Serviceable Villain

You have to love where curiosity leads you. I had the snippet from a Beatle’s song running through my head today and it took me to places I had forgotten and never been. I heard the words, “serviceable villain” rolling around in my head this afternoon and could not place where it was coming from. I knew it was Beatles and started working my way backwards. It was not where I thought.

The first place I looked was Strawberry Fields. This melodic song talks about an orphanage in Liverpool from both John and Paul’s childhood. This song led to looking up information on the rumor that Paul is dead. Somewhere a rumor got out that Paul McCartney had been decapitated in an automobile accident and was replaced by a look alike, sound alike, musically talented like, musician. The remaining Beatles left numerous audio and visual clues in their following albums for anyone who was savvy enough to catch them. Too much coincidence and the music was too good. So much for rumor.

I then remembered koo koo ka chu and “I Am The Walrus” jumped up and exposed the truth. I could not find the serviceable villain lyric however. I finally found the reason for the dramatic words spoken at the end of the song. They are from Shakespeare’s King Lear. It was being broadcast during the final editing of the song and somehow made it on the tape, at least that is the official version. It blended so well they left it. Now koo koo ka chu is actually goo goo g’ job but if you read the lyrics and the excerpt from King Lear, you will get the gist.

Lyrics:
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 T-shirt, stupid bloody Tuesday
Man you've 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

Mr. 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
Yellow matter custard
Dripping from a dead dog's eye
Crabalocker fishwife
Pornographic priestess
Boy, you've 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

Expert, texpert choking smokers
don't you think the joker laughs at you
See how they smile like pigs in a sty
See how they snide
I'm crying
Semolina pilchard
climbing up the Eiffel tower
Elementary penguin singing Hare 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
Goo goo g' joob
Goo goo g' goo
goo goo g' joob goo
juba juba juba
juba juba juba
juba juba juba juba
juba juba

OSWALD
Slave, thou hast slain me: villain, take my purse:
If ever thou wilt thrive, bury my body;
And give the letters which thou find'st about me
To Edmund earl of Gloucester; seek him out
Upon the British party: O, untimely death!
Dies
EDGAR
I know thee well: a serviceable villain;
As duteous to the vices of thy mistress
As badness would desire.
GLOUCESTER
What, is he dead?
EDGAR
Sit you down, father; rest you
Let's see these pockets: the letters that he speaks of
May be my friends. He's dead; I am only sorry
He had no other death's-man.


Icool

Cobb