"I Am the Walrus" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1967 television film Magical Mystery Tour.

Written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney, it was released as the B-side to the single "Hello, Goodbye" and on the Magical Mystery Tour EP and album.

Producer George Martin arranged and added orchestral accompaniment that included violins, cellos, horns, and clarinet.

The Mike Sammes Singers, a 16-voice choir of professional studio vocalists, also joined the recording, variously singing nonsense lines and shrill whooping noises.

According to author Ian MacDonald, the "model" for "I Am the Walrus" was most likely Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale", which was a hit single in mid-1967 and Lennon's favourite song of the period.

Shotton recalled the rhyme as follows: Yellow matter custard, green slop pie, All mixed together with a dead dog's eye, Slap it on a butty, ten-foot thick, Then wash it all down with a cup of cold sick.

[8] According to Pattie Boyd, Harrison's wife at the time, the words "semolina pilchard" refer to Sergeant Pilcher of the London Drug Squad, who waged a campaign against British rock stars and underground figures during the late 1960s.

Musicologist Alan W. Pollack analyses: "The chord progression of the outro itself is a harmonic Moebius strip with scales in bassline and top voice that move in contrary motion.

The fade is described by Walter Everett as a "false ending", in the form of an "unrelated coda" consisting of the orchestral chord progression, chorus, and sampling of the radio play.

Paul McCartney said that Lennon gave instructions to Martin as to how he wished the orchestration to be scored, including singing most of the parts as a guide.

On the radio broadcast, the roles were read by Mark Dignam (Gloucester), Philip Guard (Edgar), and John Bryning (Oswald).

A hybrid version prepared for the 1980 US Rarities LP combines the six-beat opening with the extra bar of music that precedes the words "yellow matter custard" (from the aforementioned US mono single mix).

[23] An entirely new full stereo remix was done in 2012 for Apple's DVD and Blu-ray release of the restored version of Magical Mystery Tour.

A 5.1 surround sound full stereo remix of the song appeared on the DVD release of Anthology in 2003, on disc 4.

A full stereo digital remix was also done for the Cirque du Soleil show Love and album of the same name, released in 2006.

According to Ian MacDonald,[30] except where noted: The Beatles Additional musicians and production Critical reception at the time of the track's release was largely positive.

Writer Derek Johnson stated: "John growls the nonsense (and sometimes suggestive) lyric, backed by a complex scoring incorporating violins and cellos.

"[34] Nick Logan wrote: "Into the world of Alice in Wonderland now and you can almost visualise John crouching on a deserted shore singing 'I am the walrus' to some beautiful strings from far away on the horizon and a whole bagful of Beatle sounds, like a ringing doorbell and someone sawing a plank of wood.

"[35] In a review for Melody Maker, Nick Jones considered the song "not such a complex sound as a lot of previous Beatles stuff but it builds nicely to a chattering, spinning cacophony of electricity and hissing gongs behind a barely audible "conversation"".

[36] Richard Goldstein of The New York Times wrote that the song was "their most realized work since 'A Day In The Life'" and described it as "a fierce collage" with a "musical structure [that] mirrors this fragmentation".

He said it "suggests a world much like that of 'A Day In The Life,' where the news is bad and John Lennon (now a Walrus, with a drooping moustache) would like to turn us on.