The Beatles arrive in New York City TODAY!! | Page 30 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

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OK you guys, this is really distressing to me. I finally heard “Strawberry Fields Forever ” shortly after my last entry here…and I didn’t “get” it. Heard it again a few hours later, and still nothing. But I didn’t hear the whole thing either time – in both cases, the DJ was blabbing away over the beginning or the ending. Then I heard it a few more times over the weekend – including a couple more times without any DJ chatter – and I STILL didn’t get it! 

So then I figured…”Hey, the Beatles are obviously into weird sounds these days, and my local radio station sounds pretty lousy. Maybe I have to hear it in optimum conditions to fully understand it. I’ll buy the single so I can play it on the hi-fi!” So off I went to Melody Lane, plopped down $0.99 of my hard-earned babysitting money, took the single home (neat picture sleeve!), played the delightful “Penny Lane “, played it again, took a deep breath, turned it over and prepared for “Strawberry Fields Forever ” to overwhelm me…

…and still didn’t get it. 🙁

I just don’t get it. And I’ve played it at least a half-dozen times more. Why does John’s singing sound weird? Why does the music keep changing? What does he mean by “No one I think is in my tree?” What’s the point off the fake ending? And why does somebody (John?) mutter “cranberry sauce” near the end – the song isn’t “CRANBERRY Fields”! 

If this is what “psychedelic” music, is, I don’t think I like it. I mean, I didn’t think much of “Tomorrow Never Knows ” at first either, but I kept playing it and eventually Ringo’s drum beats won me over, and I begun to tolerate and appreciate and like and love and eventually LUVVV it. But “Strawberry Fields Forever ” keeps stopping and starting and stopping and starting again, so there’s no WAY you could even DANCE to it if they ever played it at a discotheque! 

“Do you like ANYTHING about it??” you ask. Yes, I do. I like the beautiful opening, with the flutes and John’s “Let me take you down, ’cause I’m going to strawberry fields,” it’s nice. But then it just gets weird, and weirder and weirder. And keeps going and going. For a full four minutes!! (The longest song they’ve ever done!) And such weird sounds – weirder than “I Feel Fine ” or “Rain ” or “Love You To ” or even “Tomorrow Never Knows “. 

I hate to say it – or even think it! – but I fear the Beatles (or at least John and possibly George) are taking drugs. First they start growing facial hair just like New York beatniks, then they start smoking dope just like beatniks. Or taking LSD like the hippies are doing in San Francisco. Think about it: could such lyrics as “…and your bird is green” or “…sea of green” possibly be referring to marijuana? Seems possible. 🙁  I just hope if they’ve done such things that they stop soon. I mean, if not for drug abuse, Marilyn Monroe and the comedian Lenny Bruce would still be with us. 🙁

Whatever. In the meantime, I’m not giving up on my boys yet! I’ll continue to listen to “Strawberry Fields Forever ” and hope that eventually I’ll understand it…or that it’s the Beatles’ first (and only) real misfire. A experiment gone wrong. After all, they’re only human. Even if they’re SUPERhumans.

Oh my gosh you guys!
My eyes and my brain have been OPENED. I take back everything bad I said about “Strawberry Fields Forever ” a few weeks ago. I completely get it now! And the reason is….
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.
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MARIJUANA! :O :O :O

Yes, I feel I can trust you people, since I doubt any of you are policemen and we’re not using our real names anyways. (unless some of you are…I’m looking at YOU, Ahhh and Silly, the Girl sisters! :D) Yes, I confess: I have ILLEGALLY officially smoked pot! :O And it was AMAZING! It was spring break, and I went to Toronto to visit my sister at university for a few days. We were in her dorm room just talking and playing records and drinking beer – which I don’t like, but feel I should develop a taste for before I leave my teens. Anyways, she could tell I wasn’t enjoying the beer and asked if I’d like to try something better. And I assumed she meant hard liquor, gin, whiskey, whatever, and I said no thanks, knowing it’d make me barf for sure, but she said “No, no, I’m talking about green and natural, something from God ‘s own garden!” (I swear, corny as it sounds, those were her exact words. I think she was trying to be profound.) And I knew immediately she was talking about Mary Jane, and I was SHOCKED…

(But not too shocked. My sister’s always been slightly “artsy” – she was into Bob Dylan long before he was popular. And even when everybody else was into folk music like Peter Paul and Mary, she was listening to “authentic” Negro folk singers like Leadbelly and Odetta, even though she could only borrow the records from the library and complain about how the record shop didn’t stock them….)

…SHOCKED, I tell you! And before I could answer, she reached into her purse (FABULOUS purse by the way, leather fringes) and pulled out a joint (marijuana cigarette). I was worried, but she assured me that she’d been smoking them for months, and we’d talked on the phone several times since and she’d not seemed to suffer any brain damage in the meantime. I was nervous, and the record that was playing (Bob Dylans “Desolation Row”, which lasts FOREVER) wasn’t helping, so I asked if I could put on “Rubber Soul ” instead. “Great idea!” she answered, “it’s the BEST record to listen to when you’re high!” “Really?” “Everything sounds amazing with pot. The depth, the colours, it’s like you’re in the recording studio with the Stones or the Beatles or the Mamas and Papas…or like you’re right there with them while they’re writing their songs, like you can imagine their thought processes. If you want to.”

WOW! This definitely sounded cool. So she put on “Rubber Soul “, pulled the curtains shut, stuffed a towel under the door and lit up. “I’ve Just Seen A Face ” was halfway through by the time she’d taken a few puffs and handed the joint to me. I tried to hold it in my lungs like she did and suffered a coughing fit that lasted the rest of the song, worse than the one I’d gotten when I’d tried a cigarette in Grade 10. A few sips of my now-room temperature beer cooled my throat, and I tried to relax and listen to the wonderful “Norwegian Wood ” while looking at those lovely bent rubbery faces on the album cover. And listening to George play that sitar, metal strings, wood frame, Rubber Soul …this was when I realized that the drug was starting to take effect. I could almost see the inside of that house, the Norwegian Wood wall paneling the exact same shade of brown as John’s jacket on the cover. And just when John sang about lighting a fire, my sister reminded me that the joint was still burning, and would I either take another puff or hand it back to her. I handed it back, but not before taking another puff (no coughing this time, thanks) while thinking about the coincidence, and the more I though about it the funnier it seemed and I started laughing and couldn’t stop, which got my sister laughing too, and then she said “Isn’t it good?” and I answered “…Norwegian Wood !” and that got us laughing more. Because it WAS good! How can a feeling this benign be illegal? Especially considering it’s just some plant that grows naturally.

We sat without talking for awhile, just letting the record play while my thoughts raced. (Honestly, I had so many psychological revelations all evening, I wish I’d written them down.) I’d never really REALLY noticed before how many different guitar tones there were on the album, and how each one suited the song perfectly. Not to mention the singing! Geniuses. I was so absorbed that I spent some time (15 seconds? 30? half an hour??) listening to a weird “scritch…scritch…scritch” sound before my sister asked me to turn the record over or put on another one. I decided on “Revolver ” and proceeded to put it on the turntable (which took quite a bit of concentrated effort…and I thought I was clumsy WITHOUT being high on marijuana!) And listening to that album on pot was as close to a mystical experience as I’d ever encountered. “Taxman ” made me get up and dance, “Yellow Submarine ” got me laughing again (those weird voices! the way Ringo seemingly sings “in our yellow slubmarine” at one point!) “Eleanor Rigby ” and “For No One ” had me in tears. Even the album cover had me mesmerised for some time – it never occurred to me how many different shades of grey could exist between black and white. Or how John’s hair is drawn to resemble palm fronds. Or…marijuana leaves!

And that’s exactly what they are, I’m convinced. Because after “Revolver “, my sister suggested playing the “Penny Lane “/”Strawberry Fields Forever ” single which she’d only bought a few days previous, and “Strawberry Fields” sounded INCREDIBLE! I can’t believe I didn’t recognize this epic for the masterpiece it is. And now I’m totally convinced that (a) The Beatles have been smoking marijuana for quite some time, definitely since “Rubber Soul ” if not earlier. Maybe you have to actually be high to realize it but the clues are there. “Strawberry Fields” is certainly a metaphor for fields of pot plants, and how people who aren’t experienced should open their minds and not be judgemental. And no one can convince me otherwise.

Anyways, after listening to records for awhile we watched “The Monkees” (oh, and I’m now convinced that Micky and the boys are pot smokers themselves.) And we paid a visit to a friend of my sister’s whose terrier had me in hysterics. It was just chasing its tail like dogs do, but pot makes mundane things hilarious. Plus it apparently makes you hungry too, so we went out to grab a burger and fries at a nearby lunch counter. This turned out to be a bit nerve-racking, since I was convinced that every stranger on the street could tell that I was on dope and was ready to report me to the police, but no such thing occurred. (I did lose my gloves somewhere on the ten-minute journey, unfortunately. The only sour note of the evening. 🙁 )

And so, that’s my story. I’m so grateful that my sister was cool enough to introduce me to this wonder of nature – and roll me a few joints to take back home with me, which are now hidden somewhere in my room where Mom or Dad will never find them. I can’t wait to smoke one and listen to “Yesterday And Today” or “Beatles ’65” or even good old “Beatlemania! With The Beatles ” and see what hidden secrets THEY reveal! I hope you guys don’t get judgemental on me for trying pot, otherwise I’ll have to get judgemental on you for NOT trying it! 😀 I “highly” recommend it if you ever get the chance. Just keep track of your gloves.
Yeah, yeah yeah!