Posted on 01/17/2023 2:42:14 PM PST by DallasBiff
Right there with you, Blackdog.
There are 2 chants going on at the end.
1. “Oompa-Oompa, stick it up yer joompah..”
2. “Everybody’s got one, Everybody’s got one..”
What is this weird song about? Or are they just stoned on acid?
I understand that John Lennon wrote these lyrics in response to someone who claimed he had uncovered the "hidden" meaning in an earlier piece. Supposedly, John Lennon wrote in the style of Lewis Carroll a lots of meaningless lines and laughed to his bandmates "let him figure these out."
Well I am trying to figure out who Selmolina Pilchard was.
Not a Beatles fan but always liked this song- Goo goo g’joob
Toward the end of that don’t there’s an audio salad in the background. Included is a snippet of Olivier’s ( I think) King Lear, something like “Take the documents which thou shalt find about me to Edmund Earl of Glouster. O Death, untimely death”
I’m sure I have the quote wrong but in high school I was reading that exact part of Lear for homework as that played on my stereo. Weird.
“In the time of chimpanzees, I was a chimpan-A.”
Semolina Pilchard was a reference to Sgt Pilcher, a detective later imprisoned for planting evidence. In 1969, he arrested George Harrison for possession of pot.
Was listening to a 1964 Beatle album today, it sounded so very teeny boper
Watch the Styx liver version of this with the Youth Orchestra of Cleveland. Awesome.
It is so heartwarming to see these kids enjoying the music that we all loved in the 60s and 70s. You’ll love it.
Paul is dead, miss him.
Indeed, the orchestral arrangement is very effective. It also seems to have been written in a minor key. In 1967, I was neither a Beatles fan nor an acid head--I listened mostly to Oldies on KWIZ, but when I occasionally surfed over to LA's premier Top 40 blaster Boss Radio 93 KHJ, I enjoyed hearing the DJ's play "Walrus."
Semolina is a variety of wheat and a pilchard is another name for a sardine. Makes as much sense as newspaper taxis, kaleidoscope eyes, and other expressions heard in the pop tunes of 1967 which can only be understood by an acid head.
“What is this weird song about? Or are they just stoned on acid.”
Yes.
“At the time, I imagine the experimentation with unusual sounds in records coincided with extreme forms of modern art and nihilist/existential theatre.”
Yeah, that’s what it was. They had moved to London, and were hanging out with the avant garde art scene, and so they want to dip their toes in that pool. Paul actually was the first one hanging out with that crowd, but he seems to have tired of it pretty quickly, where John got snared by Yoko and stuck with it pretty doggedly.
“Put me in the camp of “not aged well” for later Beatles music.”
I say it varies song to song. There is plenty of stuff on the later albums that is dated, or misses the mark completely. But there are some gems that still surpass all their earlier stuff in terms of composition, musicianship, production, etc. And while they did use more and more “nonsense” lyrics on the later albums, they also wrote more songs that were introspective and meaningful, not just teen love songs and rockers which were all you got in the early years.
If you listen it’s there.
Slave
Thou hast slain me
Villain, take my purse
If I ever
Bury my body
The letters which though find’st about me
To Edmund Earl of Gloucester
Seek him out upon the British Party
O untimely death
I know thee well
A serviceable villain, as duteous to the vices of thy mistress
As badness would desire
What, is is he dead?
Sit you down, Father, rest you
When I first heard it as a teenager, I thought it was the coolest song I’d ever heard. Five decades later I still think that.
I’ve loved the Beatles since 1980. I enjoy the Walrus tune. Contrary to the inevitable Beatles’ naysayers on every Beatles’ thread, they were extremely gifted. Paul Mac, back in his heyday, put out musical genius level stuff. Not every tune, but scores of their music stands the test of time and if humans are around 100 years from now, they will still be an influence.
Composer analyzes the Beatles:
https://youtu.be/ZQS91wVdvYc
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