MUSC-21600: The Art of Rock Music Prof. Freeze Strawberry Fields Forever (1967) The Beatles LISTEN FOR • Pop psychedelia • De-emphasizes vocal harmony • Textural evolution through splicing of different takes • Double fade-out gives form to song’s self-doubt, confusion CREATION Songwriters John Lennon Label, Record Capitol 5810; Parlophone R 5570 Double A side with “Penny Lane” Musicians John Lennon (double-tracked vocal, acoustic guitar, piano, bongos), Paul McCartney (Mellotron, bass, timpani), George Harrison (electric guitar, electric slide guitar, maraca, swarmandal), Ringo Starr (drums, backward cymbals), Mal Evans (tambourine); Neil Aspinall (guiro), Terry Doran (maracas), Tony Fisher (trumpet), Greg Bowen (trumpet), Derek Watkins (trumpet), Stanley Roderick (trumpet), John Hall (cello), Derek Simpson (cello), Norman Jones (cello) Producer George Martin Engineer Geoff Emerick Recording November–December 1966; stereo Charts Pop 8, UK 2 MUSIC Genre Psychedelic rock Form Contrasting verse-chorus Key B-flat (roughly) Meter 4/4 MUSC-21600 Listening Guide Freeze “Strawberry Fields Forever” (The Beatles, 1967) 2 MUSC-21600 Listening Guide Freeze “Strawberry Fields Forever” (The Beatles, 1967) LISTENING GUIDE Time Form Lyric Cue Listen For 0:00 Intro • Doleful descent on mellotron flutes. 0:10 Chorus “Let me take you down” • Electric texture: pulsing guitar, bass, mellotron flutes, drums. 0:34 Verse 1 “Living is easy” • Same basic texture continues, but more sluggish (fewer pulsing eighths) 0:56 Chorus “Let me take you down” • Splice at 1:00, audible in vocal at “going.” • New texture: cellos, new energetic drum groove, trumpets enter toward end 1:18 • “Narrative” arpeggio (high-plucked guitar) prepares the shift in perspective back to memory. 1:20 Verse 2 “No one I think” • New sparse and dry texture for verses: trumpets, cellos, “sucking” percussion timbres (produced by reversing tape of actual percussion sounds). 1:41 Chorus “Let me take you down” • As before, but with thicker texture. 2:06 Verse 3 “Always, no sometimes” • Pulsing trumpets and flute, followed by active cello line. 2:27 Chorus “Let me take you down” • As before, but with agitated additions to texture, including trumpet fanfare, grinding cellos 2:57 Outro 1 (fade 1) • Electric guitar lead quickly taken over by cellos; groove of chorus retained. • High, repeated chords in piano accompany, taken over by swarmandal, which then takes over lead. • Fade out. 3:35 Outro 2 (fade 2) • Mellotron flutes and snare march back, with drum groove, march back, across stereo field, and fade out again. 3 MUSC-21600 Listening Guide Freeze “Strawberry Fields Forever” (The Beatles, 1967) LYRICS Let me take you down Let me take you down Cause I’m going to Strawberry Fields Cause I’m going to Strawberry Fields Nothing is real Nothing is real And nothing to get hung about And nothing to get hung about Strawberry Fields forever Strawberry Fields forever Living is easy with eyes closed Always, no sometimes, think it’s me Misunderstanding all you see But you know I know when it’s a dream It’s getting hard to be someone I think I know I mean a yes But it all works out But it’s all wrong It doesn’t matter much to me That is I think I disagree Let me take you down Let me take you down Cause I’m going to Strawberry Fields Cause I’m going to Strawberry Fields Nothing is real Nothing is real And nothing to get hung about And nothing to get hung about Strawberry Fields forever Strawberry Fields forever Strawberry Fields forever No one I think is in my tree Strawberry Fields forever I mean it must be high or low That is you can’t, you know, tune in But it’s all right That is I think it’s not too bad SOURCES • Albin Zak III, The Poetics of Rock: Cutting Tracks, Making Records (University of California Press, 2001), 35–36. • Tim Riley, Tell Me Why: The Beatles (Cambridge: Da Capo Press, 2009), 209–12. • http://www.metrolyrics.com/strawberry-fields-forever-lyrics-beatles.html. 4 .