The Esher demo of Glass Onion is played in the same key (Am) but Lennon's guitar is tuned down (this time by a semitone). At this stage there is only one verse and no bridge. Lennon messes up the lyrics and descends into stream of conscious gibberish, paraphrasing 'Chicago' by Fred Fisher. A post-Rishikesh lyric manuscripts, written on the back of an envelope, omits the word 'man' from the
Walrus and me/close as can be
lines and reveals that Lennon (and McCartney?) was (were?) even more ambitious about trying to cram in self-references
Trying to make a dovetail joint for a yellow submarine
Lennon was still tweaking lyrics during the recording at various points, trying out
Fool on the Hill is standing/sitting/living there still
Walrus and me are as nice/cool/keen/close as can be
Looking through a hole in the ocean
There were musical as well as lyrical self-references - a mellotron quote of Strawberry Fields Forever was cut (along with the sound effects coda heard on Anthology 3) but a nod to The Fool On The Hill (with Paul and Chris Thomas on recorders) made it to the final version.
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