#219501 - 24/06/2004 09:19
I Am The Walrus
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old hand
Registered: 20/03/2002
Posts: 729
Loc: Palo Alto, CA
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What the hell does that mean? I've heard people say it. I've heard the Beatles song (but sure haven't been able to glean anything from that) and I've heard Donny say it in The Big Lebowski. So... can anyone here shed some light on the subject?
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- trs
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#219502 - 24/06/2004 09:27
Re: I Am The Walrus
[Re: trs24]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 27/06/1999
Posts: 7058
Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
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Nobody knows for sure, but here are some thoughts. Comments kinda degrade towards the end, but there's some minorly insightful interpretations in there.
Might also wanna check out this newsgroup for some more insight into what inspired The Beatles around this time.
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#219503 - 24/06/2004 09:29
Re: I Am The Walrus
[Re: trs24]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Coo coo ka choo.
It originated with the Beatles song. It's (probably) just drug induced stuff based on Through the Looking Glass, the sequel or second half to Alice in Wonderland, depending on how you look at it.
Here's a free copy of the text of Through the Looking Glass for you to peruse.
Edited by wfaulk (24/06/2004 09:34)
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Bitt Faulk
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#219504 - 24/06/2004 09:47
Re: I Am The Walrus
[Re: tonyc]
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old hand
Registered: 20/03/2002
Posts: 729
Loc: Palo Alto, CA
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Nobody knows for sure, but here are some thoughts. The song was written after the Beatles were going through fan mail, and they picked one out at random, which turned out to be from a school John had attended when he was young. And, the letter said that they were analyzing the lyrics of his songs in class. So, John wrote the nonsensical I Am The Walrus, largely based on The Walrus & The Carpenter by Lewis Carroll. It has been said that some of the lines were written by John under the influence of LSD, but Paul had nothing to do with it. It was John scribbling on scrap paper (I believe some of the handwritten lyrics to this song were auctioned off a couple years back). Semolina Pilchard, by the way, was a combination of two names of nasty foods John remembers eating as a child. That definitely seems like the most insightful comment from you link you posted, Tony. I've seen reference to Lewis Carroll's The Walrus and The Carpenter while searching around on google for I Am the Walrus. If it [the song] is intentionally not supposed to have a meaning, or unintentionally was written during some drug induced stupor, then I suppose I'd just drive myself crazy trying to find a meaning.
The conspiracy stuff on that site is great, too. 
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#219505 - 24/06/2004 09:49
Re: I Am The Walrus
[Re: wfaulk]
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old hand
Registered: 20/03/2002
Posts: 729
Loc: Palo Alto, CA
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Here's a free copy of the text of Through the Looking Glass for you to peruse. Thanks! I'll have to peruse after I imbibe my wake-up juice.
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#219506 - 24/06/2004 10:29
Re: I Am The Walrus
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 06/10/1999
Posts: 2591
Loc: Seattle, WA, U.S.A.
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Coo coo ka choo.
daed si egroeg
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Jim
'Tis the exceptional fellow who lies awake at night thinking of his successes.
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#219507 - 24/06/2004 10:59
Re: I Am The Walrus
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31600
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Coo coo ka choo. Isn't it supposed to be something more like Goo goo G'Joob, and isn't that something lifted directly from a piece of classic literature? I'm only pulling that from distant memory, so I could be wrong.
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#219508 - 24/06/2004 11:03
Re: I Am The Walrus
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31600
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Okay, although it is "Goo Goo G'Joob" officially in the lyric (I remember it being printed on a lyric sheet of a greatest hits LP I owned), the classic literature source may be apocryphal:
Some sources have suggested that the phrase "goo goo g'joob" is from Finnegans Wake by James Joyce. According to the "Paul is dead" rumor, "goo goo g'joob" are the last words uttered by Humpty Dumpty before his fall—a fall that cracked open his head, much like Paul's rumored fatal car accident. According to Allen B. Ruch, however, Joyce did not use the phrase "goo goo g'joob". In his website "The Brazen Head", Ruch cites the phrase "googoo goosth" as the closest Joyce gets to "goo goo g'joob" in Finnegans Wake.
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#219509 - 24/06/2004 11:57
Re: I Am The Walrus
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 06/10/1999
Posts: 2591
Loc: Seattle, WA, U.S.A.
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Joyce did not use the phrase "goo goo g'joob". In his website "The Brazen Head",
I'm reading too fast....."Wow, Joyce had a Web site?"
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Jim
'Tis the exceptional fellow who lies awake at night thinking of his successes.
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#219510 - 24/06/2004 12:17
Re: I Am The Walrus
[Re: trs24]
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addict
Registered: 13/07/2002
Posts: 634
Loc: Jesusland
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Hmmm... I seem to remember somewhere that it signified death or something... but since I've read your post I can't get this tune out of my head...
I told you about strawberry fields
You know the place where nothing is real
Well here's another place you can go
Where everything flows
Looking through the bent backed tulips
To see how the other half live
Looking through a glass onion
I told you about the walrus and me, man
You know that we're as close as can be, man
Well here's another clue for you all
The walrus is Paul
Standing on the cast iron shore, yeah
Lady Madonna trying to make ends meet, yeah
Looking through a glass onion
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah
Looking through a glass onion
I told you about the fool on the hill
I tell you man he's living there still
Well here's another place you can be
Listen to me
Fixing a hole in the ocean
Tryin' to make a dovetail joint
Looking through a glass onion
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#219511 - 24/06/2004 12:23
Re: I Am The Walrus
[Re: Jerz]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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I think they just liked to screw with people more than anything else.
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Bitt Faulk
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#219512 - 24/06/2004 12:24
Re: I Am The Walrus
[Re: wfaulk]
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addict
Registered: 23/12/2002
Posts: 652
Loc: Winston Salem, NC
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Coo coo ka choo
...Mrs. Robinson,
Jesus loves you more than you will know (Woah woah woah).
God bless you, please, Mrs. Robinson,
Heaven holds a place for those who pray (Hey hey hey, hey hey hey).
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#219513 - 24/06/2004 13:58
Re: I Am The Walrus
[Re: Cybjorg]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31600
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Ah right. Yeah, I should know that since I parodied that song. Wasn't it in the movie, too? I assume that Simon/Garfunkel (or, the guy who wrote Graduate if it came from the film originally) were trying to homage The Beatles and simply modegreened the lyric.
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#219514 - 24/06/2004 15:53
Re: I Am The Walrus
[Re: tfabris]
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old hand
Registered: 20/03/2002
Posts: 729
Loc: Palo Alto, CA
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Ah right. Yeah, I should know that since I parodied that song. Wasn't it in the movie, too? Yes, it was in the movie - although not in its entirety. Mainly just the rhythmic guitar part was played during certain scenes. S & G also wrote a song about sitting on a Kellogg's Cornflake (Punky's Dilemma) and I always wondered if that came form I Am The Walrus, too. If not, then John and Paul (Simon) must have had very similar acid trips.
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#219515 - 24/06/2004 16:03
Re: I Am The Walrus
[Re: trs24]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31600
Loc: Seattle, WA
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just the rhythmic guitar part was played during certain scenes. What I meant was, (for example) in the film, did Dustin Hoffman say "Koo Koo K'Choo Mrs Robinson", or are those words only in the song? My impression was that the soundtrack and the film were kind of created at the same time (could be wrong about that), and perhaps the filmmaker and Simon/Garfunkel were trying to say something with that line. Just speculating.
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#219516 - 24/06/2004 16:21
Re: I Am The Walrus
[Re: tfabris]
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old hand
Registered: 20/03/2002
Posts: 729
Loc: Palo Alto, CA
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Ah, I gotcha now. I don't know if it was said in the movie.
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