*bumps ancient thread*
Yes, it's old, but I want to post my interpretation of what the song, "I Am The Walrus", is about and see what people think.
John Lennon, who wrote the song, claimed it wasn't about anything, but rather that he wrote it to frustrate a teacher who was making his students pick apart and analyze Beatles songs. He claimed the first two lines were inspired by an LSD trip. He also claimed that at the time he wrote the song, he did not know that the walrus was the villain in the Lewis Carroll story, and that when he found out, he was dismayed.
I believe he was lying on both occasions.
John was a very intelligent man, as I'm sure we all know, and he was a huge fan of Lewis Carroll as well. Surely he would have known after the poem in "Through The Looking Glass", Alice argues with Tweedledee and Tweedledum about which character, the walrus or the carpenter, is the villain, and that the whole point that is made clear is that there is no right answer when the question is phrased that way, but that in fact they're both the villains and the oysters are the victims. I believe that when he told us that he never knew that the walrus was the villain, that he wanted us to infer that he knew what the story was about all along.
We also know he loved clever wordplay, and therefore I believe that when he related the anecdote about the teacher, that he wanted us to infer that indeed, there was more to the song than was apparent. He claimed the first two lines were inspired by an LSD trip, and this may have been true, but he did not say the same about the rest of the song.
So here's my interpretation of "I Am The Walrus". Although it is told through vivid psychedelic imagery, and although it may be disturbing to think that Charles Manson may have been right (about this one song, anyway), I believe the song is the story of how a man murders numerous people and gets away with it.
Here's the line-by-line:
I am he, as you are he, as you are me, and we are all together
The narrator has assembled two accomplices for what he wants to do, and he makes it clear that they're all in it together.
See how they run like pigs from a gun
Fairly straightforward.
See how they fly
Their souls flying to heaven.
I'm crying
The narrator is wounded in the process.
Sitting on a cornflake
A little unclear on this one, but I'd guess that this is the first of several reference to one of the accomplices defecting.
Waiting for the van to come
The paddywagon, so to speak.
Corporation T-shirt, stupid bloody Tuesday
He's wearing incriminating evidence, with the blood of both the victims and himself, and doesn't have time to ditch it.
Man, you've been a naughty boy, you let your face grow long
He's chastising his accomplice, who is in hysterics.
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen
He and his accomplices can "prove" they're innocent, like unborn babies.
I am the walrus
All they have to do is confuse the court about who is actually guilty.
Goo goo g'joob
Baby talk. "Let's put on an innocent act."
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Mr. City Policeman sitting pretty little policemen in a row
The police dispatcher is giving some policemen their orders, to go deal with the situation.
See how they fly like Lucy in the sky, see how they run
The police chase them on foot while helicopters follow them overhead.
I'm crying, I'm crying, I'm crying, I'm crying
The police wound him again, and he makes a big stink about it. "Police brutality! How dare you attack an innocent man like this!" etc.
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Yellow matter custard, dripping from a dead dog's eye
He tells the court that his wounds are infected, making the police look like the bad guys.
Crabalocker fishwife, pornographic priestess. Boy! You've been a naughty girl, you've let your knickers down
He digs up dirt on a juror and blackmails her.
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen, I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob
He proclaims himself and his accomplices to be innocent, again trying to confuse the jury.
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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.
He's waiting while the jury deliberates and hoping they'll decide he's innocent (a good thing, like the sun coming up). If the jury says he's guilty, however, he'll fry in the electric chair for standing up to the British government. "Rain" is a pun for "reign".
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen, I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob
Same general idea as previous iterations.
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Expert, texpert! Choking smokers! Don't you think the joker laughs at you? See how they smile like pigs in a sty, see how they snide!
The jury deliberating. A minority of the jurors, maybe even just one, criticizing the defendants, getting angry because the other jurors fell for their trickery.
Semolina pilchard, climbing up the Eiffel Tower
A pilchard is a fish, going back to the "crabalocker fishwife". The juror they blackmailed stands up and casts the deciding vote in the defendants' favor.
Elementary penguins singing "Hare Krishna!
The idiots who thought the defendants were guilty cheer. "Praise God!"
Man, you should have seen them kicking Edgar Allen Poe
Poe being, of course, a very depressing man who might bring someone down, they jeered at the juror(s) who voted "guilty".
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen, I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob, goo goo g'joob, (etc)
The defendants cheer when they hear the verdict. "We're innocent! We're innocent!"
Oompa, oompa, stick it up your jumper!
"UP YOURS, M*****F*****S!"
Also, The Tragedy of King Lear is mixed in and out of the song. The play is basically about a series of people killing people in power, taking their places, and then being killed themselves. This fits in with my interpretation, and may even indicate that the people who were killed were in fact government officials. This would also fit with the bit about the English reign, although the beginning of the song doesn't necessarily indicate it.
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If this interpretation is correct, and I think it is, it's no wonder Lennon made it so confusing!
What do you all think?