priestess" and "let your knickers down."
Lennon got the line "Goo Goo Ga Joob" from the book Fininnegan's Wake by James Joyce.
In The Beatles song "Glass Onion," Lennon sang, "The Walrus was Paul." He got a kick out of how people tried to interpret his lyrics and figure out who the Walrus was.
"Semolina Pilchard" was Detective Sergeant Norman Pilcher, head of the Scotland Yard Drugs Unit. He led the arrests of both John Lennon and Brian Jones et al, before being investigated himself for blackmail and bribery in the '70s. (thanks, Matt - London, England)
Eric Burdon (of animals and War fame) stated in his biography that he is the Egg Man. It seems he told John Lennon of a sexual experience he was involved in where an egg played a major part. After that, John called him Egg Man.
ELO's song "Hello My Old Friend" has an identical form to this - almost the same tune and orchestration but different words. No wonder Jeff Lynne is sometimes referred to as the 6th Beatle.


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