“Oh shit”: The mistake at the centre of John Lennon’s ‘I Am The Walrus’
Despite Bob Dylan and The Beatles having a relatively close relationship throughout their career, Dylan grew frustrated with how much the band were trying to copy him. While we could argue over the differences between the two artists for hours, there is no escaping that on a number of The Beatles’ songs, they were heavily influenced by Dylan.
Dylan famously spoke out about the album Rubber Soul, which he thought was The Beatles’ attempt at blatantly ripping him off. “What is this? It’s me, Bob. [John’s] doing me!” Said Dylan when making his feelings on the album perfectly clear, “Even Sonny and Cher are doing me, but, fucking hell, I invented it.”
Even Lennon himself admitted that it was hard for Dylan not to be an influence on him. His music was everywhere, and he had a way with music and words that songwriters worldwide found themselves jealous of. “I was writing obscurely,” admitted Lennon, “Á la Dylan, those days.”
While there is no denying that John Lennon was influenced by Bob Dylan on multiple occasions, a number of other musical and literary figures also played a part in his creative process. Lennon was tasked with writing a great deal of music during his time with The Beatles, and therefore, it was important that he broadened his horizons when it came to picking artists that influenced the work he did. One of the writers who played a big part in his creativity was the author of Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll.
Carroll was most famous for his books Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. In the latter, there is a poem recited by Tweedledum and Tweedledee, which inspired John Lennon’s famous psychedelic track ‘I Am The Walrus’. The song was famous and one that many Beatles fans took the time to ponder to work out what Lennon was actually writing about. It turns out, even Lennon didn’t fully understand what he was writing, as while he used Carroll’s poem as inspiration, he misinterpreted what it meant.
The poem in question was called The Walrus and the Carpenter. It followed a sea creature and a labourer who were walking down the beach and found a bed of oysters. They asked the oysters to come walk with them and then, during a break, ate them all. While both characters are culpable, the walrus seems to be the main manipulator.
When Lennon read the poem back, realised he had made a mistake with the song, as the Walrus was one of the antagonists in the story. He said if he were given the chance, he would rewrite the track but use the carpenter as inspiration instead.
“To me, it was a beautiful poem,” said Lennon in an interview. “It never dawned on me that Lewis Carroll was commenting on the capitalist and social system. I never went into that bit about what he really meant, like people are doing with the Beatles’ work. Later, I went back and looked at it and realised that the walrus was the bad guy in the story and the carpenter was the good guy. I thought, ‘Oh, s***. I picked the wrong guy; I should have said, ‘I am the carpenter.’ But that wouldn’t have been the same, would it?”
Never Miss A Tale
The Far Out Bob Dylan Newsletter
All the latest stories about Bob Dylan from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.