I AM THE WALRUS (LIVE AT GLENEAGLES, 6TH FEBRUARY 1994) (J. Lennon / P. McCartney)
RECORDED: (LIVE AT GLENEAGLES, 6TH FEBRUARY 1994) (Soundcheck)
COMMENTS: Noel was very drunk and he thought it was out of tune. Doesn't know why it was recorded. Didn't put Sony Seminar on sleevenotes cos he thought it's sound shit. Picked gig at random. Crowd noise from one of Noel's faces bootlegs. (Masterplan promo interview)
"We went up to do the Gleaneagles Hotel Sony Seminar. It's one of them shit things where all the twats in suits get together and they roll on the new signings." So we were doing the soundcheck, and we did "I Am The Walrus". There was no-one there, it was empty. So that song was actually recorded at a soundcheck in Gleneagles, right? And I'm going to get in trouble for saying this, but the crowd noise was taken from a Faces bootleg album! Because it would look shit if you put 'Live at Sony Seminar in Gleneagles'! We had a version of it from the Cathouse in Glasgow, which sounded quite similar but it was f*g rubbish. So we thought, 'Fk it, no-one'll f*g know'. But I always meant to set the record straight one day. Sorry to anyone who bought it on the premise of being at that gig."
"It was an absolutely empty hall. At the beginning Our Kid's going, 'Doesn't matter if it's out of tune, because you're cool'. I was pissed as an arse. It was ten in the morning when we got there and I had to do these interviews with all these Sony people from around the world going, 'So how does it feel being signed to Sony?' And we were going, 'But we're not, we're signed to Creation, aren't we?' And then, of course, it dawned on us that somebody hadn't bothered to tell us, 'Well, no, actually you're signed to Sony but you're licensed to Creation'. We were going, 'But you f*g told us we were signed to Creation!' And McGee's going, 'But it's the same thing!' And we're going, 'It's not. Does it we get more money?' 'Probably' 'Oh well, that's fine then.'"
"But it used to be great playing it, because Liam would walk off first, then I'd put my guitar down and leave all the effects on, saying to the rest of the band, 'Keep it going for as long as possible'. Just so me and Our Kid could drink the two bottles of champagne we used to get on our rider! By the time the band would get back me and him would be sat there f*g pissed as arseholes. They'd say, 'Where's the champagne, mate?@, and we're hiccuping! 'We've f*g drunk it, haven't we!' Bonehead would be well pissed off. So what used to happen at subsequent gigs was it'd be arace to see who could finish first. I'd put my guitar down, then Bonehead would play a chord and put his guitar down, so it would leave the drummer and the bass player. And because the drummer and bass player were a f*g useless pair of c*s at that time they could never nod when to finish it properly. So it used to go on for f*g ages! The we started getting three bottles of champagne on the rider and Bonehead would have one. The three of us sitting there, slaughtered, going, 'Come on now lads, keep it going for another two minutes and maybe the drugs'll have turned up and they'll be gone as well'. Hahaha!"
What was the longest you ever played it?
"I think there's a 19-minute version somewhere. We done a festival in Belgium. We'd all been out the night before, and we were on before Simple Minds. Simple Minds. Yes. There was a catwalk for Jim Kerr to walk up and down on, as he does. And it was just a really shit vibe, so we done four songs and a 19-minute version of "I Am The Walrus" and got off, 'cos we all had shit hangovers. We just said to them, 'Whatever you do don't finish until the 40-minute time limit'. I think Paul Weller might have come into the dressing room and siad, 'Your band's onstage, playing'. And I goes, 'Too f*g right they are mate! D'you wanna drink?! Have some champagne!'" (NME, 31st October 1998)
OTHERS: Additional Production and Mix by Owen Morris.
LIVE (BAND) DEBUT: 1st April 1993 at Krazy House, Liverpool or 1st March 1993 at La Bateu, Liverpool? Noel says played to wind up Scousers.
