I Am The Walrus (track)
by The Beatles

The best song ever written by a Beatle? Probably no one here who will agree with me. There are so many brilliant songs (also from Harrison). I am almost there, but it remains a difficult choice between: "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "I am the Walrus". The first song seems to be entirely composed of studio experiments and has a great drive, but doing a final assessment the second song makes it through its experimental rhythm (the siren of an ambulance or police car), surrealistic texts (brilliant: "pornographic Priestess" and “Sitting on a cornflake”), beautiful rendition, beautiful arrangements for strings and choir - it has to be said: George Martin judges Lennon's song accurately enough to make the arrangements subservient but very serving - beautiful melody, nonchalant and lingering drum style of Ringo and a sharp cynical edge. "I am the Walrus" is also very humorous. The structure of the song also seems to ask for it. It is guessing to what extent Lennon understood and was inspired by contemporary artistic movements such as pop art and surrealism. Probably, because Yoko Ono was a (pretty relevant by the way) performance artist, affiliated with the Fluxus movement. But that research is actually irrelevant. Lennon familiarizes himself with contemporary art and adds pieces of children's songs, poems ("The Walrus And The Carpenter" by the then highly regarded Lewis Carroll), gibberish and pleasant nonsense (reminds me very much of the Monty Python, by the way). He thereby creates strong images. The song was created in 1967 but has not lost any relevance. The fact that the BBC did not want to broadcast the song at the time because of the text "Boy you've been a naughty girl, you let your knickers down" says more about the conservative mentality of the UK and the counterculture than about the composer. Because the song is strongly arranged by a surefire collage of sounds, it seems inevitable that the end consists of orchestrated chaos. I would have loved to know how the choir felt when George Martin asked them to sing and shout certain sentences ("Ho-ho-ho, hee-hee-hee, ha-ha-ha", "oompah, oompah, stick it up your jumper! "," got one, got one, everybody's got one "). Fragments from a radio play version of Shakespeare's King Lear complete the pleasant chaos. According to the biographies, Lennon did his utmost to pen a set of lyrics that were so absurd that they could hardly be analyzed in English lessons. This song is unique and brilliant. Lennon at its best. (Edited)

It still blows me away every time I hear it. It's one of the most truly inventive and original songs ever written. It's just so perfect. Lewis Carroll meets even more nonsense(due to Lennon's annoyance at the attempted interpretation of his lyrics), add a bit of vitriol and the anger and frustration of Brian Epstein's death just over a week before this was recorded, and you have an utterly unique song, completely unlike anything recorded before or since. Absolute genius. (Edited)

From Space-Dementia 09/08/2015 00:23 | #149324

Definitely one of the best Beatles songs. I like how they wrote the lyrics just to confuse teachers who were asking their students to analyze Beatles lyrics. Way to stick it to the man. (Edited)

From Mother Nature's Son TOP 100 COMMENTER 09/08/2013 22:22 | #85492

Upon first listens, I thought it was just some weird hippie nonsense, but today I realize exactly how ingeniously written and produced it is. One of the few Beatles songs that actually had to grow on me. My favourite part of the song is when John goes up on that high note, the second time he's singing "I'm crying" on a long note. Goosebumps guaranteed every time!

...and the lyrics scare me even to this day! A fantastic mindfuck! (Edited)

The best song from the best artist of all time. Not so much to say. The highest expression of Lennon's pure genious, the highest point reached by the creativity and inspiration of these four guys that changed history in the highest point of their career. (Edited)