Strawberry Fields Forever |
"Strawberry Fields Forever" is the title of a 1967 song written by
John Lennon and Paul
McCartney and recorded by The Beatles. The song was first released in the
UK as a double A-side single with "Penny Lane". In the US, it was released on
the LP Magical Mystery Tour, which was originally a
double-EP in the UK. The LP format is now the official version in the Beatles discography.
Lennon began writing the song in the fall of 1966, while in Spain filming Richard Lester's How I Won The War. But he
can be heard playing the introductory chord sequence on a keyboard in the film of The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show, released
in 2004.
The song expressed for Lennon a nostalgic look back at the Salvation
Army orphanage in Woolton, which was
called Strawberry Field. Lennon and his childhood friends Pete Shotton and Ivan Vaughan used to play in the trees
behind the orphanage.
The released version of the song is actually an edit of two different performances. Lennon liked the first minute of take 7,
and the ending of take 26, so producer George Martin edited the two takes
together. The only problem was that both takes were played in different keys and at different tempos. So, one take had to be sped
up slightly, and the other had to be slowed down. The edit is subtle but detectable, exactly 1 minute into the released version.
(Although – just to nitpick – CD counters may give the exact time as 59 seconds.)
The instrument used for the flute-like sound in the song's opening is a Mellotron synthesiser, which used eight second tapes of real instruments for each key.
Contrary to belief of the Paul Is Dead hoax supporters, Lennon is
actually saying "Cranberry Sauce" at the end of the song and not "I buried Paul". An alternate hearing yields the phrase "I'm
very bored", which Lennon himself confirmed in a written interview before his death.
The song, which was the first to be recorded during the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band sessions made it to number two on the
British charts. Unfortunately for the Beatles, it was released as a "double A sided" single together with "Penny Lane", which meant that both the sales and airplay statistics were split between
the two songs, instead of being recorded collectively. The number one single at the time was Engelbert Humperdinck's "Release Me".
The promotional film for the song, featuring (among other things) the Beatles pouring paint over an upright piano, was shot in
Knole Park in Sevenoaks. The exact location is fairly easy to find, being on one of the main roads
through the park with a recognisable tree.
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