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TL;DR:

  • Paul McCartney baited fans with the lyrics of a song from The Beatles’ The White Album.
  • The song references the “I Am the Walrus” scene from Magical Mystery Tour and other Beatles songs.
  • The Beatles released another classic song that mentions a walrus.

Paul McCartney said a song from The Beatles’ The White Album references the movie Magical Mystery Tour. He looked back on the reference fondly. In addition, he revealed the song in question was mostly John Lennon’s work.

Paul McCartney wanted to plant a legend with a song from The Beatles’ ‘The White Album’

In the 1997 book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, Paul explained how he helped John write “Glass Onion.” “We had a fun moment when we were working on the bit, ‘I’ve got news for you all, the walrus was Paul,'” he recalled. “Because, although we’d never planned it, people read into our songs and little legends grew up about every item of so-called significance, so on this occasion, we decided to plant one.

“What John meant was that in Magical Mystery Tour, when we came to do the costumes on ‘I Am the Walrus,’ it happened to be me in the walrus costume,” she added. “It was not significant at all, but it was a nice little twist to the legend that we threw in. But it was John’s song.”

Paul McCartney revealed what he thought of ‘Glass Onion’ in retrospect

Paul said “Glass Onion” was primarily John’s work. “There were a couple of things he needed me to finish up, but it was his song, his idea, and he worked on the arrangement with [The Beatles’ producer] George Martin,” he said. “It was a particularly good arrangement, I think. It was a nice song of John’s.”

Notably, “Glass Onion” doesn’t just reference “I Am the Walrus.” The tune also tips its hat to “Lady Madonna,” “Strawberry Fields Forever,” “The Fool on the Hill,” and “Fixing a Hole.” John would mention a walrus again in one of the verses from “Come Together.” In addition, a person in a walrus costume appears in the video for George Harrison’s “When We Was Fab.”

Related

The Beatles’ ‘I Am the Walrus’ Was Inspired By a ‘F*cking Bastard’

How The Beatles’ ‘The White Album’ and ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ performed

“Glass Onion” was never a single, so it did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100. Meanwhile, The White Album topped the Billboard 200 for nine weeks. It lasted on the chart for a total of 215 weeks.

On the other hand, “I Am the Walrus” became a minor hit. The song peaked at No. 56 and remained on the chart for four weeks. The track appeared on the soundtrack of Magical Mystery Tour. That record was No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for eight weeks.

Despite its oblique lyrics, “I Am the Walrus” inspired several covers. Oasis, Bono, Styx, and Oingo Boingo all recorded the tune. On the other hand, “Glass Onion” never became a standard, perhaps because its lyrics are too self-referential.

“Glass Onion” is an interesting album track and it shows that John was aware of The Beatles’ legend.

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