Strawberry Fields Forever

Lennon has several similarities with Wagner, as I see it. The bit "...living is easy..." resembles the prelude to Lohengrin, and "...it´s getting hard to be someone..." resembles parts of the Good Friday music in Parsifal. I am sure Lennon was absolutely not aware about it.

In the magazine Rolling Stones "100 greatest Beatles songs" this song is number 3 and Yesterday number 4. Among the 20 first songs, Lennon has 11 or 12, McCartney 4, Harrison 2 and Lennon-McCartney have 2 or 3. Not a single song by McCartney from Sgt Pepper.

Almost every comment on this board is a load of rot. Strawberry Fields is a park near Lennon's childhood home, not an orphanage. Where did that come from? And "nothing to get hung about" is tied deeply to British history of hangings and the like. You might say I was out mucking about, but it was nothing to get hung about. Anyone who knows anything about John's writing knows it was all wither tongue in cheek or very literal. Stop searching for a deeper meaning and listen to what he has to say.

Regarding the George Martin idea to include this and Penny Lane on Pepper: Yeah, they could have replaced a couple other tunes. Good Morning, good morning is also a part of those old Liverpool memories. The Lads had too many tunes, not enough albums for them all.

Lennon does NOT say 'I buried Paul.' He says 'Cranberry Sauce.' The vowel sounds clearly don't match. I wish I had been old enough to watch all the suckers who fell for the 'Paul is Dead' scam and bought albums to find another 'clue' about how he had 'died.'

Shortly after Lennon died, I saw bathroom graffiti that read 'I buried John. -- Paul' Mean but sort of clever.

Another similarity with Wagner: Lennon sometimes have only a few , but expressive, notes with small intervals between the notes in the melody, like the late Wagner had. Hear the similarities in Lennon´s "...it´s getting hard to be someone...", and Wagners´s " Du siehst, das ist nicht so," in Parsifal Act three.

When the song was released in the beginning of 1967, some critic thought it was a mix of the overture to Wagner´s Lohengrin and a peasant wedding.

Both Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields were supposed to be on Sgt. Pepper's. George Martin wanted them to create an album about their childhood memories. When the theme for Sgt. Pepper's changed, they decided not put these two classic songs on Sgt. Pepper's, something George Martin later regretted.

"Paul is Dead" conspiracy note: the bit at the end with the guitar clang that gets louder and louder and then fades out - that was the ambulance going by, rushing Paul to the hospital. On the other hand: the distorted voice at the end, I always thought he said, "I'm very bored."

Oh my...love this song! The lyrics are soooo amazing!!! Wonderful song!!!

So, I first heard this song in Across the Universe..
and interpreted it to be about the Vietnam War..
because in the A.t.U. music video thingy for the song, the strawberries were like bombs and when squisheed were like blood. Idk?

I agree with Brian from Boston.It's the drugs they were experimenting with that gave them all kinds of weird ideas and heightened their imagination and I'm sure it contributed to the awesome results that we hear on record.

I have had people say to me "This song isn't about drugs it's about a place from Lennons' childhood" No Sh@t but do you think this song would have the same sound or feel had Lennon not taken L.S.D.? This is a psychedelic song and what that means is a song influenced by the use of psychedelic drugs.Of course he is not going to sing about the actual drug itsself.He does however describe his thoughts and feelings while under the influence.That is what people mean when they say a song is about drugs.

I read somewhere recently that there are TWO tape edits around the 60 seconds mark... "Let me take you /DOWN 'cos I'm /GOING to.." Can anyone confirm this to be correct? Also I think that due to the tape running slow for the remainder of the track adds to the spooky feel. John's voice sounds otherworldly. LOVE IT!!!!!!!

Still the weirdest song ever recorded but you just can't put your finger on why. Everytime I hear it I want to hear it again. Play the mono version and imagine it's 1967 again and the sound is coming from a transistor radio. I was only 5 at the time, but I have a recollection of it form then. Beatles Forever!

This is such a great song. When I first heard it I was actually listening to this remixed-ity version on..umm..it was this album called Love that was released in 2006 and had lots of combined songs. And it had the piano solo from 'In My Life' as well as lots of parts from other songs, and such moving drumming, and it sounded amazing~ Then I was really dissapointed when I realised it wasn't the original.
But there still is something about the song~ it's so nolstalgic and moving.

at 2:01/2:02 you can hear someone(probably john) count 2,3,4.

Strawberry fields was a turning point for Beatles fans. You either embraced this new sound and followed them into a greater place or you said no thanks i'll stick with cant buy me love. Although Revolver had some trippy songs on it there was nothing like Strawberry feilds I remember seeing a clip of Dick Clark interviewing teens reaction to the song. Needless to say the reations were mixed Comments ranged from "I don't know it's weird" to "I love it". Regardless of how they felt after having seen the promotional film of the song for the first time on his show I could tell just from the look on their faces that they they had never seen anything like it.

i never used to like this song, i thought it was a bit scary. Then i listened to it more and it grew on me

This has got to be the most interesting complex phsychedelic song ever produced.This is such a haunting faraway sound to this song.If ever a song can be called a masterpiece,this would be the one.Strawberry Fields Forever is probably the best example of when a piece of music is brought to the level of art.

Ringo told me this story, and I don't think he was joking. He said the song was about Paul's fiancee in 67, Jane Asher, an upper-class English redhead. John was having an affair with her, which put a damper on his own marriage and Paul's wedding plans. John divorced in 68, and Paul's engagement broke off in 68. They made up the Salvation Army reference to hide the affair from Yoko, whom John married in 69. The lyrics fit that kind of an affair with a redheaded girl and the ensuing deceptions perfectly. If Ringo told me the truth, this is another example of John's wickedly dark sense of humor. Otherwise, this is an example of Ringo's wickedly dark sense of humor. Wow.

i hate trying to decifer songs but i think john was so... not confused... but not sure if he was crazy or genius, human or dream, not sure if he beleived in everything or nothing. i think this because i think the same thing every day. no one, except john i think, is in my tree.

I just recently heard about the "Paul is dead" shpiel, but I've been listening to this song since I was little, and always wondered why Lennon said "I buried Paul".
Now I learn he's supposedly saying "cranberry sauce", so now my hearing is out of wack. Now I hear "I buried sauce" and "Cranberry Paul" more than I actually hear "Cranberry Sauce.
Maybe he just put "I buried Paul" in there to mess with the people who believed the conspiracy theory?
I could be wrong, but the idea of it makes me giggle.

Every time I hear this song it reminds me of the movie Across the Universe for some reason, but either version is awesome.

omg it really DOES say "I buried Paul" you just have to listen to it VERY carefully with headphones and with the volume all the way up and you can truly hear it at the end!!!

it is 'i buried paul' but it was meant as a joke not to make it look like paul had died, which he did not.

For clarification on some earlier posts: The Mellotron does not use "loops" of tape per se; rather, each key actuates a playing mechanism with two small reels of tape, much like those in a cassette. The samples are eight seconds long, and when the key is released, a spring rewinds the tape very quickly. Performers using the Mellotron had to modify their playing style to make sure that they didn't hold a note for more than 8 seconds. Some tape sets held short rhythm segments, much like the segments provided on small electronic keyboards nowadays.

i cant decide between "cranberry sauce" and "i buried paul" it sounds more like "i bury sauce"

he diffinitly said "i buried paul" but that doesnt mean anything lennon was always trying to mess with the listeners heads.

john didnt play the mellotron, it was paul. he wanted to try it out, and got it right the very first try

Love the Beatles. Hate this song

You can't seriously think this song is overrated. If anything it's underrated. It wasn't even included on "The Beatles 1" even though it reached number 1 as a double a-side with "Penny Lane". Paul's much weaker "Penny Lane" was chosen to represent the single instead. I also completely disagree with your comment that the vocals are weak. They are, in my opinion some of the strongest and emotional vocals ever included on a Beatles record. The only thing I agree with you on is that it is lyrically significant. I think it is actually Lennon's best lyric with the Beatles. "Living is easy with eyes closed." Genius. Ghandi genius, even.

A good yet extremely overrated song It is lyrically significant yet the vocals are very week compared to other highly rated Beatles songs.

SFF was notoriously unpopular with DJs. WLS in Chicago had an afternoon jock back then named Dex Card, who, after some weeks, declined to play it during the "countdown" segment: "I just can't stomach that," he said.

mgc from Afghanistan. That is one of the weirdest interpretations of this song I have ever seen! It is also one of the weirdest versions of the lyrics Ive ever seen! At least get a copy of the right words before you analyse them!

I was in strawberry fields around 1973/74 when i was 3 or 4 years old with my brother and sister, i remember miss/mrs oxo and long studded benches against the walls of the room unholstered with burgandy leather, also remember not wanting to eat skin on rice pudding so copied my brother by putting it under the table, remember the other kids getting visitors and gifts but we waited an no one turned up, i also remember trying to escape and the staff chasing me and grabbing me back forcing a balaclava and coat/wellingtons on me kicking and screaming, it was definately autumn that day lots of trees and beautiful colours in the leaves and a vermillion mini car parked by the trees, not a happy time but then it wasnt any happier before or after

I heard lennon did'nt say cranberry sauce or i burried paul, i heard lennon say "cranberry paul". Odd, ha ?

Sorry to be a comment hog, but nobody else has said anything for a while, and i was just reading the ones underneath...it really depresses me when people say this is about acid. im thirteen, ive been raised in the most picturesque, catholic sort of life imaginable *which i despise* and believe me, ive never done acid. yet i feel as if i could have written this song. (well, if i had the insane lyrical genius of john, but thats beside the point) It basically expresses every view of life i've ever had, down to the last word. I'd always thought john and i are on sort of the same page when it came to this song, and it makes me second guess myself on pretty much my entire existance when people drag LSD into this. Can't you all accept that you don't need drugs to write brilliant songs?

oh, sure, its TOTALLY 'i buried paul'.
one little problem, sunshine....
PAULS FREAKING ALIVE. ITS CRANBERRY SAUCE.

this song is outrageously beautiful- no modern band can ever compare to their genius. seriously, they went from catchy poppy numbers like 'i wanna hold your hand' to such magic as 'strawberry fields'. its mindblowing....no other word for it. if you think about it, he's right- nothing is real, and therefore theres nothing to get hung about.

In Albert Goldman's Lennon biography - he says that John's mother had an illegitimate daughter before having John. He thought his aunt might have sent her to live at Strawberry Field because his mother would have been about 14. In the book Lennon visited the orphan home hoping to find his long lost sister.

AHHH. Strawberry Fields Forever.
This is such a beautiful song and truly written about a place that was special and dear to Lennon's heart. This was a fun go to for him here and he wrote this song reflecting that. When you hear the words you think of running in the fields of strawberries forever. I think now that after he died and willed money to the
orphanage he had hoped it would be forever. It's really a shame that it closed because of no children to occupy it. According to the reason's being it would be better for the children to be in a foster home or home of some sort to better the child's life. Maybe though with as many orphaned children out there, like in effect of the catastrophic Tsunami and in the US in New Orleans, it could have the capacity to be filled to the brim with homeless orphaned children who need a place to be loved and cared for. This song is about that vision Lennon had and longed for as he had no parents and could relate as a child. He truly was a hero to believe in this peace, imagining all the people living for today. Peace brother, this song remains the same.

I love this song. I first heard it on the musical Across The Universe. Ever since, I have become a Beatles fanatic lol! All of their songs are awesome. I don't understand why it took so long to realize how great they are.

The song is refernced by Bush in their song Glycerine.

You know those lists, forex "name the 5 best records you know or have heard" (like in Nick Hornby's book!). This is the one what's on that list (for me) all the time in 25 years now, that's a compliment of sorts:):):):):)Hearing it now reminds me of all those times I been on the edge- it is so fresh.

This song uses drum loops reversed. A nice fusion of Avant Music, Electronic Music with Pop Music.

Hey,a unique recording. a masterpiece...
ty John, and George MArtin!

Living is easy with eyes closed (people don't want to see the truth)
Misunderstanding all you see (and therefor don't believe the evidence)

It's getting hard to be someone (of the power of the opposition)
but it all works out (which we underestimated)

It doesn't matter much to me (but i say we carry on)

No one I think is in my tree (but nobody sees things the way i do)
I mean it must be high or low (it's either good or bad)

That is you know you can't tune it ('cause you can only chose 1 option out of the 2)
but It's all right (and its for a good cause)

That is I think it's not too bad (or is it)

Always know sometimes think it's me (sometimes i think i must be crazy to see what i see)
But you know I know when it's a dream (but you know i'm not insane)

I think a "No" will mean a "Yes" (nothing is the way it seems)
but it's all wrong (and criminal)

that is I think I disagree (but you've got to be careful)
strawberry fields forever (we'll remember you)
i burried paul?

There are alternate versions of Strawberry Fields on the Beatles Anthology with John singing acoustic, it gives you chills hearing it. His voice was melodic, surreal, captivating and his lyrics were imaginative. God Bless the genius in him.

To John Lennon's comment that he would have liked to rerecord this song and others, I point to the Police--at Sting's insistence--rerecording DON'T STAND SO CLOSE TO ME, and how the second version is a lot WORSE than the first.

This song has a great example of differences between British English and American English. The lyric behind the shelter in the middle of the roundabout, is clear to Brits, but lost on Americans. Shelter is a term for restroom, a roundabout is more often referred to as a traffic circle in the States. So basically the line reads behind the restroom in the middle of the traffic circle.

The song was a double A side with Paul McCartney's Penny Lane. Both songs are nostalgic reflections on their childhoods in Liverpool that are rooted in actual locations.

There's a fantastic cover by Todd Rundgren's album Faithful.

You really don't understand the Beatles. You need to connect the dots Read on:
Brace yourself, you're about to learn "Something" about the Beatles that few people know....yet.
What were they up to?....what's this about a Walrus? Paul is dead? He looks ok. I don't get it. But wait........ "Half of what I say is meaningless", "but I say it just to reach you"...who? Julia? That doesn't make sense. Who were the Beatles really trying to reach?
Wait, I see something here..."There's a fog upon LA and my friends have lost their way", "and I told them where to go". Wait a minute!... I remember something about the letters on the Sergeant Pepper's album saying "BE AT LESo". Yeah, people guessed it was Leso island and they wanted us all to meet there. They guessed Paul was buried there. But Paul looks very much alive to me and there's no such island named Leso. It must mean something else.
Then there's the back of the Abby Road album,... look!... the letters are also offset... "BE AT LES". Wait.... I think I got it! There's a fog upon LA and my friends have lost their way! That's it!, "BE AT LES"....LOS ANGELES! Yes!... "BE AT los angeLES!", Haight Ashbury. How clever of them. Now I understand!...."Come together right now", "Please don't be long", "all you need is love", "we can save the world". "one thing I can tell you is you've got to be free", "come together, come together", "I want you so bad it's driving me mad". Come together at Haight Ashbury and join us to create a new world of love and peace.
What went wrong? "they've lost themselves instead", "I don't know why... nobody told you how to unfold your love", "I don't know how... you were diverted", "I'm crying,....... i'm crying". But that was "soooo long ago",... "was it just a dream", "seems so real to me". Maybe we should just "let it be". let's just "Imagine" this world of love and peace, some day "there will be an answer "when all the broken hearted people in the world agree" , "you're asking me will my love grow" " I don't know", "you stick around now it may show".
- carmelo, Newtown, PA

It's interesting that John tends to write songs about real people, places and events, while Paul likes to write songs about made up people, pleaces and events. When you combine the two of them its perfection. I don't like, on the other hand, how people assume John is always putting out a drug refrence just because he did drop acid and smoke pot. Paul did say that drugs influenced a good amount to some of their songs but that doesn't mean any song by Lennon/McCartney wrote that doesn't make perfect sence had to be about drugs. They were creative, artistic and brilliant songwriters. Do you really think they needed drugs to be so amazing? I think not.

Respectfully, I don't understand why so many people look for esoteric meanings in this and other Lennon songs. When he really wanted to deliver a message, he did it clearly (Imagine, Instant Karma, Woman is the nigger of the world, Sexy Sadie, etc...).
In all other cases, I just consider he was toying around with intimate isues and ideas. And that is, in my opinion, the attitude of any poet who is not looking after your approval, but mainly expressing himself in his own personal way.
Having as many favourite songs as I do have different moods, I can't state it's my favourite one, yet it comes on top every now and then.

The following is from John Lennon's PLAYBOY MAGAZINE interview. PLAYBOY: "What about the line `I buried Paul'? LENNON: "I said `Cranberry sauce.' That's all I said."

at the end of our lives... this song remains in our soul. this song creates the new generation of music along with i am the walrus and tommorow never knows. the genesis of todays music. rock,artrock,opera,progrock,classic rock in Sgt.Pepper.They invented rap and hip in his song i am the walrus though not as fast as of today but he mean it.disco, electronica,techno in tommorow never know.invented metal,heavy metal and proto metal in helter skelter and i want you shes so heavy.Popularized the pre reggae era in obladi-oblada.introduced indian music in pop culture. Country song meets rock n roll in story of bungalow bill. They invented MTV in their song Paperback writer and Rain. They introduced stadium concert and the brave one collage art song on revolution 9. They change the face of music in the 20th century and so forth. The BEATELS is just a little band that makes very very big.

It isn't Cranberry Sauce OR I buried Paul
It says Al-Bert Hall (albert Hall) The Royal Albert Hall is an arts venue situated in the Knightsbridge area of the City of Westminster, London, England

Elvis Costello's manager told Paul McCartney he thought John sang, "Living is easy with NICE CLOTHES."

Jasmine, I think he's saying "Cranberry sauce!" over and over again. I hear it about 10-12 times or so, once during the fake ending.

I keep listening to this song over and over and I think it is "I buried Paul" that they say. "Paul" and "sauce" sound totally different. I would be able to hear the "s" sound if it was "sauce". Also, I keep hearing the same voice saying something else before it says "I buried Paul/Cranberry sauce". What is it?

I love this Song! It's amazing. At the end When John says cranberry sauce, If you listen to it thinking that it says I buried paul. Then thats what it will SOUND like. But it's all in your head.
Beautiful song!!!!!!!!

"All four Beatles were considerably angered when these first two album tracks (Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane) were snatched from under their noses to be released as a single. Lennon and McCartney considered these to be particularly powerful numbers, which they saw as sturdy cornerstones of their yet-to-be-named album."

Tony Barrow, "John, Paul, George, Ringo, & Me"

Great song. the beatles are the best. But honestly is does sound like john says "i buried paul"

this incredible song is the reason why SMILE album of beach boys didnt prosper.
the beatles genius..

I dont think John Lennon says "cranberry Sause" It sounds like he says "im very Bored" I dont know thats what i hear. . .

simply the greatest song of all time.....

This is my favourite song of all time, by a long way... and I'm only 16. Here's a stab at my top 10 songs of all time:

1. Strawberry Fields Forever - The Beatles

2. Echoes - Pink Floyd

3. Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin

4. Let It Be - The Beatles

5. Shine On You Crazy Diamond - Pink Floyd

6. Time - Pink Floyd

7. Starship Trooper - Yes

8. Firth of Fifth - Genesis

9. Voodoo Child (Slight Return) - Jimi Hendrix

10. Yours is No Disgrace - Yes

John says "cranberry sauce" more than twice. He says it about 10 times. Right before the fake ending, you can hear him say it, and you can hear him saying many times during the bit after the fake ending.

the fact about morse code spelling out JL is false. Morse code for J is .--- for L is .-.. this does not match the sound heard in the sound. the sound is a basic rythmic sound to the music. To me is it ..- ..- ..- ..- .- .- .- .-

all this talk about cranberry sauce is making me hungry..

wow...its kinda touchy when you know this has to do w/ a real place in john's life, and its not about drugs, i think

It should have been called Rasberry Fields Forever cos I prefer Raspberrys....And the band should have been called The Kangaroos cos i prefer kangaroos....!

And in case anyone else wants to know, it's a guitar note doubled with muted trumpets. (cf. Hendrix's "Crosstown Traffic")

This band went from I Want to Hold your Hand to Strawberry Fields Forever in three years and still were the most popular band in the world I would like to see some band revamp there sound and accomplish the same thing.

Further to my last: I now know what that nasty noise on the end is.

Magical Mystery tour has some excellent music, this one being among the best on the album. a beautiful musical arrangement with wonderful music backing it up, including the guitar solo at the end that really brings out some of George Harrision's skills;its incredible that John can so fluently work his past into incredible songs. a magical song; certainly the Beatles at their best.

I don't believe in the Paul is dead crap. But it does sound like I buried Paul at the end.

John's voice does sound different in this song.

One of John's best songs in my opinion. The John's strange modulation at the beginning of the song is due to the slowing of the original tape, probably made in order to make the tempos of two different takes match. And definitely there's no hidden meaning in this song. John himself wrote a song (Glass Onion from the White Album) to fix the rumors for this one and other songs.

I saw Paul in an interview in the Abby Road studio where they did much of their work. In it Paul pointed out a mellotron and then said something about using it in "Girl" which came out in 1965 two years before Strawberry Fields. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Good song very intersting. There is something baout it I like.

This song really prepares the ground for Sargeant Pepper's but McCartney will never admitt that. In my mind it should have been on Sargeant Pepper. Penny Lane is a more commercial one; I have try to play it with other Sargeant Pepper tracks but it does not fit.
But seriously, except for some songs Magical is scrap; the title song is the worst

the "I BURIED PAUL" bit is about 10 seconds before the very end

The song is not about drugs but i don't think it would have been written without haveing taken drugs. It is a beautifull song. I'm glad it was released as a single and wish it was not on Magical Mystery Tour because it stands above both albums to me.

This makes me think of peace.

What is that weird noise on the end? It sounds like a fire engine going past, but what instrument provides it?

A melatrone was used in the begining for the flutes.
An instrament which was like a piano record player which had all instruments on it. Used frequestly by The beatles and other musicians

The song combines Indian ,avant garde, classical and musique concrete in one song and it still was a major hit.

Ok, strawberry fields forever means... Needle tracks on the inner forearms... Randy of Michigan. usa

According to Geoff Emerick, the engineer of the album, John said "cranberry sauce". He was there. That's what Lennon said.

This song made it to the ten in the states this must of freaked the DJ's playing this song with it's weird begining and ending when it came out.

This song is one of my favorites. I think there are some very direct references to LSD in this song.

Living is easy with eyes closed
Misunderstanding all you see
It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out
It doesn't matter much to me

First this song is the first song that has a double fade out with silence. The song has reverse drum tape loops, reverse mellotron,reverse fade in when the song comes back from the first fade out, it fuses avant garde, classical,Indian music with pyschedelic rock. It is also one of the first rock songs to use cacophony and it also popularized the hidden message.
sal,bardonia,ny

Bobby Freemans Do you want to dance was the first song to fad out and the come back. 1957 or 1958

Bobby Freemans song in 1957 or 1958 Do Ypu Want To Dance was the first song to complety fad away away in the middle

Wow...26 years ago today. Of course, I wasn't born then, but I bet it was a really big event in the world. One of my favorite Beatle songs, and definitely one of Lennon's best. I went to the Strawberry Fields memorial in Central Park, and it's beautiful. People still care about him.

A history on The Beatles?! Wow, I'd love to take that...

First of all, I am a student at a large university and I am taking a history of the Beatles class. Our professor does a great job of teaching not only the songs and songwriting of the Beatles, but also the personalities of all the members as well as the historical setting.(Andy Hollinden, look him up. Great professor and songwriter.)
First of all, John is not saying "Cranberry Sauce", he is saying "Cranberry Socks". In seperate interviews, the other members of the band stated that you just have to understand the personality of John Lennon to understand the things he said and did. There were two versions of the song that were put together. The first part, A, included a bass guitar, melotron, guitars, drums and maracas. The second part, B, includes a bass guitar, guitars, a tambourine, backwards cymbals, various other percussion, a swordmandel, 3 cellos and 4 trumpets. When speaking to Lennon about which version to use, George Martin was told that Lennon wanted both songs put together to make one. George Martin simply told Lennon that there is no way the song could match up because their tempos were too off to make a fluid transition. However, when Martin was tinkering with putting the two songs together, Martin figured out that the songs fit almost perfectly (after a bit of tinkering) with their tempos. The song was recorded on many seperate occasions. The dates are as follows: Nov. 24th, 25th, 28th, and 29th as well as Dec. 8th, 9th, 15th and 21 of 1966. The final edit was on December 22, 1966.

Cheers.

OH EM GEE !!!1!ELEVEN!!1! I JUST FOUND MORE "PAUL IS DEAD" EVIDENCE! NOT THE "I BURIED PAUL" PART! Ok, not really, but I did find at 2:02, you can hear someone whispering "one, two, three, four..."

Yea sorry no cranberry sauce ur just an idiot. It's "I burried paul" if anything.

Strawberry Fields was a pyschological escape for Lennon the adult, that's why he chose it - subconsciously or consciously - as a metaphor for the song . The verses deal with adult concepts of identitiy, mortality and the individuals seeking of reconciliation with life itself. In the sense that as you get older and your personality becomes more defined it becomes more difficult to resolve the large conflicts that arise from the difference between the "way that you see things" and the way that things are.

"It doesn't matter much to me" - this is not a personal statement on Lennon's part but rather a detached "godview". The "me" that he refers to is the bigger cycle, the over-arching energy that informs life; me in this sense is god/ the lifeforce. The reason it doesn't matter is because what matters is that you - the individual (the listener) -make the larger connections and have realizations within your lifetime. It does'nt mean perfect resolution, just means that you grasp the overall transcendental quality of life. Lennon was a lighting rod in this sense.

The resolution is always going "down", towards an idyllic Strawberry Fields. The verses are points of stress along this inevitablility.

-"No one I think is in my tree, I mean it must be high or low. That is you know you can't tune in, but it's alright; that is I think it's not to bad."

This passage is very self-referential. The "tree" is Lennon's conception of the world. He wants to think that he himself inhabits his own consciousness exclusively, in a atheistic sense. He is questioning the concept of "a god". He believes in the neutral attributes of a non-judgmental "god but he defers suddenly to the concept of "a god" or "no god" with the line "I mean it must be high of low". Lennon is not against the concept of "the big god" he just wants clarity, high or low... either or... black or white.

He doubts his ability to "tune in" to the godhead but relieves himself of the responsibility with the declaration that although "yes" he believes in god he still, as a post -modern human being retains the right to not believe... " I think I know I mean a "Yes" but it's all wrong, that is I think I disagree."

One Of Lennon Best Masterpieces

I'm pretty sure that "Paul" isn't pronounced the same way as "sauce", as it doesn't have the "oss" sound at the end. If you put a pair of headphones on and listen to the ending you will hear "Cranberry Sauce" "Cranberry..." and then the song fades out.

Please don't start again with that 'I-buried-Paul-crap'! If you listen closely, you'll hear twice; 'cranberry sauce'! George Martin said it also and he said he asked John why he said that. 'Well it's almost Christmas, isn't it?' he'd said. Paul did indeed play the mellotron-tune and made that up. But of course this is a GREAT song by John, why doesn't someting like this reach the top? perhaps the best Beatles-song, if you understand the words and music. Great record, with John who wanted his voice to sound a bit darker, so they did that, although I love the first take to this song! so clear and beautiful!

In 1990, the song returned to the UK Top 3 via a cover version by a short-lived Liverpool-based Indie band called Candy Flip, whose version also featured a Mellotron (though it may have been sampled onto the record by way of a Fairlight, a digital sampling system), and featured a distorted vocal similar to John Lennon's on the original. Although Candy Flip never released a follow-up and soon vanished back into obscurity, the cover introduced a whole new generation of fans to the works of the Beatles (of which, I am proud to be one...)

Did John distort his voice in this song or something? He sounds so different.

The voice at the end sounds like "I married a whore."

In Take 7 and edit piece (In Anthology 2), there is more mors codes.. if somebody know mors codes so please try to write the letters..

This song was meant to be on Sgt. Pepper, but Martin and Lennon didn't think it fit with what they were trying to do on that album. This and 'Penny Lane' were left off Sgt. Pepper and became their own double-single. They finally ended up on the Magical Mystery Tour, but Strawberry Fields was definitely meant to be on Sgt. Pepper originially.

Widely considered to be one of the group's best recordings.

How is the noise in the very beginning created?

This was recorded in 1966, unusually a year before other songs on Magical Mystery Tour were recorded. Isn't there a rumour that this song was to appear on Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band?

This is the Greatest song ever and it is a tragedy it didn't hit #1

This is such a pretty song, one of my Beatles faves.

Yeah, Meredith, I thought it sounded like Paul too!!!
Anyway, great song!

To clarify, the flute sound at the beginning is from the Mellotron. The Mellotron was the first sample-playback keyboard (not a synthesizer).

Ok, so am I the only one who thinks John sounds alot like Paul on this song? I know it's John singing, but as hard as I try to hear his voice, it still always sounds like Paul to me.

25 years ago, today December 8th, 2005, John Lennon was shot outside of his apartment in New York City.

It reads above, 'Two versions were recorded with different instruments and spliced together to make one song. The edit is 59 seconds in.'

John Lennon's two versions were one with soft guitar in the background and another with a blazing orchestra. Lennon liked the beginning of the first and the end of the second. He asked George Martin to fix it, and by slowing down the second version Martin was able to have the tempos and keys match.

This is my favorite song by the Beatles.

The Album information for this song is wrong, this appeared on Magical Mystery Tour before it was on The Beatles 1967-1970

when i first saw the film of this on the ed sullivan show, i thought the beatles had lost their minds. i thought they were acting and dressing very uncool, and i hated the idea of them in moustaches. the film was weird, and the lyrics were weird to me. they lost me for awhile. it was years before i put it all together and realized that this was one of the very best of the beatles songs. i spent alot of bread, and time, and sweat on one of the greatest sound systems around, and strawberry fields sounds fantastic on it. it sounds even better on dvd from the beatles anthology on dvd. the instruments, and their use of them, and the music, really make the sound, and the song fantastic.

Before his death, John Lennon said he always was displeased at George Martin's production of this song, and that one day he'd like to talk to Martin about it. After Lennon died, someone mentioned this to Martin, who replied that he didn't know why John was so upset, he "did exactly what he (John) told him to do." Beacuse of this, Martin made sure that several early versions of SFF were included on the "Anthology" project so the listener would hear what he had to work with.

Scott from Nomal that's NOT WHAT IT SAYS! It says "Paul is a dead man, miss him miss him miss him!"

Magical Mystery Tour is one of The Beatle's best LPs. I disagree with people who think it's a bad Album. Strawberry Fields is not the best of the album because there is "Walrus" (but could be in any other Beatle's album, and would be its best).
Lovely song, lovely John.

You may notice some strange modulations in the song with accompanying tempo changes. Every time the words say "Let me take you down" Lennon would slow the speed of the tape deck on playback, giving it that slower, somewhat out of tune psychedelic sound.

In contrast, McCartney frequently sped up the tape playback to make his records sound brighter and to make his voice sound younger.

It's "Cranberry Sauce"?

I always thought it was just "Strawberry"... Huh.

tHUMBS uP

There were two slang terms in the seventies that referred to LSD. They were strawberry fields and purple haze. Whether the songs are about the drugs, or the drug names refer to the songs who knows. But this might be where the confusion about this song being about drugs comes from.

Paul played the mellotron, not John. He says it on the DVD "The World Tonight"

I heard it! I Beried Paul!

This songs awsome!

This is one of my favorite songs and one of my favorite videos too.I think this was the first time we seen the new image of the Beatles around the time they made Sgt. Pepper's.

Recently I was watching a Beatles retrospective on DVD, which showed the Beatles in their room at the Plaza Hotel in New York during their first U.S. visit (in early 1964). It was very surprising to see Lennon, on what looks like a small melodica, start playing the opening chords to Strawberry Fields, an idea he apparently was tossing around more than two years before this song was recorded.

What I hear in the end of Strawberry Fields Forever is John's voice saying the word Goodbye in Spanish, "Adios", and few seconds after he says "I'm very bored".

Gerardo Romero, Mexico City.

"and waht i heard was "I'm very Hoarse" That's funny. I always heard: "I'm very usefull;-).

This was on Magical Mystery Tour. I don't know why it says "1967-1970." (I know that the Anthology, but why is listed that way?)

And also this is definitely one of the best songs on one of the Beatles worst albums. I love the Beatles (it's my favorite group) but Magical Mystery Tour was just not a good album in my mind. It seems like a bunch of singles thrown and clumped together, similar to some of the Beatles earlier albums. Track on it, like "I Am the Walrus", this one, "All You Need is Love", "Hello, Goodbye", and "Baby You're A Rich Man" are great, alone, but in this album together, they just don't seem to work.

On the Anthology version, you can clearly hear Lennon say both "I buried Paul" and "Cranberry Sauce." Lennon did play along with this rumor of Paul being dead in other songs such as "I'm So Tired" where he said at the end and backwards "Paul is dead, miss him, miss him."

Tokashi dixie didn't say that the song was about drugs. In fact, she clearly said in her comment that the song isn't about drugs. That it's about those mellow moods that people get into, where they have nothing to stress over. read her comment, and you'll know what i'm talking about.

It's probably on the 67-70 aobum, because it was released on 1967.

Covered by XTC. The cover is faithful to the original. It doesn't add anything, but it does show Lennon's influence on Andy Partridge.

I think this is one of the best songs ever recorded, anytime, anywhere. This song is not about anything in particular, it's just meant to be a bunch of images. It's not ABOUT drugs as such, but (1) probably was written under the influence of drugs, (2) probably sounds great while under the influence of drugs. This was a landmark in trippy writing - they thought it was going to be recognized as a masterpiece, which over time it has been, but when it was released people didn't know what make of it. Some very innovative (for that time) recording and mixing techniques were used to make the final product. (And please, please, don't get into stupid backward messages, conspiracy theories, or 'this song was a message to me personally' stuff. Anyone who thinks the Paul McCartney who had a solo career afterwards is in fact a clone or imposter belongs in a padded room.)

Dixie, this song is not about drugs!!!!

"Noone I think is in my tree/ 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 its not too bad"

Refers to John's personal self image. He saw himself as a genius (rolling stones interview) and thought noone was at his level of thinking, in his tree. No one could get there, or tune in, but its not too bad for him, hes cool.

Thats what that line really means.

I only can hear "I buried" or "Cranberry" when I listen to the end......no "I buried paul" or "Cranberry sauce"

John DOES NOT say "I buried Paul" he clearly says Cranbury Sauce

a lovley song. One of John's best songs. Vey psychodelic and full of joy in it. If this song was made in 1966 then why is it on the 1967-1970 Blue album?

it's definitely talking about no drugs, no question, 'nothing is real','strawberry fields'. I think he's talking about those really mellow moods you get in where you just chill, and you're kind of just floating: 'that is you can't tune in but it's all right, it doesn't matter much to me'. he can't get stressed about anything coz he's got strawberry fields forever!

Yoko Ono also donated money to the orphanage after John's death in 1984 when the orphanage was at risk of being closed again...just to let you know....

Great Piece of Songwriting

To settle the "I Buried Paul" thing: Buy The Beatles Anthology Volume 2 CD. Put in Disc 2. Skip to Track 3, "Strawberry Fields Forever: Take 7 And Edit Piece." Skip past the mono mix, backward cymbals, and most of the drumming, to 3:57. This is the drum track used at the end of the released version - At 3:57, you can hear John saying, quite clearly (and twice!) "Cran - berry - sauce." Mystery solved.
P. S. A little later, just before the end of the track, you can hear John saying, "All right, calm down Ringo, calm down..."

Actor Dominic Monaghan (Abc's Lost, LOrd of the Rings) has "Living is easy with eyes closed" tattoed on his left arm.

To whoever said that they couldn,t hear the I BURIED PAUL remark-at the fade out (2nd one) listen CLOSELY and you will hear john in a magician voice go: "I...buried...Paul" and before it's done "I...buried..." and the song ends.

I love this song, but i don't hear the "I buried paul remark." Is that line missing from the single version (that's all I've heard). Is it at the end of the main song or in the weird culminating Rev. 9 type stuff?

They got high when they made the ending.

and waht i heard was "I'm very Hoarse"

Whats that little thinger at the end? it sounds like the dancing mushrooms in Fantasia

Of the two versions of the song, Lennon told George Martin he liked the first part of one and the last of the other and asked him to put them together. Martin told him the songs were at different tempos. Lennon said "You can fix it" He did a nice job "fixing" it.

When you say "Cranberry Sauce" slowly it sounds like "I buried Paul".Creepy...

The most amazing thing i always thought about this is August 29, 1966 last beatle concert.John makes the movie in Spain writes the song...In Novermber & December aprox. 3-4 mnths after the last concert they make the song w/that crazy video and there whole image,sound,& clothes have changed the most intriging Beatle time to me...

whilst this song isn't about drugs, you gotta admit that with the sound of the mellotron, all the other effects used and the imagery of 'strawberry fields'(if you took it literally), the song is pretty trippy and could have been written to have an ambiguity about it, so you can't blame people for thinking it may relate to drugs in some way i suppose...

"living is eazy with eyes closed missunderstanding all you see"..........pure genus oh and ya strawberry berry fields isn't acid or anthing else its a orphanage john went to a lot as a child and as an adult

The memorial in Central Park for John "Strawberry Fields" was bough by Yoko and has the shape of a tear drop

in perth australia you could get acid. called "strawberry fields" with a stamp of a strawberry on them.

in the bush song "glycerine" when he sings"when we rise it's like strawberry fields" is he referring to this song?

"I mean it must be high or low" is John talking about how he always used to see visions and things and he thinks this must mean he is either crazy (low) or a genius (high).
The latter is my opinion!

"Nothing to get hung about" means nothing to worry you. It's a britsh expression. If you have a "hang-up" its a worry or an insecurity.

After Paul heard the original version of this song ( the acoustic version on Anthology 2) he got the idea to write Penny Lane. I guess he figured that if John was going to write about his childhood than he could too.

What most people don't know is that this song was recorded entirely in November and December 1966, which was about 7 months before Srgt. Pepper's was released. This was the Beatles first song they recorded as full-fledged non-touring band.

This is my favorite Beatles song......I've always thought 'Strawberry Fields' was the first real psychodelic song. I think it inspired a whole genre of rock and roll.
Rob, Lennox, SD

During their popularity, the Beatles were featured in a short-run cartoon series. The Fab Four were not voiced by their real-life influences, but rather by two Americans who also did their speaking voices on the "Yellow Submarine" movie. In the epsiode featuring this song, the lads visit an orphanage that looks real run-down, and they are attacked by the orphans. As they perform the song, the building and surrounding grounds is turned into a carnival-like atmosphere, making the children happier.

Cynidi Lauper sang this?

Somebody was shooting Strawberry Fields Forever when they thought she'd do a great job.

This is the loveliest song on The Magical Mystery Tour

(2001) Ben Harper sang this song for the "I Am Sam" soundtrack.