What did Lennon regret about I Am The Walrus?
1. The wrong guy
The title is a homage to Lewis Carroll's narrative poem "The Walrus and the Carpenter". Lennon later admitted that it had been a while since he had read it:
It never dawned on me that Lewis Carroll was commenting on the capitalist and social system. I never went into that bit .....
Another bit that was muddled in Lennon's memory was the character of the Walrus
Later, I went back and looked at it and realized that the walrus was the bad guy in the story and the carpenter was the good guy...
That said, 'the wrong guy' at least sat well on the melody.
I should have said, 'I am the carpenter.' But that wouldn't have been the same, would it? (singing) 'I am the carpenter...
2. Angry nonsense
The opening summons up the spirit of its literary origin: I am he as you are he as you are me/And we are all together but is followed by an abrupt dystopian turn
In the following lines
develops into what Ian Macdonald calls an 'anti-institutional rant' - with targets including his old teachers ('expert/texpert)', the chanting of mantras and the earnest treatment of Bob Dylan lyrics.
Musically, it is inventively experimental - with what David Bennet describes as 'a unique approach to chord progression and harmony'.
The song even samples a BBC broadcast of Shakespeare play - albeit unintentionally. This might have have raised eyebrows at the Corporation but they were more focussed on the lyrical content. The repeated outro, drew on a playground rhyme around since the 1920s
Everybody's got one (umpa, umpa) Everybody's got one (stick it up your jumper)
In 1936 Two Leslies had released a comedy song, playing on the phrase's vague suggestion of vulgarity:
The Goons also liked to quote the phrase for the same effect. This gave The Beatles cover but they were walking the line. What tipped was the fifth verse:
Crabalocker fishwife, pornographic priestess
Boy, you've been a naughty girl, you let your knickers down
It wasn't the lewd overtones of the couplet that earned a (temporary) ban but the precise words. Sexual suggestion had been present in earlier songs (Please, Please Me, Norwegian Wood) but there was plausible deniability. This was not the case with pornographic priestess.
As for 'knickers' that was far beyond the pale. The BBC had Victorian standards when it came to that item of clothing
