Comment by pinkmuffinere
7 hours ago
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.