“I Am the Walrus” by The Beatles is a monumental and brilliantly chaotic masterpiece of psychedelic rock, and arguably the most surreal and lyrically impenetrable song in the band’s entire catalogue. Primarily written by John Lennon, the song was a deliberate and mischievous act of creative rebellion, crafted with intentionally nonsensical, “gobbledygook” lyrics as a playful prank to confound the academics, critics, and fans who had begun to over-analyze their work.
It is a swirling, chaotic collage of bizarre imagery, literary allusions, childhood rhymes, and groundbreaking studio experimentation, all unified by a menacing, psychedelic groove. In this article, we explore the meaning of this song, breaking down its metaphors and emotions.
Introduction to the Song
Released in November 1967 as a key track on the Magical Mystery Tour EP and album, “I Am the Walrus” represents The Beatles, and particularly John Lennon, at the absolute zenith of their psychedelic and experimental phase. The song was a direct product of the creative explosion that followed Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and it pushed the boundaries of what a pop song could be even further into the avant-garde. With its shifting rhythms, complex orchestration, and a stream-of-consciousness narrative that defies all logical interpretation, the track is a thrilling and disorienting journey into the heart of the 1960s counter-culture.
The song’s creation is a fascinating story of artistic mischief, drawing inspiration from a multitude of disparate sources including police sirens, English nursery rhymes, the works of Lewis Carroll, and, in its legendary final moments, a live Shakespearean radio broadcast. It is a dense and layered work of studio art that showcases the genius of producer George Martin, who masterfully wrangled the song’s chaotic elements into a cohesive and powerful whole.
“I Am the Walrus” is a bold and uncompromising artistic statement. It is a song that challenges its listeners to abandon their search for simple meaning and to instead surrender to the pure, exhilarating experience of sound, texture, and feeling. It remains one of the most daring, innovative, and brilliantly absurd achievements in the history of rock and roll.
Central Theme & Message
The central theme of “I Am the Walrus” is a joyful and deliberate rebellion against meaning itself. The song is a masterful exercise in surrealism and Dadaist absurdity, a direct and playful assault on the conventional idea that a song’s lyrics must have a clear, linear, and decipherable message. John Lennon, as the song’s primary architect, is not trying to tell a story, but to create a feeling—a disorienting, exhilarating, and darkly humorous psychedelic experience.
The song’s primary message, paradoxically, is to stop looking for a message. Amused and slightly annoyed by the intense academic analysis that his lyrics were beginning to receive, Lennon set out to create a song that was completely and utterly impenetrable. By stringing together a series of unrelated, bizarre, and often grotesque images, he is playfully taunting the “expert, textperts” and daring them to find a hidden meaning that he himself insists is not there. The song is a profound and witty celebration of nonsense, absurdity, and the ultimate freedom of the creative imagination.
Beneath the chaos, the only recurring and semi-coherent idea is a vague, counter-cultural sense of a disordered but interconnected universe. The narrator’s opening declaration of a shared identity and the final call to “come together” in other Beatles songs of the era hint at a desire for unity, but in “I Am the Walrus,” this unity is found not in logic or order, but in a shared embrace of the beautiful and liberating chaos of existence.
Verse-by-Verse Meaning
The Opening and Police Imagery
The song begins with a foundational statement of unity and fluid identity, suggesting a world where the boundaries between “I,” “you,” and “we” are blurred and everyone is part of a collective whole. This mystical, counter-cultural sentiment is immediately undercut by a strange and slightly menacing image of people running like pigs from a gun. This jarring juxtaposition of peace and panicked chaos sets the tone for the entire song. The narrator then observes these people flying, a surreal image that causes him to cry, a reaction that is left completely unexplained.
This opening musical phrase, as John Lennon later revealed, was directly inspired by the sound of a two-note police siren that he often heard from his home in Weybridge. The song’s descending melodic progression mimics this wailing sound. This origin gives a new layer of meaning to the imagery. The “pigs” can be interpreted as a common piece of 1960s counter-culture slang for the police, and the narrator’s observation of them flying could be a psychedelic and perhaps mocking re-imagining of their frantic activity. This is further reinforced later in the song when he describes “pretty little policemen in a row,” and once again compares their flight to the hallucinatory imagery of his own earlier song about a girl named Lucy who was in the sky.
The Verses of Mundane Absurdity
The song’s next sections are a brilliant and bizarre collage of images drawn from the mundane and the domestic, all twisted into a surreal and unsettling new form. The narrator describes himself sitting on a cornflake, a line Lennon said was inspired by a silly song he was singing with friends. This childish and nonsensical image is then paired with the more grounded, workaday image of waiting for a van, a corporation t-shirt, and the oppressive feeling of a “stupid bloody Tuesday.” This juxtaposition of the bizarre and the mundane is a key feature of the song’s lyrical style.
This pattern continues in a later verse with even more grotesque and shocking imagery. The narrator describes a yellow-matter custard that is dripping from the eye of a dead dog. This line, according to Lennon, was inspired by a gruesome children’s playground rhyme. He then pairs this grotesque image with a list of strange and provocative characters: a “crabalocker fishwife” and a “pornographic priestess.” Throughout these verses, the narrator takes on the tone of a judgmental adult, scolding a “naughty boy” and a “naughty girl” for their strange behaviors, such as letting their face grow long or their underpants fall down. This adds a layer of surreal, almost sinister, playground judgment to the already chaotic proceedings.
The Chorus
The chorus of the song is its most iconic and declarative section. It is here that the narrator makes his two famous, enigmatic pronouncements of identity. He declares that he is the “eggman,” and, most famously, that he is the “walrus.” These are not meant to be literal statements, but surrealist self-portraits that resist easy definition. The “eggman” identity is rumored to be a reference to a strange story told to Lennon by his friend Eric Burdon of the band The Animals, while the “walrus” is a direct and intentional allusion to the character from Lewis Carroll’s poem, “The Walrus and the Carpenter.”
Following these declarations, the chorus dissolves into the song’s most memorable piece of pure, joyful nonsense. This sound, a guttural and playful collection of syllables, is the ultimate expression of the song’s anti-meaning philosophy. It is a phrase that is meant to be felt, not understood, a moment of pure, pre-lingual sound-play that is likely inspired by the linguistic experiments in James Joyce’s novel Finnegans Wake. It is the narrator’s ultimate and most effective tool for confounding analysis and celebrating the pure, unadulterated joy of sound.
The Bridge
After the chaotic and surreal imagery of the verses and chorus, the song briefly transitions into a moment of surprising and serene clarity in the bridge. The narrator describes himself sitting in a quiet, traditional English garden, waiting for the sun to appear. This image is peaceful, grounded, and almost quaint in its simplicity, providing a stark contrast to the rest of the song’s hallucinatory landscape.
This moment of peace, however, is immediately undercut by a piece of classic, dry, and distinctly British absurdist humor. The narrator observes that even if the sun does not come out, a person can still get a tan from simply standing in the English rain. This is a witty and paradoxical statement that perfectly encapsulates the song’s surrealist spirit. It is a moment of gentle, clever nonsense that provides a brief, humorous respite before the song plunges back into its more intense and chaotic final sections.
The Final Verses and Outro
The song’s final verses are a last, explosive barrage of bizarre and disconnected images, as if Lennon is emptying the entire contents of his surrealist imagination. He takes a direct shot at the very people he is trying to confuse, the “expert, textperts,” and suggests that the “joker”—perhaps himself—is laughing at their attempts to analyze him. This is followed by a final, twisted menagerie of images: semolina pilchards (a type of canned fish), penguins singing Hare Krishna (a nod to the counter-culture’s interest in Eastern spirituality), and the absurd, violent image of these creatures kicking the famous gothic poet, Edgar Allan Poe.
The song then dissolves into its legendary and chaotic outro. This final section is a masterpiece of studio serendipity. While mixing the track, Lennon and the engineers were randomly turning the dial of a radio and happened to land on a live BBC Third Programme broadcast of William Shakespeare’s tragic play, King Lear. Lennon was captivated by the dramatic and chaotic sound of the broadcast and instructed the engineer to mix it directly into the song’s fade-out. The dialogue heard at the end of the track is taken directly from Act IV, Scene 6 of the play, providing the perfect, unexpectedly high-culture and dramatically chaotic conclusion to Lennon’s brilliantly nonsensical pop masterpiece.
Emotional Tone & Mood
The emotional tone of “I Am the Walrus” is a complex and exhilarating mix of the surreal, the chaotic, the menacing, and the darkly humorous. It is the sound of a mischievous and brilliant artistic mind at play, joyfully and confidently deconstructing the rules of songwriting and laughing at the world’s attempt to keep up. John Lennon’s vocal performance is key to this tone; it is sneering, playful, and delivered with a sense of cryptic authority, as if he is a mad prophet preaching a sermon of beautiful nonsense.
The mood of the song is that of a disorienting, exhilarating, and slightly frightening psychedelic trip. The swirling and often dissonant string arrangement, the strange and sometimes sinister interjections from a choir, the wailing police siren motif, and the relentless, strange rhythm all combine to create a sonic atmosphere that is completely immersive, chaotic, and otherworldly. It is a mood that is designed to be unsettling and to throw the listener off balance, forcing them to abandon their expectations and simply surrender to the brilliant, beautiful chaos of the experience.
Real-Life Events or Facts Related to the Song
The creation of “I Am the Walrus” is a story steeped in artistic mischief, studio innovation, and moments of pure, unplanned genius.
The Lyrical Prank The primary motivation behind the song’s notoriously difficult lyrics was John Lennon’s desire to write a song that was completely and utterly un-analyzable. He had received a letter from a student at his old grammar school, Quarry Bank, who mentioned that his English master was having the class analyze Beatles lyrics as if they were serious poetry. Amused and slightly irritated by this academic over-analysis of his work, Lennon deliberately set out to write the most confusing and nonsensical lyrics he could imagine, specifically to frustrate and confuse the students, the teacher, and literary critics everywhere.
A Masterpiece of Production While the lyrics are a work of inspired chaos, the song’s musical arrangement is a masterpiece of complex and meticulous production by George Martin. He wrote a sophisticated score for a small orchestra of violins, cellos, and horns, as well as for the 16-piece professional choir, the Mike Sammes Singers, who were instructed to sing strange, whooping lines and make other bizarre vocal noises. Martin’s genius was in his ability to take all of Lennon’s chaotic and disparate ideas and weave them into a powerful and cohesive, albeit surreal, musical whole.
The King Lear Serendipity The song’s legendary and chaotic outro was not a pre-planned event, but a moment of pure studio serendipity. During the final mixing of the track, Lennon had the idea to incorporate a live radio broadcast into the fade-out. As he and the engineers turned the radio dial, they happened upon a BBC Third Programme broadcast of Shakespeare’s tragedy, King Lear. The raw, dramatic, and slightly distorted sound of the actors’ voices was the perfect chaotic element to bring the song to its conclusion. The snippets of dialogue were mixed directly into the track from the live broadcast, a moment of pure chance that became an iconic part of the final recording.
The Centerpiece of Magical Mystery Tour “I Am the Walrus” was the creative centerpiece of The Beatles’ 1967 film project, Magical Mystery Tour. While the film itself was the band’s first major critical failure, the musical sequence for “I Am the Walrus” is widely regarded as one of its most effective and visually memorable moments. The surreal, psychedelic, and slightly unsettling visuals of the band in their animal costumes perfectly matched the song’s chaotic and hallucinatory sound.
Metaphors & Symbolism
“I Am the Walrus” is a song that is, in itself, a symbol. It is a work of art that rebels against the very idea of clear symbolism, but within its chaos, several key symbolic ideas emerge.
The Walrus and The Eggman The narrator’s declarations of his identity as these two strange figures are symbols of a shifting, nonsensical, and ultimately unknowable self. By claiming these absurd and contradictory titles, Lennon is rejecting the idea of a stable, easily defined identity. These are not metaphors for what he is, but symbols of his freedom to be whatever he wants, no matter how nonsensical.
“Goo goo g’joob” This memorable and nonsensical phrase is the ultimate symbol of the song’s anti-meaning philosophy. It is a pure sound-object, a collection of syllables designed to be felt as a joyful, primal utterance rather than to be understood as a word with a definition. It is a symbol of a rebellion against lyrical analysis, a playful and defiant piece of pure sound.
The Collage of Images The entire lyrical structure of the song—a rapid-fire and disconnected barrage of bizarre images—is a metaphor for the chaotic, information-overloaded nature of modern consciousness. The way that grotesque images sit next to childish ones, and mundane details sit next to surreal events, mirrors the experience of a psychedelic trip, the fragmented nature of a dream, or simply the beautiful absurdity of daily life.
The King Lear Outro The inclusion of a live Shakespearean radio broadcast in the song’s final moments is a powerful symbol of the intersection of high art and pop art, and of the profound role that pure chance can play in creative genius. It is a final, chaotic flourish that suggests that all of culture, from nursery rhymes and pop songs to Shakespearean tragedy, is part of one large, jumbled, and interconnected stream of consciousness.
FAQs
Question 1: What is “I Am the Walrus” really about? Answer 1: “I Am the Walrus” is a deliberately nonsensical and surrealist song written by John Lennon as a playful prank to confuse people who were over-analyzing his lyrics. Its primary “meaning” is a rebellion against the need for meaning itself.
Question 2: Why did John Lennon write such confusing lyrics? Answer 2: He was inspired after receiving a letter from a student who said his English class was analyzing Beatles lyrics like poetry. Amused, Lennon decided to write the most bizarre and impenetrable lyrics he could think of to give the academics something impossible to analyze.
Question 3: Who is the “Walrus”? Answer 3: The Walrus is a direct reference to the character from Lewis Carroll’s poem “The Walrus and the Carpenter.” Lennon was a great admirer of Carroll’s nonsense writing, though he later expressed regret upon realizing the Walrus was the villain of the poem.
Question 4: Who is the “Eggman”? Answer 4: The identity of the “Eggman” is a famous piece of rock and roll lore. Eric Burdon, the lead singer of the band The Animals, has claimed that the title refers to him, based on a strange personal story he once told John Lennon involving a raw egg.
Question 5: What is the meaning of “goo goo g’joob”? Answer 5: The phrase is pure, intentional nonsense. It is a collection of playful sounds that is meant to be felt rather than understood, likely inspired by the sound-play in the works of the author James Joyce. It is the ultimate anti-lyric.
Question 6: What is the dialogue at the end of the song? Answer 6: The dialogue at the end of the song is from a live BBC radio broadcast of William Shakespeare’s tragedy, King Lear. The Beatles happened upon it while mixing the track and decided to mix the live broadcast directly into the song’s fade-out.
Question 7: What inspired the song’s opening melody? Answer 7: John Lennon stated that the opening rhythm and melody of the song were inspired by the sound of a two-note police siren he would often hear wailing in his neighborhood.
Question 8: What album is “I Am the Walrus” on? Answer 8: The song was released in 1967 on the Magical Mystery Tour EP in the UK and on the full-length album of the same name in the US.
Question 9: What do the “pretty little policemen in a row” refer to? Answer 9: This line, combined with the “pigs” imagery, is likely a piece of 1960s counter-culture commentary, a playful and slightly mocking observation of the police.
Question 10: Is the song about drugs? Answer 10: While the song is a masterpiece of the psychedelic era and its sound is designed to mimic a hallucinatory experience, the lyrics are not explicitly “about” drugs. They are more broadly about surrealism and nonsense, though the phrase used in a different song, “Lucy in the sky,” is referenced.
Question 11: What does the line about getting a tan from the English rain mean? Answer 11: This is a piece of classic, witty, and absurdist British humor. It is a paradoxical and nonsensical statement that serves as a moment of gentle, surrealist wit in the middle of the song’s more aggressive chaos.
Question 12: What is the overall mood of the song? Answer 12: The mood is chaotic, disorienting, menacing, and darkly humorous. It is designed to feel like a strange and exhilarating psychedelic trip that is both thrilling and slightly frightening.
Question 13: What does the line about kicking Edgar Allan Poe mean? Answer 13: This is an example of pure, violent absurdity. It is an image that is so random and nonsensical that it defies any attempt at logical interpretation, which was precisely Lennon’s goal.
Question 14: How does this song showcase George Martin’s production genius? Answer 14: It showcases his genius in his ability to take all of John Lennon’s disparate and chaotic ideas—strings, horns, a choir, sound effects, and a live radio broadcast—and arrange and mix them into a cohesive, powerful, and groundbreaking piece of music.
Question 15: What did the other Beatles think of the song? Answer 15: The other Beatles were fully on board with the experimental and playful nature of the song, contributing their own stellar performances to help realize Lennon’s surrealist vision.
Question 16: What is the meaning of the “yellow matter custard” line? Answer 16: John Lennon explained that this grotesque line was inspired by a children’s playground rhyme he remembered, which he then twisted into something more shocking and surreal.
Question 17: Was the song a commercial success? Answer 17: Yes, despite its bizarre and uncommercial nature, the song was a significant hit, and its accompanying sequence in the Magical Mystery Tour film is one of the most famous and enduring images of the psychedelic era.
Question 18: What is the significance of the “Hare Krishna” reference? Answer 18: The image of a penguin singing “Hare Krishna” is a surreal nod to the growing influence of Eastern spirituality in the 1960s counter-culture, a movement that George Harrison was deeply involved in.
Question 19: Why does Lennon call out the “expert, textperts”? Answer 19: This is a direct and playful jab at the literary critics, academics, and fans who he felt were over-analyzing his work. He is essentially laughing at them for trying to find meaning in what he has intentionally made meaningless.
Question 20: What is the ultimate feeling the song leaves the listener with? Answer 20: The ultimate feeling is one of exhilarating disorientation and a deep appreciation for the boundless possibilities of the creative imagination. It is a song that doesn’t provide answers, but instead leaves the listener with a sense of wonder at its brilliant, beautiful chaos.