Beatles: Come Together Meaning

Song Released: 1969

Covered By: Taylor John Williams (2014), Gary Clark Jr. (2017)

Come Together Lyrics

Lyrics removed by the request of NMPA

1. anonymous

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   Dec 17th 2010 !⃝

   OK, so since NOBODY has pointed this out, I think it is worth noting that Paul says "Shoot me" 4 times before each verse. This is possibly a reference to how the other Beatles may have wanted to kill Paul due to the him wanting the spotlight to himself. It honestly surprises me that NOBODY included this in their interpretations of this song.
2. anonymous

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   Dec 8th 2010 !⃝

   oh lord ... you all are so confused ... "here come old flat top" is a lyric copped directly from chuck berry's "you cant catch me", a tip of the writer's cap form lennon to one of his idols ... it has nothing to do with any of the other beatles ... so you're interpretation of this lennon classic is faulted from the first line ... and as such one can completely discount ANYTHING else you have to say about the song ... idiot !!!
3. anonymous

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   Nov 5th 2010 !⃝

   Why this manic need to interpret everything down to the ground already?! use your imagination instead of obsessing what it REALLY MEANT?! maybe that was the original idea; to get people off their fat surpluses and come up with their own analysis of what it means to THEM. YOU HAVE A BRAIN FOR A REASON. WHY NOT USE IT FOR ONCE?!?!?!
4. ackersonj

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   Nov 5th 2010 !⃝

   COME TOGETHER
   Here come old flattop: With a halo, one would appear to have a flat top
   He come grooving up slowly: walking in harmony
   He got joo-joo eyeball: joo-joo eye ball is slang for the evil eye, meaning he could see through people, one eye lid raised is the evil eye. When one looks at another with the evil eye, they know something about that person that the person would rather not have them know.
   He one holy roller: Can this phrase be any more clear
   He got hair down to his knee: when one is on his knees with head bowed low, ones hair is down to one’s knees.
   Got to be a joker he just do what he please: one of two (God the Father and God the Son) extra playing cards in a pack, usually imprinted with the figure of a jester (Jesus was considered a fool, or deceiver by many) the highest card or wild card that trumps all other cards
   He wear no shoeshine: he wore sandals
   He got toe-jam football: Toe jam is reference to the dead skin cells, sock fluff, surface dirt, sweat, skin oils and bacteria which tend to collect between a person's toes throughout the day. There is a reference in the Bible as very expensive perfume or scented oil being applied to Jesus’ feet.
   He got monkey finger, (A person who is mocked, duped, or made to appear a fool: To move one's fingers or hands in a nervous or aimless fashion.
   He shoot coca-cola: coca is a plant, Cola acuminata. A tree of the sterculia family: He grew up before him like a tender shoot
   He say "I know you, you know me" Jesus knows everyone inside and out, “you know every bone in my body”, you know me, but deny me,
   One thing I can tell you is you got to be free: Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death
   Come together right now over me: Come together now by way of the Father.
   He bag production, Jesus did not like crowds or productions that focused on himself. He would disappear when crowds got to large. The one exception may have been the feeding of the 5000
   He got walrus gumboot A type of boot made of rubber that would keep feet of clay impervious to crumbling.
   He got Ono sideboard: good-tasting, delicious; or nearest offer. Walk into a dining room in a house and odds are that you'll see a sideboard near the dining table filled with ono.
   He one spinal cracker: of or relating to the spine or the spinal cord. A thin crisp wafer made of flour and water with or without leavening and shortening. The spin holds the body upright and the wafer represents the body of Jesus
   He got feet down below his knee. When in prayer, one’s feet are below one’s knee
   Hold you in his armchair you can feel his disease. Sit at the table and partake in the ono, and one feels his disease, a condition of the living that impairs normal functioning and is typically manifested by distinguishing signs and symptoms. Speaking in tongues, trembling, uncontrolled movements.
   He roller-coaster: Going from the bottom to the top of a wave and then back down: ascending and descending, and ascending again
   He got early warning: Jesus was aware of what was going to happen. Early warning just brings to mind: a present danger was made known before it actually arrived.
   He got muddy water: Muddy Water as a reference still points to blues, or depression. The musician Muddy Waters was known for the blues (and how you get them). It’s possible this may something about that early warning said before. The present danger has lead to depression. Muddy Water also brings to mind something unclear, murky, not seen or visible.
   He one mojo filter: filters out the impurities of a perceived magic power or magic spells that controlled people.
   He say "One and one and one is three" Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
   Got to be good-looking because he's so hard to see. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. To see Jesus, one had to look, or stand at the door and knock.
5. anonymous

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   Sep 29th 2010 !⃝

   Muddy water is a reference to the blues musician... Listen to the bass line.
6. edgebyte

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   Aug 26th 2010 !⃝

   Come Together, plain and simple, is an invitation to the joyous experience of making love and creating life. It is an invitation to appreciate what love is and how it turns magically into sex that then reproduces life. The penis grows at will, pokes out of its roller, and then shoots out of its one ju-ju eyeball...
   
   This is a beautiful lyric in describing what seems to be taboo for some, and prosaic or mundane to others. No one has managed to talk about it so seductively and beautifully. It is the opening to an album about life and love.
   
   There is nothing more magical than life, making love, and creating life. The whole album is about life, love, and procreation, and how every one of us is trapped in this amazing process. This is an advanced and poetic course in sociobiology of O.E. Wilson or the genetic world of Richard Dawkins. None of us is able to escape this power, this urge for survival.
   
   Religion has trapped us in taboos, and we need to be free, like the semen needs to be freed during love making. So, if you have an open mind, read on about this magical lyric as the opening act to this album about love, life and attachment.
   
   Flat top is a soft reference to the penis. It rises slow and grooves its way up.
   It has one eye.
   It has a holly roller (foreskin is a a halo, a roller, like a turban or a round holly halo).
   Hair is below the body of the penis, down at its knee. (The shaft has no hair.)
   It is a joker, it gets ready without notice, it does as it pleases.
   
   It has no shoes for shoeshine, but toe jam. Touch it and smell it. There is toe jam always around the testicles.
   It has balls instead of toes.
   Monkey with your fingers and it will shoot like Coca-cola
   It certainly has to be freed of the pressure that builds up during love making. It has to be free, and you have to be free and enjoy this beautiful process.
   
   He has bag production (obscure reference to his promotion Co. or simply your pants will promote like a filled bag).
   He scumbles the walrus (puts a layer of transparent paint on the walrus (look at a walrus and see what its mouth looks like))
   He certainly had Ono sideboard (John and Ono manage Bag Production Co.)
   Love making makes your spine crack from all the motion. Spine cracking is a Japanese method ot relaxation.
   Our feet is well below its knee. It is on a pedestal of our legs.
   Yes, a male lover holds you in his my arms untill you can feel his disease.
   
   Love making excitement goes up and down like a roller-coaster
   It sure gives you early warning (I'm coming.... I'm coming...)
   It has muddy water (translucent semen)
   He give us life (mojo)
   He says I am the real trinity (the penis, and two ball, one and one and one is three)
   Taboos force us to hide it, because religion knows that if they let it be freely seen, they will lose their control over people's lives. Indeed it is beautiful and religion makes it hard to see.
   
   Indeed, it is so hard to see, except in societies that are free of religious taboos, created to denigrate the most important parts of our bodies. Without them, though, there would be no generation after us, and in fact would have been none after our parents'! If your father's flat top didn't groove up slowly, you would not be here to be shocked by this simple interpretation.
   
   So, indeed "come together" in to climax in joy over this amazing power. Then listen to the rest of the album, keeping this in mind. And in the end, the love you take, will be equal to the love you make.
   
   Be free. Confess to your weakness to Maxwells Silver Hammer's urges, the heavy weight that She has to carry for a long time, and the eventually the Sun. And then realize that the world is round and your children will have the pleasure of enjoying this thing all by themselves. It will then really blow your mind. Love is Old Love Is New...
   
   Pitty all who think that John Lennon would waste his time over anything as mundane as cocaine habits of another musician. What an insult. This lyric is one of the best ever in the western poetic history. No one can be so delicate, so funny, so loving, about such a powerful buy religiously repressed subject.
   
   One thing I can tell you, it that you've got to be free. Be free to love. Hold someone until they can feel your disease, or stay in someone's arm until you can feel their disease. That is why our genes make us love and make love.
7. anonymous

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   Jun 24th 2010 !⃝

   From what I've read the major consensus is that the first verse is about George (which I agree with, mostly on the "holy roller" part, which references his deep spirituality) and the third verse is about John (no doubt).
   
   I always assumed that the fourth was about Ringo, mostly because of the "One and one and one is three", which seems like a joke about Ringo's little malapropisms, like "a hard day's night" and "eight days a week". The line "Got to be good looking coz he's so hard to see" brings up that Ringo was always the shortest Beatle, as well as being hidden behind the drumset.
8. people

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   Jun 9th 2010 !⃝

   this song is obviously about drugs. "he shoot coca cola" they were using cocaine. "toe jam football" this is when you shoot in between your toes. "monkey finger" when you shoot durgs in between your fingers."he hold you in his armchair you can feel his disease" they were pulling others down with them to their drug addiction. "he roller coaster" getting high
9. anonymous

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   Jun 9th 2010 !⃝

   Toe jam football and monkey finger is when you shoot up in between your fingers and toes
10. jconley54

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    Jun 7th 2010 !⃝

    OK, here it is... Come together lyrics are just a bunch of poetic words that fit the beat of the Blues, which I think was John's intention. Everybody knows the music came first with these guys, and they couldn't have cared less how over-analyzed their music was. I see similarities in "Come Together" and "Yer Blues", from the White Album. That's my opinion. jc
11. anonymous

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    May 18th 2010 !⃝

    One thing I find rather scary is that Lennon whispers "Shoot me" , and Mark David Chapman obviously took this lyric as direct orders.
12. anonymous

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    Mar 20th 2010 !⃝

    I was really confused about anything that this song could possibly have to do with actually. until just a few days ago, that is. I noticed about the four verses. four verses, four beatles, what more can I say? well, this is more I could say-
    
    i firsst assumed the first verse was about george. and I wasn't sure why I clung him to that one first.
    and, to me, the second was about paul. because they had him barefoot on the album cover. and he had 'toe-jam football'. which is basically saying you play rugby, which I hear he plays (or played) pretty well.
    
    and it was completely, unmistakingly obvious #3 was about john. ONO SIDEBOARD! yoko was his support at the time. They hung out a lot, basically. and, I don't care what they said in glass onion(years later anyway), John is(or at least was considered) the walrus at that time. what you'd assume since he's singing it. and wrote it, stating "let the f*ckers sort that one out!" (nice john, btw. ya done good)
    
    and the 4th one was about ringo for me. not because he was the last one left in my little list though. 1&1&1 is 3 could be because he was the last official member of the band. but more importantly in my logic, there was the fact that he's the DRUMMER! he's in the back all the time! he can't just decide to walk up on staged and move around whenever he wants like the 'cuter' ones. So he's gotta be good looking, or at least have a distinctive thing about him (like being a kick @$$ drummer or having a bunch of rings) so that he'll still get noticed. So when people hear that banging noise in the background, they know wos makin' em.
    
    but then I read this #1 answer and I there's made a little more sense to me. but I got lennon right for sure... and, hey, I'm just happy that I might have figured out beatles lyrics for the first time. decoding lennon is a pain! but I love him...
13. Mrs.SydneyHarrison

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    Jan 31st 2010 !⃝

    Here come old flatop he come grooving up slowly he got joo joo eyeball he one holy roller hair down to his knee got to be a joker he just do what he please. (Ringo's verse)
    
    He wear no shoe shine he got toe jam football he got monkey fingers he shoot coca-cola he say I knowa you you know me. (Paul's verse)
    
    He bag production he got walrus gum-boot he got ono sideboard he was spinal cracker he got feet down below his knee hold you in his arm chair so you can feel his disease.(John's Verse)
    
    He roller coaster he got early warning he got muddy water he one mojo filter he say one and one and one is three got to be good looking cause he's so hard to see.(George's verse)
    And last but not least "Come Together" means all The Beatles together!
    
    
    
14. anonymous

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    Jan 27th 2010 !⃝

    I think that too much is being read into these lyrics.
    Come Together is merely John writing about himself. This is his self image as it was in 1969. This song shows his interpretation of the many facades of his personality. That’s it nothing more or exceptional here.
15. anonymous

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    Dec 28th 2009 !⃝

    Let me address the lyrics everyone is missing. Two ideas here:
    
    1) Euthanasia. "Shoot me" Says hey, I have all these diseases (which may be his own clever jokes on the beatles themselves and the various things wrong with each of them), you can feel them if you were to touch me. The armchair in question would probably refer to the bed he is sentenced to for his diseases, being in such a horrible condition. He is in pain. begging for death. Asking "I know you. You know me. One thing I can tell you is you have to be free" -> "We are friends: please set me free from this body."
    
    Come together, right now. And kill me.
    
    2) "Shoot me" simply is an addition to John's complaining about the hostility and aggresion between the members of the band. ->"Shoot me. Please end this. I want this done." Which could also be taken as a threat to leave the beatles.

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