John Lennon's "I Am the Walrus" is a song that fans have always tried to ascribe meaning to. But the song simply has no meaning. It's all nonsense. Supposedly, John was tired of people trying to interpret his songs, so he wrote a song that simply had no explanation. Oh sure, some of the lyrics had meaning, or some significance. The walrus is from Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass", John's favorite book as a child. The opening line is from the song "Marching to Pretoria". But as John himself said, the purpose of the song was simply to to confuse, frustrate, and troll geocachers Beatles experts..
With that in mind, here are the lyrics, written by John Lennon but credited to both Lennon & Paul 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 corn flake
Waiting for the van to come
Corporation T-shirt, stupid bloody Tuesday
Man you've been a naughty boy
You let your face grow long
I am the egg man
They are the egg men
I am the walrus
Goo goo g'joob
Mr. 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've been a naughty girl
You let your knickers down
I am the egg man
They are the egg men
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 egg man (How do you do sir?)
They are the egg men (The man maintains a fortune)
I am the walrus
Goo goo g'joob, goo goo goo g'joob
Expert, texpert choking smokers
Don't you think the joker laughs at you (Ho ho ho, hee hee hee, hah hah hah)
See how they smile like pigs in a sty
See how they snide
I'm crying
Semolina Pilchard
Climbing up the Eiffel tower
Elementary penguin singing Hare Krishna
Man, you should have seen them kicking Edgar Allen Poe
I am the egg man
They are the egg men
I am the walrus
Goo goo g'joob, goo goo goo g'joob
Goo goo g'joob, goo goo goo g'joob, goo goo
Who is the egg man? Is "elementary penguin singing Hare Krishna" a jab at a poet John didn't like? Who (or what) is Semolina Pilchard and why is she/he/it climbing up the Eiffel tower? And why are there lines from the play "King Lear" at the end (they're not included in the lyrics, but they're in the song! - "What, is he dead?/"Sit you down father. Rest you")? What does any of this mean? According to John, nothing! There's nothing hidden in these lyrics, no mystery here. How do you solve this puzzle then? And who is the walrus?
