The Beatles song John Lennon wrote for “ELO freaks”
The later years of The Beatles are defined by the group’s psychedelic and experimental proclivities. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and the rest of the band created a multifarious potpourri by drawing upon an assortment of sources throughout the mediums. While the Fab Four weren’t the only group to institute a tangible musical shift in the latter half of the 1960s, their work was certainly some of the most daring that did.
It’s safe to say that The Beatles’ dramatic shift in direction wouldn’t have occurred without a few pivotal factors: experimentation with drugs, the era’s inherently rebellious spirit, and the influence of Bob Dylan. They were as much a product of their time as they were trailblazers, leading the way into a bold new musical future—a point often overlooked by fans.
Dylan was absolutely pivotal for the band’s arc. Not only were they major fans in his early protest song years – like everyone else of their generation who had any form of imagination and self-awareness – but he also introduced them to the sweet leaf, marijuana, one day in their hotel in New York. This transformed the band in just a few moments, and their next album would be 1965’s Rubber Soul, a weed album in all but name and their first real break from musical standards.
Dylan’s influence in this era was both musical and spiritual. When he made the bold move to go electric with Bringing It All Back Home in 1965, shifting from protest songs to cerebral, surreal wordplay, it expanded the scope of popular music. Lennon, in particular, was captivated by this evolution. Over the Beatles’ final five years, his lyrics grew more complex, abstract, and worldly, even as they retained occasional playful lines. This transformation was part of a broader vision that his compositions were beginning to coalesce into.
One of the songs that best exemplifies The Beatles’ and Lennon’s transformation during this period is the 1967 track ‘I Am the Walrus’, featured in the TV film Magical Mystery Tour. Released at the height of psychedelia, the band had already perfected the genre’s approach with the inventive Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Despite ‘I Am the Walrus’ seeming to feature surreal, almost nonsensical wordplay, it holds considerable depth and substance.
While we clearly remember the Eggman and the many goo-goo g’joobs, Lennon would explain that the song was inspired by two acid trips, Louis Carroll’s poetic comment on the capitalist system, The Walrus and the Carpenter – which he misinterpreted – first meeting wife Yoko Ono, and Beat Generation legend Allen Ginsberg dedicating his life in what he saw as a foolish manner to the Hare Krishna movement. It was even sexually transgressive and was banned by the BBC for the line: “Boy, you been a naughty girl you let your knickers down”.
Lennon’s songs in this period reflected his psyche and lived experiences, creating a depth that many often overlook for the outlandish psychedelia on the face of it. In the 2016 book Lennon on Lennon: Conversations With John Lennon, the text of a 1974 radio interview is included. In it, he revealed that ‘I Am the Walrus’ was for “the ELO freaks” out there, a new type of listener who worshipped the popular form of prog and psychedelic pop, exemplified by Jeff Lynne’s ELO, because of the substantial themes these songwriter’s included, providing more than enough food for thought in the words.
“And now we’re gonna play a track from Magical Mystery Tour, which is one of my favourite albums because it was so weird, and it’s ‘I Am the Walrus,’” he said. “It’s also one of my favourite tracks because I did it, of course!” Lennon added. “But also because it’s one of those that has enough little bitties going to keep you interested even a hundred years later. And this is for the ELO freaks.”
It can be easy to denigrate John Lennon for his seemingly absurd, hollow words. Still, more often than not, The Beatles frontman included ample thematic meat for listeners to keep returning for more, digging ever deeper into the mind behind the music. It’s one of the reasons they’re still the world’s biggest band. He’s been dead for 44 years.
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