In the story of Hansel and Gretel, the two children leave a trail of breadcrumbs to find their way home. In the story, the breadcrumbs are an ineffective means of mapping a route, as animals eat them, and the children can’t find their way back. In this song, John Lennon wrote a line which he says was a ‘crumb’ for both Beatles fans and Paul McCartney to hint that he was leaving, but like Hansel and Gretel, the reference was hard to follow, and it didn’t make the news of their disbandment any easier to take.
The main contributing factor that led to The Beatle’s massive success was the songwriting partnership of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Yes, people were also drawn in by the band’s style, likeability and live show, but without the songs to back it up, they wouldn’t have reached the heights they did.
What made them so good? Well, they had a natural ability for melody; they were excellent musicians, and they could connect with their audiences in the way they wrote lyrics and instrumentation. However, one of the most significant contributors was the duo’s ability to push themselves. They weren’t the same when it came to writing songs; the different directions they went in following their solo careers can attest to that, but those differences, initially, brought out the best in the duo rather than the worst.
Writer’s block wasn’t a thing for Lennon and McCartney. They had a different way of looking at a song and could put tracks together in a way other musicians wouldn’t think of. Their differences were their strengths; however, as the band became more and more successful, those differences eventually led to tension, and towards the end of the 1960s, it was inevitable that the group would break up.
Following multiple disagreements and several legal issues, the signs were there that The Beatles might be coming to an end. Still, fans paid no mind to those signals and were happy to continue enjoying the band in lieu of anything actually being confirmed. Knowing that the end was nye, John Lennon decided to leave a clue to fans (and the members) that he would leave. What was ignored by many as another iteration of lyrical ambiguity (that they weren’t strangers to) actually had some meaning behind it.
In the track ‘Glass Onion’, John Lennon pays homage to the song ‘I Am The Walrus’, as he proclaims “The walrus was Paul.” The line was seen by many as absurd; other people read into it, but it wasn’t until an interview with Lennon after they had broken up that he revealed the meaning behind the line, saying that it was supposed to be a hint that the band was reaching breaking point and he intended on leaving.
“The line was put in partly because I was feeling guilty because I was with Yoko, and I was leaving Paul,” he said. “I was trying – I don’t know. It’s a very perverse way of saying to Paul, you know: ‘Here, have this crumb, this illusion, this – this stroke because I’m leaving.’”
The crumb was about as helpful as those laid by Hansel and Gretel, as it didn’t leave the group or fans enough of a clue that the split was coming. When The Beatles eventually broke up, it was news to everyone as one of the most influential and important bands to ever take to the stage called it a day. Given their magnitude, no amount of hints could have prepared fans for the news, leaving thousands feeling lost.
