Comment by gizajob
1 day ago
Who is we? You mean you think that? It’s part of the lyrics in my understanding of the song. Particularly because it’s in part inspired by the nonsense verse of Lewis Carrol. Snark, slithey, mimsy, borogrove, jub jub bird, jabberwock are poetic nonsense words same as goo goo gjoob is a lyrical nonsense word.
> Who is we?
No, "you are he", not "who is we". :-)
I don’t want to get too deep into goo goo gjoob orthodoxy on a polite forum like HN, but I think you’re wrong.
Slithey, mimsy, borogrove etc are indeed nonsense words, because they are nonsense and used as words. Notably, because of the way they are used we have a sense of whether they are objects, adjectives, verbs, etc, and also some characteristics of the thing/adjective/verb in question. Goo goo gjoob on the other hand, happens in isolation, with no implied meaning at all. Is it a verb? Adjective? Noun? Is it hairy? Nerve-wracking? Is it conveying a partial concept? Or a whole sentence? We can’t give a compelling answer to any of these based on the usage. So it’s more like scat-singing — just vocalization without meaning. Nonsense words have meaning, even if the meaning isn’t clear. Slithey and mimsy are adjectives. Borogroves are nouns. The jabberwock is a creature.
“Anything too stupid to be spoken is sung”
You’re seeking to lock down meaning and clarification in a song where such an exercise has purposefully been defeated to resist proper analysis.
I was responding to the comment about it being a “non-lexical vocable”. While we don’t have John Lennon with us for clarification, I still doubt he’d have said “well all the song is my lyrics, except for the last line of the choruses which is a non-lexical vocable”. It’s not in isolation, it completes the chorus.
Also given it’s the only goo goo gjoob in popular music then it seems very deliberate and less like a laa laa or a skibide bap scat type of thing.
And yeah as the other poster here points out, it’s likely something along the lines of what a walrus says from his big tusky hairy underwater mouth.
RIP Johnny:
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 tee-shirt, stupid bloody Tuesday Man, you been a naughty boy, you let your face grow long I am the eggman, they are the eggmen I am the walrus, goo-goo g'joob
Mister City policeman 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 crying I'm crying, I'm crying
Yellow matter custard, dripping from a dead dog's eye Crabalocker fishwife, pornographic priestess Boy, you been a naughty girl you let your knickers down I am the eggman, they are the eggmen I am the walrus, goo-goo g'joob
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, goo-goo g'joob, g'goo goo g'joob
Expert textpert choking smokers Don't you think the joker laughs at you? See how they smile like pigs in a sty, see how they snied I'm crying
Semolina pilchard, climbing up the Eiffel Tower Elementary penguin singing Hari Krishna Man, you should have seen them kicking Edgar-Allan-Poe I am the eggman, they are the eggmen I am the walrus, goo-goo g'joob, g'goo goo g'joob Goo goo g'joob, g'goo goo g'joob, g'goo...
“Let the fuckers work that one out Pete!”
Citation: John Lennon - In My Life by Pete Shotton (Lennon’s childhood best friend).
I had always just assumed "goo goo gjoob" was how you say "pleased to meet you" in walrus.