ISSUE #38 MMUSICMAG.COM
BEHIND THE CLASSICS WRITTEN BY: JOHN LENNON AND PAUL MCCARTNEY RECORDED: ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS, LONDON PRODUCED BY: GEORGE MARTIN PAUL MCCARTNEY: BASS, MELLOTRON, VOCALS JOHN LENNON: LEAD VOCAL, ACOUSTIC GUITAR, MELLOTRON, PIANO, BONGOS GEORGE HARRISON: ELECTRIC GUITAR, SWARMANDAL, MARACAS RINGO STARR: DRUMS, TIMPANI GEORGE MARTIN: ORCHESTRAL ARRANGEMENT FROM THE ALBUM: MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR, 1967
Ringo Starr, George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney
“Strawberry Fields Forever” THE BEATLES
In the fall of 1966, weeks after playing their last- the song, which can be heard on the Anthology 2 sounded to listeners experiencing it for the ever live concert, the Beatles went on hiatus. collection. Even in this spare setting, it had a first time in 1967. Even the U.K.’s influential George studied sitar in India. Paul composed hypnotic power. “When John sang ‘Strawberry music publication NME stated: “Quite the movie soundtrack to The Family Way. And Fields’ for the first time, just with an acoustic honestly, we don’t know what to make of it.” Ringo hung out with John in Almeria, Spain, guitar accompaniment, it was magic,” declared In January, the Beatles, sporting while Lennon made his debut as a dramatic longtime Beatles producer George Martin. new facial hair, shot a promotional clip for actor in the film How I Won the War. But when the Beatles started to work “Strawberry Fields” and its double A-side From his experiences in A Hard Day’s on the song at Abbey Road, they were “Penny Lane.” As usual, they were way ahead Night and Help!, Lennon knew there’d be a already deep into the experimental stage of their time, incorporating such innovative lot of idle time on the film set, so he brought that had begun on Revolver earlier that year. effects as backward film and shots in negative. along his acoustic guitar and a notebook. The Boy-girl love songs were abandoned in Rather than lip-synching they just milled six weeks away from England left him feeling favor of character studies and introspective around in the winter sunset next to a strange homesick and nostalgic, and his thoughts meditations. Brill Building pop influences were object made of a piano, string and lights. All turned to one of his favorite childhood places swapped for Indian ragas and contemporary four looked suitably under the influence of in Liverpool. Strawberry Field was a Salvation German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. something other than Earl Grey tea. Army hostel in a wooded park where Lennon Toss in a few hallucinogens, and you had In the U.S., “Strawberry Fields Forever” used to play with his friends. Paul McCartney the Technicolor kitchen sink approach that went to No. 8, and “Penny Lane” topped would later describe it as a “secret garden, like blossomed on “Strawberry Fields.” the charts. In the U.K., both were famously in [C.S. Lewis’ novel] The Lion, the Witch and Going through several arrangements kept out of the top spot by Engelbert the Wardrobe.” Every summer the Salvation and splices, the song became their most Humperdinck’s “Release Me.” Army threw a garden party there with a brass elaborate production, a kaleidoscopic relay Although the two songs never officially band. Lennon used these memories as a of cellos, trumpets, backward cymbals, appeared on a Beatles LP, they were tacked springboard for self-reflection. He later said, Mellotron, and swarmandal, an Indian zither. onto the Magical Mystery Tour release in the “The song was psychoanalysis set to music. And as one last unusual touch, over a false U.S. Still, “Strawberry Fields Forever,” more As an artist, I always, in the most real moments, fadeout, Lennon mumbled “cranberry sauce” than any other song, opened the doors to the try to express myself, and to show myself.” (later misheard by conspiracy-minded fans wonders of Sgt. Pepper—and set the stage for A few days after he returned to London, as “I buried Paul”). Even today, the song has psychedelia and the summer of love. Lennon recorded a simple guitar-vocal demo of the power to startle. Imagine how it must’ve –Bill DeMain
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