Written by: Lennon-McCartney
Recorded: 24, 28-29 November; 8-9, 15, 21-22 December 1966
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Geoff Emerick
Released: 17 February 1967 (UK), 13 February 1967 (US)
John Lennon: vocals, acoustic guitar, piano, bongos, Mellotron
Paul McCartney: Mellotron, bass, electric guitar, timpani, bongos
George Harrison: electric slide guitar, svarmandal, timpani, maracas
Ringo Starr: drums, percussion
Mal Evans: tambourine
Neil Aspinall: guiro
Terry Doran: maracas
Tony Fisher, Greg Bowen, Derek Watkins, Stanley Roderick: trumpets
John Hall, Derek Simpson, Norman Jones: cellos
Available on:
Magical Mystery Tour
Anthology 2
Love
One of The Beatles' undisputed masterpieces, Strawberry Fields Forever was written by John Lennon and first released on a single along with Penny Lane.
Strawberry Fields was psychoanalysis set to music.
Anthology
Lennon wrote the song in Almería, Spain in autumn 1966, while filming his role as Private Gripweed in the Richard Lester movie How I Won The War.
Dick Lester offered me the part in this movie, which gave me time to think without going home. We were in Almería, and it took me six weeks to write the song. I was writing it all the time I was making the film. And as anybody knows about film work, there's a lot of hanging around.
All We Are Saying, David Sheff
Like Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields Forever was a nostalgic look back at The Beatles' past in Liverpool. Strawberry Field was the name of a Salvation Army children's home near John Lennon's childhood home in Woolton.
I've seen Strawberry Field described as a dull, grimy place next door to him that John imagined to be a beautiful place, but in the summer it wasn't dull and grimy at all: it was a secret garden. John's memory of it wasn't to do with the fact that it was a Salvation Army home; that was up at the house. There was a wall you could bunk over and it was a rather wild garden, it wasn't manicured at all, so it was easy to hide in.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
With his childhood friends Pete Shotton and Ivan Vaughan, Lennon would roam the grounds of Strawberry Field. Additionally, each summer there would be a garden party held in the grounds, which he especially looked forward to.
As soon as we could hear the Salvation Army band starting, John would jump up and down shouting, 'Mimi, come on. We're going to be late.'
The Beatles, Hunter Davies
Through the lens of LSD, however, the song song turned from simple nostalgia into inward reflection. Lennon's self doubt came to the fore, at times clouded by inarticulacy and hallucinogenic sensations.
He later described Strawberry Fields Forever, along with Help!, as "one of the few true songs I ever wrote... They were the ones I really wrote from experience and not projecting myself into a situation and writing a nice story about it."
The second line [sic] goes, 'No one I think is in my tree.' Well, what I was trying to say in that line is 'Nobody seems to be as hip as me, therefore I must be crazy or a genius.' It's the same problem as I had when I was five: 'There is something wrong with me because I seem to see things other people don't see. Am I crazy, or am I a genius?' ... What I'm saying, in my insecure way, is 'Nobody seems to understand where I'm coming from. I seem to see things in a different way from most people.'
All We Are Saying, David Sheff
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- Anthology 2
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- Flying
'Strawberry Fields Forever', the song + music video were so cutting edge for it's time when I would play it for school mates, they thought that I was a little strange for liking such an avant- guard song, ( a Beatles song) mind you? In middle school an orphanage called 'Maryvale' was the perfect backdrop for this song. I befriended the girls there, loaning the 45rpm to them, + they thought I was hip! The moral of the story.... Lennon was 'far ahead' of his time, both musically + lyrically! His heart spoke to the 'real' people of life; the not so fortunate, the not so loved in society! After all these years I still miss his Genius! It felt like Christmas Day, as a child, whenever a new Beatles album was released!
you have the recording date wrong. it reads 67 should be 66
Oops - thanks for that Michael.
If you'll watch the DVD "The Beatles in America" (may also be called something else), just as they are getting ready to go to the Ed Sullivan Show for the first time, John Lennon is sitting in a chair with a some sort of mouth organ (with keys), inventing the intro to Strawberry Fields Forever. It's a great DVD to watch.
My favorite song by The Beatles when I was 8 years old 1982. Started listening to them when I was 4, I will always be a big fan.
Would be nice to see a little mention of its inclusion on "Love" here.
I lived in strawberry fields orphanage, and I wish someone could post more pictures of inside... these are my memories, eating together, playing together the Queen the Beatles and Cilla Black
Great info. Now that I know about it, I can hear exactly when the edit took place. The slight change in tone and tempo, particularly noticeable on the vocals, contributes to the overall psychedelic quality of the song, I think.
Listening to it now, I can believe John said "cranberry sauce", but listening to it on vinyl as a kid, I was convinced he said "I buried Paul". It didn't sound anything like "cranberry sauce" to me at all. I'm not sure how much of that is the enhanced sound quality and how much of it is me.
In my mind, this may be the band's most complex and interesting song of all time. Amazing how well it holds up after I've heard it about a million times.
When you compare the Take 7 (mellotron flutes) version to the Take 26 (orchestral) version, you realize that George Martin performed a feat of sheer genius by editing the two together at the 60 second mark.
You also realize that Lennon was absolutely right to request it, because neither take really holds up on its own, but the two spliced together constitute a masterpiece that starts off soft and beautiful and builds up to riotous intensity.
And how about Ringo's performance on this track? He & Mitch Mitchell were the absolute best at interpreting psychedelia for drums...
Ringo's opening drum fills are genius in their use of space. Much like his drumming on A Day In The Life.
Yes indeed, Ringo is the man!
I love Strawberry Fields Forever, I think it's a beautiful song. I love the line-- 'Living is easy with eyes closed... Misunderstanding all you see...' I think that's a wonderful line...
Great masterpiece, and in my opinion Ringo at his best. His drumming kicks ass. Listen to take 7 on anthology and go mad.
Has there ever been a better song than the Love version? It's John at his absolute best in his high, dreamlike voice that just engulfes you, mixed in the middle with some of the best piano bits including In My Life and my favorite, Piggies, then at the end they throw in the last part of Hello, Goodbye with Paul's screams of pure joy over the other two's harmony...it's just unbelievable!