I Am The Walrus typifies The Beatles at their most unashamedly psychedelically playful. Absolutely bonkers (and that's putting it simply), one of the best readings (and personally my favourite) is that everything, from the "Yellow matter custard" to the King Lear quotes at the end are purposely nonsensical, mocking the people who tried to read immensely deep meaning into the band's lyrics. This theory is backed up by the way the band, particularly the song's writer, Lennon, dealt with its central "question"; just who is the Walrus? It's John singing, sure, but the song is so abstract that means very little. On top of that, the track-list on the soundtrack for Magical Mystery Tour featured the note "No you're not!" said Little Nicola" (itself a reference to the TV movie). This became such a major question that the band played with the fans, dropping confessions and clues throughout the rest of their discography - in Glass Onion John sings "The walrus was Paul" (which also doubles as a playful insert in all that "Paul is Dead" theorising) and Come Together boasts the suitably nonsensical "He got walrus gumboot". The concluding truth, however, is much more downbeat. In God, John Lennon's personality bearing account of his life as the Beatles broke-up, he proclaims "I was the walrus, but now I'm John." The dream truly is over.
