"Paperback Writer"

Paper back writer (paperback writer)
Dear Sir or Madam, will you read my book?
It took me years to write, will you take a look?
It's based on a novel by a man named Lear
And I need a job, so I want to be a paperback writer,
Paperback writer.

It's the dirty story of a dirty man
And his clinging wife doesn't understand.
His son is working for the Daily Mail,
It's a steady job but he wants to be a paperback writer,
Paperback writer.

It's a thousand pages, give or take a few,
I'll be writing more in a week or two.
I can make it longer if you like the style,
I can change it round and I want to be a paperback writer,
Paperback writer.

If you really like it you can have the rights,
It could make a million for you overnight.
If you must return it, you can send it here
But I need a break and I want to be a paperback writer,
Paperback writer.

Edward Lear's influence on Lennon's two novels, A Spaniard in the Works and In His Own Write, and his own desire to be a writer is obvious in this song.

"Glass Onion"

I told you about strawberry fields,
You know the place where nothing is real
Well here's antoher place you can go 
Where everything flows.

Looking through the bent backed tulips
To see how the other half lives 
Looking through a glass onion.

I told you about the walrus and me-man
You know that we're as close as can be-man.
Well here's another clue for you all,
The walrus was Paul.

Standing on the cast iron shore-yeah,
Lady Madonna trying to make ends meet-yeah.
Looking through a glass onion.

Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah.
Looking through a glass onion.

I told you about the fool on the hill,
I tell you man he living there still.
Well here's another place you can be,
Listen to me.

Fixing a hole in the ocean
Trying to make a dove-tail joint-yeah
Looking through a glass onion

John's lyrics have a dream logic all their own, just as the Alice books do. In Wonderland, Alice exists in a dream of her own making. Through the looking-glass, Alice is only a part of the Red King's dream. 

Lennon uses these lyrical phrases to create a dreamscape influenced by Lewis Carroll, where 'nothing is real' except excerpts from his own songs. 'The Walrus is Paul' lets Lennon deny his identity and reject his childhood in Strawberry Fields. The futility of sweeping the beach clean of sand is echoed in 'fixing a hole in the ocean.' 

"I Am the Walrus"

I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together.
See how they run like pigs from a gun, see how they fly.
I'm crying.

Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come.
Corporation t-shirt, stupid bloody Tuesday.
Man, you been a naughty boy, you let your face grow long.
I am the eggman (woo), they are the eggmen (woo), I am the walrus,
Coo coo, kachoo.

Mister City P'liceman sitting
Pretty little policemen in a row.
See how they fly like Lucy in the Sky, see how they run.
I'm crying. 
I'm cry, I'm crying, I'm cry.

Yellow matter custard, dripping from a dead dog's eye.
Crabalocker fishwife, pornographic priestess,
Boy, you been a naughty girl and you let your knickers down.
I am the eggman (woo), they are the eggmen (woo), I am the walrus,
Coo coo, kachoo.

Sitting in an English garden waiting for the sun.
If the sun don't come, you get a tan from
Standing in the English rain.
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen, I am the walrus,
Coo coo kachoo ka coo coo kachoo.

Expert texpert choking smokers,
Don't you think the joker laughs at you? (ho ho ho, he he he, ha ha ha)
See how they smile like pigs in a sty, see how they snide.
I'm crying.

Semolina Pilchard, climbing up the Eiffel Tower.
Elementary penguin singing Hare Krishna.
Man, you should have seen them kicking Edgar Allan Poe.
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen, I am the walrus,
Coo coo kachoo ka coo coo kachoo
(rhythmical speaking along with juba's).
Juba juba juba, juba, juba, juba, juba, juba, juba juba. Juba juba.....
(speaking) 

This song is best known for its Carrollinian influence. John takes many of the dream aspects of the Alice books and places them within his own drean system. Eggs (Humpty Dumpty), Walrus crying (Walrus and the Carpenter), Pigs Flying and Edgar Allen Poe (another influence) make up Lennon's particular dreamscape in this song. 

Lennon even goes so far as to create a new persona for himself as the Walrus and Eggman, with the other Beatles playing Eggmen. Perhaps Lennon saw himself as ashamed in his own self-knowledge like the Walrus or a manipulator of language, like Humpty Dumpty, Lewis Carroll or Edward Lear.

"Tomorrow Never Knows"

Turn off your mind, relax and float down stream,
It is not dying, it is not dying

Lay down all thought, surrender to the void,
Is it shining? Is it shining?

That you may see the meaning of within
It is being, it is being

Love is all and love is everyone
Is it knowing? Is it knowing?

That ignorance and hate may mourn the dead
It is believing, it is believing

But listen to the colour of your dreams
Is it not living, is it not living

Or play the game "Existence" to the end
Of the beginning, of the beginning

Lennon believes, as Carroll does, that existence is a game which one must play in order to live. Dreams must be succumbed to, but to sleep is not to die. In dreams anything is possible; colors can be heard and life's meaning is seen by just being. Alice wakes from her dream a changed person, but never having complete knowledge of her experience. Lines are repeated to illustrate his looking-glass motiff. 

"Strawberry Fields Forever"

Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to
Strawberry fields
Nothing is real
And nothing to get hung about
Strawberry fields forever 

Living is easy with eyes closed
Misunderstanding all you see
It's getting hard to be someone, but it all works out
It doesn't matter much to me 

Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to
Strawberry fields
Nothing is real
And nothing to get hung about
Strawberry fields forever 

No one, I think, is in my tree
I mean, it must be high or low
That is, you can't, you know, tune in, but it's alright
That is, I think it's not too bad 

Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to
Strawberry fields
Nothing is real
And nothing to get hung about
Strawberry fields forever 

Always, no, sometimes, think it's me
But, you know, I know when it's a dream
I think, er, no, I mean, er, yes, but it's all wrong
That is, I think I disagree 

Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to
Strawberry fields
Nothing is real
And nothing to get hung about
Strawberry fields forever
Strawberry fields forever
Strawberry fields forever 

Strawberry Fields was a place John Lennon used to go as a child. Here he could imagine his life differently. It could be a place where 'nothing is real.' He knows when life is a dream, or does he? Like Carroll he questions where reality ends and dreams begin.

"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"

Picture yourself in a boat on a river,
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies.
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly,
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes.

Cellophane flowers of yellow and green,
Towering over your head.
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes,
And she's gone.

Lucy in the sky with diamonds,
Lucy in the sky with diamonds,
Lucy in the sky with diamonds,
Ah... Ah...

Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain,
Where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies.
Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers,
That grow so incredibly high.

Newspaper taxis appear on the shore,
Waiting to take you away.
Climb in the back with your head in the clouds,
And you're gone.

Picture yourself on a train in a station,
With plasticine porters with looking glass ties.
Suddenly someone is there at the turnstile,
The girl with kaleidoscope eyes.

This is a dreamscape Lennon carefully modeled on Lewis Carroll's Wonderland. 'A boat on the river' is a reflection of Carroll's telling of his story to Alice Liddell and her sister. Cellophane flowers mirror the garden on the hill in Through the Looking-Glass and 'rocking horse people' are obviously inspired by the rocking horsefly Alice sees. The train station appears in this song as well as the second Alice book, and the papered man could be the foundation for the 'newspaper taxis.' Like Carroll's world, Lennon's is intoxicating but maddening.  

"A Day in the Life"

(Sugarplum Fairy, Sugarplum Fairy)
I read the news today oh boy
About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad
Well I just had to laugh
I saw the photograph
He blew his mind out in a car
He didn't notice that the lights had changed
A crowd of people stood and stared
They'd seen his face before
Nobody was really sure
If he was from the House of Lords.

I saw a film today oh boy
The English Army had just won the war
A crowd of people turned away
but I just had to look
Having read the book
I'd love to turn you on

Woke up, got out of bed,
Dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup,
And looking up I noticed I was late.
Found my coat and grabbed my hat
Made the bus in seconds flat
Found my way upstairs and had a smoke,
and Somebody spoke and I went into a dream

I read the news today oh boy
Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire
And though the holes were rather small
They had to count them all
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall.
I'd love to turn you on

Like Alice, Lennon again questions who is the dreamer of this dream. Similarly, the alarmclock sound emphasizes the importance of time in Lennon's dreamscape. The end fades out into nothingness after the experience of organized chaos, just like the Cheshire Cat after he tells Alice they're all mad in Wonderland.