The History Of The Beatles Song Glass Onion Explained

Publish date: 2024-04-07

Ever watched an episode of a TV series that deliberately calls back to various events in the show's canon, either as a means of fan service, a way of furthering the episode's narrative, or both? The Beatles' 1968 track "Glass Onion" is just like those episodes, only in song form. The song appears as the third track in Vol. 1 of the Beatles' "White Album," offering a quick (2 minutes, 17 seconds) burst of aggression after the far more reflective, slower-paced "Dear Prudence."

The lyrics of "Glass Onion" start out with the figurative guns blazing, with John Lennon singing about what was then a very recent hit — 1967's "Strawberry Fields Forever" — and the middle lines of its chorus. The second verse references another song from "Magical Mystery Tour," "I Am the Walrus," with the declaration "the walrus was Paul" prefacing a quick mention of one of the Beatles' Paul McCartney-fronted hits, "Lady Madonna." If you're counting with us, that's three references to previous Beatles songs in the first half alone.

After a brief instrumental break punctuated by Lennon's increasingly frantic declarations of "oh yeah," the song continues exploring the Beatles' recent discography by calling back to a third "Magical Mystery Tour" track, "The Fool on the Hill." Next, there's the line "fixing a hole in the ocean," which doesn't actually appear on the song "Fixing a Hole" but is nonetheless a reference to the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" tune.

Five Beatles song references in just 137 seconds. One can only imagine how far Lennon might have gone had he made "Glass Onion" about a minute or two longer.

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