Released: November 22, 1968

Songwriter: Lennon-McCartney John Lennon

Producer: George Martin

[Verse 1]
I told you 'bout Strawberry Fields
You know the place where nothing is real
Well here's another place you can go
Where everything flows

[Refrain]
Looking through the bent back tulips
To see how the other half lives
Looking through a glass onion

[Verse 2]
I told you 'bout 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

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

[Bridge]
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah
Looking through a glass onion

[Verse 3]
I told you 'bout the fool on the hill
I tell you, man, he living there still
Well, here's another place you can be
Listen to me

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

The Beatles

The Beatles are arguably the most famous, critically-acclaimed, and successful rock band of all time—certainly the preeminent group of the 20th century. They started out as four teenagers playing grimy basement clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg, but they progressed to become world-beating rock stars who are still influential to this day.

John Lennon first formed a skiffle group called The Quarrymen in March 1957. A fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney joined shortly thereafter, eventually inviting his friend George Harrison to audition for the band. After finally impressing John with his guitar skills, George was asked to join—but this juncture would be short-lived as John’s departure to college signaled the other quarrymen to go their separate ways.

By 1960, Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison had re-branded from ‘Johnny & the Moondogs’ to ‘The Silver Beetles’ at the behest of their new bass player, Stuart Sutcliffe. The name would eventually evolve into ‘The Silver Beatles’ by July of that year, before settling on ‘The Beatles’ come August—just in time for their trip to Hamburg with new drummer, Pete Best. Though club residencies in Germany would prove fundamental to the group’s progress as a whole, the tour turned out to be a blessing and a curse, following the deportation of a then-seventeen-year-old George Harrison, and the eventual tragic death of Stuart Sutcliffe.

more tracks from the album

The Beatles (The Original Studio Recordings) Boxset