The first time I heard this song when it came out in the summer of 1967 , I was sitting in my home with a friend . I was 17 years old . We listened to the song and thought my god how different this is than anything we ever heard . I looked at my friend and said “ hey you know what ? , I bet the Beatles will be around for ever or at least their music will anyway “. Now I’m 71 and here we are still listening .
Its just so damn hard to really appreciate this song on first listen. The strange chord progressions and constant time changes make it difficult to follow at first, then it clicks together and you realize this is one of the best from the beatles.
Pink Floyd started after the Beatles, but were already performing by the time the Beatles did Strawberry Fields. Pink Floyd formed in 1965, initially as an R&B cover band, and got increasingly psychedelic over the course of 1966. They released their first single in March 1967. Pink Floyd's first producer, Norman Smith, had previously worked as a sound engineer on early Beatles records. John Lennon wrote Strawberry fields in late 1966, while on a break from the Beatles to film "How I Won the War," and the band released the song in February 1967. The Beatles were well plugged into the London club scene at the time, and may have been aware of what the Pink Floyd were doing on stage, but they didn't meet one another until March 1967.
“Trippy vibe” was called psychedelic music, associated with LSD trips, and was not uncommon at the time, songs like “Itchycoo Park” by the Small Faces, quite a few West Coast bands, Hendrix all featured it, LP covers like Disraeli Gears by Cream too.
'Nothing is real'....in the days before digital computer manipulation of sound. Absolutely no-one changed the world like The Beatles! Just take it from me, born 1952 in UK.
Imagine listening to this when it was first released. Everyone waited for Beatles releasing a record. It had been a few months since they had received released anything. Due to their contract with the record company. They were forced to release a single. The Beatles had not been working on any single. These 2 song were meant for Sgt Peppers album. Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields were the only songs finished. They were released as a double A side single. With Strawberry Fields. Everyone thought the Beatles keep it a secret. Because it was so way out there. No body heard anything like this before or since
This song is beyond amazing. It’s in my top 2 favorite Beatles song. You’re not ignorant. I think it’s ignorant of others to expect a young reactor, such as yourself, to know the music and artists from many decades ago. You have to start somewhere. And you have an excellent taste in music. Keep going with The Beatles. It’s true that they’re the best 🤩
All of their music has been part of my being ever since I released it and it's so much fun to watch someone discover it for the first Time and maybe understand how they got under our skin and stayed there. I miss those boys so much. They took us on the best ride of our life. And it's still gone. Beatles forever. Peace ❤️
There is no live version. The Beatles quit touring and then made this single. They only had 1 more live performance on their office rooftop, about 2 years later.
"The Beatles" quit touring in 1966, but were already making recordings that couldmn't be played live -- listen to "Rubber Soul," released in late-1965. And of course "Revolover," which newbies are told is their best LP, so they don't listen to any of the others -- unless they are told to do so. I grew up with them, and my favorite of their LPs are "Beatles for Sale" and "The Beatles" (aka "White" LP).
This recording was originally the "B"-side of the "Penny Lane" single. The "Magical Mystery Tour" LP is a US compiliation of the two-EP set -- as it was released n England -- of the "Magical Mystery Tour" songs, and other singles.
I love the line ‘No one I think is in my tree’. John later admitted he was asserting his dominance as the greatest songwriter of his generation without trying to show up his contemporaries. Like any of them had a clue what that lyric actually meant.
One of the Abbey Road studio tricks was to feed the vocals into the Abbey Road cellars and mix it back after it had bounced off a few walls, it gave it a "end of the hall" quality.Brilliant !
"The Beatles" increasingly took over the studio until Martin was following their lead. Read George Martin's "All You Need is Ears," so you can get the FACTS that expose the ignorance about "The Beatles" and their recordings for what it is.
although from a clasical background , he , i think was one of the greatest inovaters of the time with the limited technology and its subsequent progression
George Martin was probably the best producer the Beatles could ever have. But as far as the creative and experimental drive in the group that was all Lennon and McCartney. Martin deserves great credit for bringing Lennon and McCartney‘s ideas to fruition. But Can you imagine George Martin coming in to the studio and saying hey we’re going to do backwards vocals and guitar on I’m only sleeping what do you think boys? Would never happen. Check out the music from other George Martin produced artists. Very conventional, traditional radio friendly tunes and only moderately successful.
@@johndodge8999 Well Martin taught them a lot about the recording studio, and he made suggestions which they often followed. By the White Album, they were producing their own songs. Martin was greatly upset about the whole experience. Paul called him up and told him that they would like to do another album the old way, with Martin producing. That became Abbey Road. Martin was not their servant; he was their facilitator.
This is my favorite reaction to Strawberry Fields Forever. You got it in real time; seemed to process the novelty of one of the most novel compositions in our lifetimes. This is one of my favorite songs by the Beatles, and I've looked at many reactions to the song. I've liked some, but you seemed to take in a lot more than most at the first listen, and I find that satisfying as a Beatles stalwart, having grown up with them as the background music of my life. It certainly struck me as novel when it came out and I was eleven years old.
There is a promo film ( one of the first music videos) from the studio recording, but no live version. They never performed this live. At the time ( late 60's) it would not have been possible.
@@joyfulzero853 I was being facetious about Edison. He may not have invented everything but I'm pretty sure he is responsible for the phonograph, the light bulb and the gadget that gave us the movies. Without which no Hard Day's Night or Help. I've seen his laboratory, have you?
@@jacksonmorganfroghin4815 He definitely did NOT invent the lightbulb Sir Joseph Swan an English physicist was ahead of him entirely independently. Swan sued Edison in the USA for English patent and won. Edison counter-sued Swan for USA patent violation and lost. Ultimately to avoid continued ruinous legal costs in the two companies merged into the Edison and Swan United Light Company. Of course Sir Humphrey Davy was the first to produce an electric arc light long before either but it was actually "too bright" for domestic use
@@joyfulzero853 I'll give Swan the light bulb but it's Con Ed not Con Swan. However you can't say he didn't invent the phonograph. From that you have Heartbreak Hotel and I Am The Walrus selling millions. Correct?
This song was recorded between November and December 1966, it's a John Lennon song and took 55 hrs to record which is a record to this day for a song by far. They didn't have the technology in 1966 for this recording, a lot of stuff had to be worked out. I'm not gonna get into it but you can easily research it, the song is one of the most iconic recordings in history. Also research the meaning of the song, it's deep. I would suggest his last big interview with Playboy Magazine December 1980 issue released only a week before he was shot to death on December 8th 1980. He'll tell you all about its meaning. The instrument you heard is a mellotron which was a new keyboard at the time and used here for the first time in the history of recorded music. The Beatles were just too cool. John Lennon was taking LSD at this time which you can hear in the song. This song is as weird and wonderful now as it was back in 1967. Put on some phones and give it a listen. ☮️
It IS NOT a "drug indiced" song. It is about Lennon's childhood -- when he began writing as he did in such as "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".
"The instrument you heard is a mellotron which was a new keyboard at the time and used here for the first time in the history of recorded music." @Doug Susie - no, not quite. While the instrument was first developed in England, that was in 1963, and it made its way into several recordings long before "Strawberry Fields Forever" 4 years later. After appearances in several promotional tours by pianist Geoff Unwin on TV and radio (where it was recorded many times), the first mainstream musician to use it is considered to be multi-instrumentalist Graham Bond (of the British jazz/blues band The Graham Bond Organisation) with it featured on few singles and an album in '65. The first UK chart hit with a mellotron was Manfred Mann's "Semi-Detached Suburban Mr. James" in Oct. of '66. "SFF" simply brought the mellotron to prominence in '67 with that opening flute line.
The music video is well worth watching, a big benefit is the high quality of the video which is only there because of a special lens which was used while filming!
The last part of the last fade out, where the voice says "That's very good" is where, if you play it backwards, it says "I buried Paul", according to the old Paul-McCartney-is-dead thing that was popular in the late 60s,
The "Magical Mystery Tour" songs are among their weakest; the film itself flopped. The "Magical Mystery Tour" LP is a compilation of those songs and several singles, including "Strawberry Fields Forever".
It is good to see new generations introduced to this fantastic music. Their ten years together changed the direction of music. Think you will like, Think For Yourself an early work with strong bass line. also love , Hey Bulldog. My list would go on. Enjoy your journey through their music.
Great Pink Floyd comparison. A young engineer named Alan Parsons was an intern in Apple Studios at the time. He recreated and expanded many of the sounds/effects from Apple on Floyd’s Dark Side of The Moon masterpiece.
Please react to "Revolution and Tomorrow never knows" ...Beatles were already ahead of Pink Floyd. Beatles had every sound in " Sgt. Pepper"...chickens, horses, cats, hounding hunting dogs, cows and even crickets, special effects sound etc., this album is a master piece like a Salvador Dali painting! . Beatles were the most imaginative creative musical artist of our existence so far. I was a 9 yr., old boy in 1964 in from the Island of Quisqueya -( Dom. Republic) didn't know a word of English upon my arrival at JFK and on the same Beatles weekend appearance on Ed. Sullivan show and I was over taken by four electrifying dolls! Fell in love with band immediately like a magnet... Folks I'm glad we have lots of film footage of the experience of Beatlemania..it took the planet by over. Beatles were a special Phenomenon in their existence. At 66' My sister and I ordered " Revolver " album from the T.V. guide weekly magazine.... Hahahaha! At 12yrs., I'm totally tripled out by Tomorrow never Knows" wow!
The video made for this in 1968 was the first ever for pop music and worth watching. The song itself was actually two different songs superimposed in the studio where one song is played backward.
glad you loved it.. .the Beatles never performed this live, so beware of anything that purports to be a live version.. interesting that you caught a Pink Floyd vibe, because I'm pretty sure Pink Floyd were recording in the same studio at around the time the Beatles were recording this or other songs in the Sgt Pepper sessions, and this was part of those sessions even thought it was on the Sgt Pepper album
It WASN'T/ISN'T on "Sgt. Pepper's". It was likely intended to be, but the recording of that LP was taking longer than expected, and they needed a single release, so it was released as the "B"-side of "Penny Lane".
@@jnagarya519 well technically yes but because they wanted to release a double a-side and the song it was released with was penny lane george martin once said releasing these as a double a-side was the biggest mistake they made
I think you will enjoy the montage of the back of abbey road album, also for heavy guitars Bulldog, taxman , happiness is a warm gun. And to freak yourself out a bit tomorrow never knows. Oh also dear prudence and Oh darling
A must ! An under rated song , by George , “it’s all too much “ Very few reactions done in this one , must do ! Here is a line “All the world is birthday cake , take a piece, but not too much “
Hi there. Just want to mention that if you listen this with headphones you'll have a diferent experience because a lot of sounds pass from left to right and back again on purpose to give that experience. Pink Floyd took a lot of ideas from this Beatles period. ✌peace
@@jnagarya519 War Horse, Bridge of Spies, Indiana Jones,E.T. Sugarland Express,Duel , Shindlers List,Jaws,1941 The Colour Purple,Saving Private Ryan,Hook,AI, Minority Report and the Repetitive theme IS?
"And nothing to get hung about" was John making fun of his aunt; John lived near strawberry fields in Liverpool and he would hop fences to climb into a tree to watch the girls there and Aunt Mimi said "if they catch you they'll hang you" he liked proving her wrong, also this song has two takes in it! Take 7 for the first minute then take 27 slowed for the last part of the song
@@jnagarya519 yes I'm aware of that.. I know you had to point out the Tibetan book of the dead reference, to appear well versed in Beatles Facts lol.. Calling it trippy is a simple description. Calm down 🤣
Yeah that's a landmark song of all time I think it's one of the most important Beatles songs once you've listened to it over and over again you'll understand what I'm talking about but it had such a eerie are to it somehow I mean I remember when it first came out cuz I'm an older guy and it was funny we had this made who worked for us she was from Oklahoma And she'd have her little transistor radio on and she is waiting for her daughter to pick her up and she say what does that mean Brian? Strawberry Fields Forever? there are so many things about this song are you wouldn't believe how many things to unbox there are two different sessions one was done and a different key in a different Tempo and the other was done in a different key in a slower Tempo or whatever but when you said one of them up or slowed one of them down they matched perfectly and John like the second part of an earlier version and the first part of a you know a later version and they put them together and they matched up perfectly because won the temple was different one that it was lower and key or whatever it was that shooting was different but they matched perfectly because when they explode this one down and it was in the same key and it was in the right Tempo cuz it's slowed the tempo down whatever it was just amazing it was a miracle did it even happened at all the way I did so Strawberry Fields was a little Refuge it was an orphanage in John used to go there and jump over the wall and just hang out because it was a like a sanctuary for him but the ironic part is is when he was a teenager in high school he would come home late and his aunt was his guardian and he would get pissed off and say if you don't act right start being more proper and coming home at the right time perhaps I should just have you sent to Strawberry Fields so another words she was going to disown him and then have him dumped off at the orphanage so you know John feeling like such an outsider it was like come on everybody let's all go to Strawberry Fields cuz we're on the outside looking in where The Outsiders where the Misfits you know but it's all right we can accept ourselves the way we are you know it's all good that way yeah there's a lot of philosophy in there my good friend told me one time he said one of the lines which is quote I think I know ofThee ah yes but it's all wrong that is I think I disagree" his take on that particular praise is that it's talking about religion or God or Christ or whatever but that it's not necessarily so what was libel to be in the Bible . You should do as she said she said that could be your next song you might like that one it's an interesting tune because they were out in Hollywood and Henry Fonda's son Peter Fonda was that this party where the Beatles were hanging out and I guess Peter Fonda was high on LSD and he started ranting to John Lennon and that's what this song is about Peter is the girl that he's referring to in the song he always has Alter Egos and different things just like Sexy Sadie that's actually referring to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi because of the things that he found out about him which he wasn't too pleased with whatever you know yeah he was I guess flirting with some of the young girls that were there are at the ashram hey everybody's human whatever I still say everybody should meditate it's such a powerful miraculous thing anyhow all right I went on too long at again sorry good reaction so I'll take you on the next drop I just love seeing somebody hear a song for the first time that's is legendary is this one
George Martin the producer said he regretted not putting strawberry fields and another "Magical Mystery Tour" song on sgt peppers Lonely hearts club band
At the 208 mark you can hear the song change that's because the first part of the song is from one take the second part of the song is from another they just melded the two parts together
The Paul is dead rumor first surfaced years later, in 1971, I was somewhat involved in it, and showed a lot of Paul is dead hints to a friend, Lou Yeager, who was more into Elvis than in The Beatles. Lou called Alex Bennet, a NYC AM radio jock, and a few weeks later, Lou was quoted (with my hints) in Life Magazine. Some Paul is dead hints are straight forward. but others require changing the record's speed, or risk damaging the record by playing it backwards (as on Revolution #9). I avoided such foolishness by manipulating the music with my mono and stereo reel-to-reel tape recorders.
@@decadantdog4444 But the content & lyric is entirely about Lennons childhood. SF was a Salvation Army children's home, "living is easy with eyes closed" refers to the sheltered existence of the children in its care, while "no-one I think is in my tree" references the trees in the grounds of SF that Lennon & his friends used to climb. "Nothing to get hung about" harks back to an even earlier time, when SF (before the house was built) was the site of gallows where convicted criminals were hung. There are several other, more subtle references throughout the song also.
@@annegrey-blackman5934 I'm not implying the song is about drugs. As I said, Lennon was a known acid head. He tripped alot. The sound and approach/production IS PSYCHEDELIC!
@@decadantdog4444 The finished sound may appear psychedelic, but the influences are not. One cannot write lyrics of this depth and meaning (& keep them hidden) whilst stoned. Listen to any Peter Brown lyrics for proof positive - they are absolute nonsense!
This and many other songs on this album were earlier released as 45's. They came from the same sessions as the earlier album Sgt Pepper, but were released in advance of Sgt Pepper, to find out if the public was ready for this style of Beatles, and the public loved it. You were talking during the very end and missed John Lennon's Paul McCartney is dead hint, where Lennon said "I buried Paul". There are a number of such recorded and visual hints on several Beatles Albums up to and including Abbey Road. No,, Paul is still not dead. I believe the keyboard at the beginning of Strawberry Fields is a Mellotron, a primitive sampled sound keyboard that used 88 tape loops, one for each tone on the keyboard. I think there is a Mellotron seen outdoors near a tree, in the film Magical Mystery Tour. I was 16 when Strawberry Fields first hit the AM radio stations. Around that time, 1967, FM first began broadcasting rock in the USA, at least in NYC, but many people were still listening to AM. Also, all Beatles Albums were released as Mono and as Stereo until the White Album. The Mono versions were the ones played on AM, and were not quite the same mix as the Stereo versions, and generally were reduced in time, to satisfy the needs of the very commercial AM stations.
It wasn't "to find out if the public was ready". Recording "Sgt. Pepper's" was taking longer than expected, and a single release was needed/due, so this and "Penny Lane" were released. And, in fact, Lennon said, "Cranberry sauce". The "hints" were coincidence. What happened is thatt "The Beatles" often used Britishisms, Liverpudlianisms -- in "Penny Lane" the line, "Coral fish-and-finger pies" (female genital) -- that were "odd" to US fans, who tried to figure out things that were simply coincidence. The "Paul is Dead" HOAX -- intended as a joke -- arose out of that fan foolishness. Once "The Beatles" heard of the foolishness, Lennon, especially, threw in bits of nonsense for them to "figure out".
The "stereo" versions released in the US, until "Sgt. Pepper's," were FAKE "stereo". And the British "stereo" releases until that LP were PRE-MIXED MONO. The recordings were made in a specific way as the STANDARD: all music on one track, all vocals on the other track -- and then mixed to MONO for AIRPLAY, which was MONO.
You're not ignorant, just young. The Beatles are over 50 years old. 50 years before I started listening to the Beatles in 1965, there was almost no recorded music at all.
Recording of music began during the 1910s-20s. There was a full recording industry by the mid-1920s. Check out Al Jolson, Bing Crosby, "Andrews Sisters".
It wasn't possible due to the limitations in technology of the time. But who would want it to be? It's one of the two greatest recordings in history. The other is their recording of the song "Please Please Me".
You're not dumb, you're just young and werent around then. But all their albums are and probably will be around forever, so just listen to all of it. Your life will change with each song you hear . Listen to the end of this song again. You started talking too soon and missed it when John says : "Cranberry sauce". Why did he say that? John was very playful, so after strawberry fields he just added cranberry sauce, what else ? By the time he said it the tape was turned off and winding down, so it came out low and descending .
