During the 1960s, The Beatles created a cultural legacy that was unmatched. The Liverpool boys had no idea they were on their way to becoming the greatest band of all time. They created some of the most iconic songs in music history. They also broke new ground in musical engineering. Their influence inspired Beatlemania around the globe. However, nothing great lasts forever, and the Fab Four are no different.
The band’s internal dynamics had been solid from the beginning. Early on, John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s working relationship was especially intimate and fruitful. They penned songs that would go on to become legendary. However, as the years went by, the couple’s creative tensions grew and they grew apart, preferring to work alone.
During the recording of the Beatles’ 1968 self-titled album, popularly referred to as the White Album, the bandmates’ disagreements became especially apparent. Emotions were running high during recording because of the passing of their manager Brian Epstein a year prior. McCartney’s creative dominance and Lennon’s growing estrangement from the group also added to the tension. On one occasion, Ringo Starr even left the sessions.
The band themselves knew that a breakup with the Beatles was imminent. Thus, in the meaningless third track of the White Album, Lennon wrote a subdued farewell to McCartney. It served as a farewell gift to his former songwriting collaborator. “Glass Onion,” which opens with the line, “I told you about Strawberry Fields, you know the place where nothing is real,” is bursting at the seams with Easter eggs. It’s filled with allusions to the band’s past work.
The second verse of the song contains one of the trickiest allusions. Singing, Lennon says, “Well, here’s another clue for you all, the walrus was Paul.” “I told you about the walrus and me, man, you know that we’re as close as can be, man.” The line is obviously a reference to John Lennon’s previous song, “I Am the Walrus,” from Magical Mystery Tour, which is about the tusked animal. But what did Lennon mean precisely when he compared Paul to the walrus?
The verse’s meaning appears to be at odds with how Lennon and McCartney’s relationship was going during this tumultuous time. Despite their distance from each other, John Lennon wished to honor his partner’s efforts to keep the band together during those last few years. He told Rolling Stone, “I was still in my Yoko love cloud and I thought, ‘Well, I’ll just say something nice to Paul.'”
The Beatles songwriter claimed that he was attempting to express gratitude to Paul and reassure him that “it’s all right, you did a good job over these few years, holding us together.” Happy in his partnership with Yoko, John Lennon hinted that he would be prepared to give McCartney the credit.
There was a lot more nuance to those seemingly lighthearted lyrics about friendship with a walrus than there was at first listen. Lennon’s remarks appeared to portend the dissolution of the Beatles as a group. They also suggested the end of his writing collaboration with McCartney. He wanted to give his partner one last token of gratitude because he knew they were becoming less and less together.
The Fab Four would eventually go their separate ways after three more years and three more albums. John Lennon’s decision to leave the group in late 1969 spurred this.
Here’s a listen to The Beatles’ “Glass Onion.”
