Glass Onion (Lennon/McCartney)
Much like I Am The Walrus, Glass Onion was written by John as a sort of joke for people who analyzed Beatles songs looking for meanings. The song is filled with nonsense lyrics and wild images. The title “Glass Onion” came from the name that John wanted The Iveys, a new band on the Apple label, to use. They ended up going by Badfinger.
Use in Glass Onion
The original studio recording of “Glass Onion” was used in the end credits of the 2022 Rian Johnson film Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. Original studio recordings of Beatles’ music is notoriously expensive and difficult to secure, and it is unknown how much the licensing of the track cost to use in the film.
Quotes
“We had fun a fun moment when we were working on the bit, ‘Here’s another clue for you all, the Walrus was Paul.’ 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. People read things into our songs and little legends grew up about every item of so-called significance, so on this occasion we decided to plant one.” – Paul McCartney, from The Beatles Anniversary Edition linear notes
Personnel
- John Lennon – lead vocals, acoustic guitar
- Paul McCartney – bass guitar, piano, recorder
- George Harrison – lead guitar
- Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine
- Henry Datyner – violin
- Eric Bowie – violin
- Norman Lederman – violin
- Ronald Thomas – violin
- John Underwood – viola
- Keith Cummings – viola
- Eldon Fox – cello
- Reginald Kilby – cello
Release history
- The Beatles (1968)
- Anthology 3 (1996) [demo]
- Anthology 3 (1996) [Anthology mix]
- Love (2006) [LOVE mix]
- The Beatles Anniversary Edition (2018) [2018 stereo mix]
- The Beatles Anniversary Edition (2018) [demo]
- The Beatles Anniversary Edition (2018) [take 10]
