THE MYSTERY BEHIND THE BEATLES’ SONG, “I AM THE WALRUS”

For years, there have been discussions about who played the role of the Walrus in the song “I Am The Walrus” featured in the film Magical Mystery Tour. Of course, the composition was written by John Lennon (credited to Lennon-McCartney) and he sings lead in the song, which uses the first person, “I am the Walrus” chorus. The words were filled with acid-tinged mysterious lyrics. Lennon loved the fact that teachers were starting to analyze Beatles lyrics. While writing the song, he remarked to his childhood friend Pete Shotton, who was visiting at the time, “Let the fuckers work that one out.”

In the film, we see John Lennon playing the piano and singing the song presumably in the Walrus costume. However, if you get the new Magical Mystery Tour DVD and listen to Paul’s audio commentary during the Walrus scene, Paul admits that both he and John had a little fun and both wore the Walrus costume at different points in the scene.

This sure looks like Paul in the Walrus costume!

You may recall that a year later, the Walrus issue came up again on The Beatles (White) Album. On the song, Glass Onion, we hear Lennon sing,

I Told You ‘Bout The Walrus And Me, Man
You Know That We’re About As Close As Can Be, Man
Well, Here’s Another Clue For You All
The Walrus Was Paul

Clearly, both Lennon and McCartney delighted in playing with their lyrics and putting in funny little things to see if their fans would catch them.

When the “Paul is Dead” rumour arose in the fall of 1969, college kids grabbed at the “Walrus is Paul” concept as yet another clue that Walrus’ were symbols of death. Paul became even more closely associated with the Walrus.

 

 

 However, just as some fans came to believe that the Walrus was Paul, Lennon stepped in to make things a bit more confusing.... In 1970, Lennon sang the lyrics to his song “God” which appeared on the Plastic Ono Band album. He sings:

I Was The Walrus
But now, I am John     

And just when we thought The Walrus question couldn’t get more confused, things got even more mysterious...

In 1987, George Harrison got in on the act with his song and video from the Cloud 9 album, When We Was Fab. The video featured George on guitar, Ringo on drums and a mystery man in a Walrus costume playing left handed bass. Was it Paul? Was this a “Beatles” reunion? Unfortunately, the answer is no. 

Who is wearing the Walrus costume?

In a 1995 issue of "Record Collector, which featured an interview with Paul McCartney, he was asked, “Did you appear in George Harrison's video for "When We Was Fab"? There were stories that it was you inside the walrus costume.”

Paul replied:  “No. George wanted me to be in it but I wasn't available. So I suggested that he put someone else in a walrus costume & tell everyone that it was me. We've always had fun with the walrus thing. We don't lay many false trails but the walrus has always been one of them. Anyway, though it was me in the walrus costume in "Magical Mystery Tour", it WASN'T me in "When We Was Fab" - it was a joke between George & me, which we purposely decided not to tell anyone.”

So that leaves us with yet another mystery. Who was the Walrus in costume in George’s video? Given George’s sense of humour, he probably wanted us to spend eternity debating this silly question.

The Rock And Roll Detective® has just written a new book entitled, The Beatle Who Vanished. For more information: www.thebeatlewhovanished.com

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AC/DC Rides Again!

The Rock And Roll Detective® is happy to share this forum today with a guest writer who is also a music author, historian and researcher - to tell us about the first new album from Aussie Rockers AC/DC in twenty years! Rock it Susan…

 

Live at River Plate-AC/DC

By Susan Masino

AC/DC has just released Live at River Plate, their first live album in twenty years, recorded in December, 2009 in Buenos Aires. Playing in front of nearly 200,000 fans over three sold-out shows, this was their first time back to Argentina in 13 years. The album captures the band during their Black Ice tour, where they performed to over 5 million fans in 108 cities in over 28 countries. After being off the road for 7 years, AC/DC resurfaced in 2008 with Black Ice, and their world tour ended up grossing $513 million. Live at River Plate offers fans the choice of a 2-CD package featuring a 24 page booklet, or for the old school fans, a special 3 LP red vinyl package which comes with an exclusive 24” x 36” poster. For purely digital fans, their new album and entire back catalog are now available on iTunes.

AC/DC is one of those bands that has to be seen to be appreciated, and Live at River Plate brings to life why their concerts are always sold out. The song list includes 19 tunes opening with “Rock ’N’ Roll Train,” and covering everything from “Thunderstruck” to Bon Scott classics such as “Dog Eat Dog,” and “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.” Included from the Black Ice album are the title song, “Big Jack,” and “War Machine,” the song that finally won them a long awaited Grammy award in 2010.

Listening to the roar of the audience especially when the band plays their two encores, “Highway To Hell,” and “For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)”, brings back the excitement of being in the audience. I had the pleasure of seeing the band four times on the Black Ice tour, and each and every time they wore me out. God only knows how they pulled that show off over 100 times in less than two years. Live at River Plate proves that AC/DC is as strong as ever, and are not even close to showing signs of slowing down.

 

Celebrating their 40^th anniversary in 2013, AC/DC is one of the top five highest grossing bands in history, and their classic anthems will have fans rocking out for decades to come. For those of you who were lucky enough to see them on their last tour, you know what I’m talking about. For those of you who missed it, Live at River Plate is as close as you can get …until the next tour.

Susan Masino has been a rock journalist for over thirty years, and has written four books, created and hosted the Madison, Wisconsin  94.1 JJO Local Stage radio show from 1997-2004. She also appears in the Van Halen DVD, The Early Years, www.van-halen.com and Let There Be Rock-The Movie. Her book, Let There Be Rock-The Story of AC/DC, is now in 10 languages and can be found along with her new book, Family Tradition-Three Generations of Hank Williams at www.amazon.com. For more information please go to www.susanmasino.com.