"Strawberry Fields Forever"

Song: “Strawberry Fields Forever”

Album: (Not Released on LP)

Lennon’s “Strawberry Fields Forever” is a meditation on his childhood that he wrote during a period of difficulty and change in 1966. The Beatles were no longer touring, John had just embroiled them in controversy with his “more popular than Jesus” comment, his marriage to Cynthia was crumbling, and he had increased his drug use, especially of the psychedelic LSD.  He’d said he’d always felt a bit different, shy, and self-doubting, but during this time he felt very disconnected—like he was on another plane of existence.

The song was the first recorded for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, but it ultimately was left off the album, instead appearing as the B-side to “Penny Lane,” which made for a great A-side/B-side, as “Strawberry” is reflective of John’s suburban childhood and “Penny” is reflective of Paul’s.

The title comes from a Salvation Army house of the same name near John’s childhood home. John would frequently play there, and the “nothing to get hung about” line in the refrain is apparently from his Aunt Mimi’s rule about not playing there. John’s typical reply to her was, “They can’t hang you for it.”

“Strawberry Fields Forever” was fairly successful commercially, reaching number eight in the U.S., but it was a huge critical success and is often cited as one of the defining songs of psychedelic rock.

As legend has it, Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys heard the song while driving and had to pull over to listen to the whole thing because he was so taken by it, absorbed in it. The song might even have been responsible for The Beach Boys’ unfinished album, Smile, because with “Strawberry Fields Forever,” the Beatles had achieved what Wilson had hoped to with that album.

The promotional film below was filmed at the end of January, 1967 by Swedish television director Peter Goldman, and it implements numerous techniques, like stop-motion, jump-cuts, and reverse film effects, again paving the way for the modern music video.

A final note: the memorial for Lennon at Central Park in New York City is named for this song.