If you enjoy this video, then please consider checking out my ongoing White Album series where I take a in-depth look into each track on the album: ru-vid.com/group/PLmlgynYCJ-Yx5jYiQjAUHojz60bW53g4Q&si=5WrkAMtTEvtoJs20
I was in college in Ohio when Magical Mystery Tour came out. Someone on the street held the record above his head and said "I've got the new Beatles record." A crowd of total strangers began following him, like the Pied Piper. We all ended up in a totally darkened room, sitting in a circle. We listened to both sides without a sound, several pipes circulating in the darkness. The Sixties were magical, and the Beatles were a big part of that magic.
I was twelve years old when the single came out and Strawberry Fields Forever changed my musical tastes for the rest of my life. I must have listened to the single hundreds of times over the next few months. I became an instant superfan of the Beatles. It led me to become a lover of all avant-garde music which I am still to this day. I've always thought SFF/P: was by far the greatest single ever. It's wonderful that younger generations can still appreciate how mind-blowing and ground-breaking it was.
The childhood theme, the videos, the advancement in technology, the creative jump, the double A sided, makes this masterpiece the greatest single of all time.
Ps I just saw Paul at the “ Hollywood F____ing Bowl!” He was a performer at Jimmy Buffet memorial concert . I had to restrain myself a little from SCREAMING , as I was 9 when the Beatles hit , and I was screaming then and now ! Now and Then ,,, MEATLESS MONDAYS !
Bravo. My sentiments exactly. This single is like when Dorothy opens the door to the colorful land of Oz in the movie “The Wizard of Oz”. An interesting side note, I was exposed to SFF early as it was first released on one of the very first American bootlegs. Entitled : “The Beatles Original Greatest Hits” on Suta Records here in the US. Interestingly, besides SFF, that LP contained only early Beatles songs from the first year (including the Ringo drums version of Love Me Do) but plugged Strawberry Fields Forever” on the front cover. I’m pretty sure that release was mob backed and an early pirated tape was smuggled from the UK before its official release here in the US. My grandad picked up the LP in Grand Central Station in NYC on the way to a visit to see my family in 1967.
You're right on here. That much music power on a "single" record? Can't be topped. Both of those songs will be being played and known to people for hundreds of years to come I would think.
You’ve really upped the game when it comes to production value here! Great video and you make a very good case for this being the greatest single, it’s very difficult to argue anything otherwise, only other contenders for me would be something like Waterloo Sunset or This Charming Man but they don’t have great/iconic b sides
I have to admit when this single came out, I was't really over keen on it . But it grew on me, and it is one of the best singles of time. I do think Strawberry fields could have slotted into SGT Pepper, somewhere, and it was a crime it did't reach number one ,I guess the public were not quite ready ,but the fans were hence the success of SGT Pepper.
You couldn't be more right, mate. SFF is my favorite all time song, and PL is easily in my top 50 - if not 20. EASILY the greatest single in the history of recorded humanity.
I can't believe that there's not even a mention of the Beach Boys' "Don't Worry, Baby" b.w. "I Get Around". That was a pretty d---n strong double A-side as well!
George Martin challenged John and Paul to each write a song about their childhood, so they had a single to release to tide over the fans while they spent extra time on Pepper. Sadly both were not included on Pepper
I can see why you think that those two songs should have been included on pepper, but I for one am thrilled that they did not end up on that album. Because it just made magical mystery toward that much more magical!
Hello Oliver, I agree with you 100% that this is the best single ever. I was 11 when I went to the record store to buy Strawberry Fields/ Penny Lane in mid-February 67. I remembered just staring at the front and back cover of the single. I would play one side and then play the other side and then again and again and again. When Penny Lane first came out here in the states we got the little extra piccolo at the end of Penny Lane. Then after a couple weeks it was gone and then we just had the version that's out now. I have a cassette of George Martin talking about Strawberry Fields forever and it's at 59 seconds where you hear takes 7 go to take 26. George Martin went on to say that he cringed every time he heard that but in my opinion it works. When I hear Strawberry Fields I hear the cut but so what. They did a fantastic job putting it together and it's a damn good song. Now you see what you did now I got to go play both those songs right now on my stereo. Okay Oliver great video man.Take Care Then
Cheers Kregg - I forgot a different version of Penny lane came out in the states originally, think that version got rereleased as a bonus track on the 50th anniversary edition of Pepper? Take care
@@oliversaunders_ I know the version with the extra piccolo is on the Beatles (rarities) album. Yeah maybe you're right maybe it's also on the box set.
@@daytripper9222 just been listening to it now on the Pepper boxset - I wonder how that version ended up getting issued in the US originally, presumably a mistake?
@@oliversaunders_ I was just thinking the same thing. I was trying to think back and as I recall we had three radio stations that played top 30 top 40 back then, so the one radio station did play the extra bit at the end and the other two stations did not, so yeah I think you're correct maybe it was meant just for the people at Capital to listen to but yeah it had to have been a mistake. But when they first started playing it it was a nice little mistake 😀
@@daytripper9222 I wonder if Capitol were accidentally sent an early mix from EMI by mistake and they’ve accidentally sent it to that radio station instead of the corrected one
Engelbert Humperdinck (the singer) was actually named Arnold George Dorsey. The REAL Engelbert Humperdinck was a 19th century German composer. I say 19th century, but he actually died in 1921. He's mostly known for his opera, Hansel and Gretel, written around 1893. Here's a link to the overture (prelude) to the opera (it's actually rather good!): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-85Mb7nOl9tQ.html
I would personally consider the double A single "Hound Dog" and "Don't Be Cruel" to be the best single ever; after all, it was #1 for eleven straight weeks back in '56. But "Strawberry Fields"/"Penny Lane" though is right up there with the best, along with "Wouldn't It Be Nice"/"God Only Knows" by the Beach Boys, and "Hey Jude"/"Revolution" also by the Fab Four.
I would second the Hound Dog / Don't Be Cruel proposition. The influence of this record cannot be understated. Virtually every rock & roll band in the world in the late '50's started out trying to learn how to play 'Hound Dog'
Strawberry fields/Penny Lane not reaching #1 is not an indication that the songs weren't as good as their other #1 hits- but rather that their talents had surged too far into the future and the publics sensibilities just hadn't caught up. It also needs to be pointed out that there are a lot of very ignorant people in the world and widespread public approval is In no wise verification that something is of high quality. Both Donny Trump and Boris Johnson actually won elections over candidates that were vastly more competent and objectively not as insane or delusional. Milli Vanilli anyone?
Dear Oliver, have you measure the time you have devoted to the six weeks John Lennon spent to write and compose this song? You did not even mention Almería,Spain, which John always recalled on several intervews until his last days. Thanks for the video. My best regards.
Yeah, on vinyl there is no room for Penny Lane/SFF on Pepper without dumping other tracks, but the vinyl era is over. In this digital age it is very easy to insert PL/SFF onto a playlist of Pepper without sacrificing any other songs - and it works. It works extremely well. (And to make up for losing those tracks from MMT, get rid of the Yellow Sub album and add the four unique YS tracks to MMT, plus the WWF version of Across The Universe. That works very well too!).
"please release me let me go" might well have been the catchcry from the Beatles et al. I can't believe that a gooey old EB song somehow trumped Starwberry Fields in the charts. Not sure if it reached No.1 in New Zealand. I thnk Penny Lane did but to me, Strawberry Fields was IT.😊 Psychedlia? Maybe but I thought Dear Prudence off the White album was the ultimate head song.
"Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" were part of an album by the Beatles tentatively titled "Liverpool Stories". The album was abandoned when Paul McCartney crashed his Austin Healey into a tree killing himself and the female passenger beside him. The Beatles were faced with a dilemma and decided to use their Beatle double for Paul as a stand in. The rest is history. I agree this was a high point for the Beatles and we seriously miss the original and true Paul McCartney.
Confusion why you have a button that says hidden and then the one that says thumbs down. That being said, I totally agree with you that strawberry Fields forever was a game changer. And obviously Penny Lane was masterful as well and in a completely different way. I'm surprised that you didn't talk about its inclusion on the eventual album called magical mystery tour. Which started out as the English version with five songs I think and then George Martin on the other half of the album I think. Correct me if I'm wrong. But in my opinion, the American release which was the one I grew up with was the best Beatles album maybe ever. Besides revolver. I like magical mystery tour much better than Sergeant pepper. I'm actually glad that strawberry Fields forever and Penny Lane landed on the magical mystery tour album. So more information of why you didn't cover the magical mystery tour album unless there's some videos that I don't know about that you've made. Thank you for all your wonderful information. Side note, I posted a creation I made on Instagram, and I tagged it Peter Max cuz it had a Peter Max look. Geoff Emerick give me a like. I thought I had have died and gone to heaven! Keep up the good work. I really enjoyed this.
Thanks mate. I’m not sure what you mean though about a “button that says hidden and then the one that says thumbs down”? I didn’t include anything about magical mystery tour as I was purely focusing on just the original single itself in this video, rather than the subsequent releases of the songs that followed later.
The Greatest Single in the Pepper era for the band and honestly if either Strawberry fields or Penny lane was on Sgt pepper then it would be a better listen but pepper is still a great album
Agree this is the greatest single of all time. But a very, very close second is The Beach Boys Wouldn’t It Be Nice / God only Knows. And that perfect record barely cracked the top ten in the US. Go figure. I bought both when they were released and at 85 cents apiece the greatest bang for the buck ever.
I think it’s to do with the fact that it was a double a-side so the way the charts worked at the time meant that sales were halved so for example, if they sold 100k copies, the charts company would assign 50k to Starwberry Fields and 50k to Penny Lane, and then the would just class the overall sales as 50k, so basically they halved everything. So had one of the songs been made a b-side, I think it would have got to number one as they wouldn’t have halved the sales then. Don’t quote me on that though, I might be completely wrong!
@@oliversaunders_ This is actually a logical explanation. if this is true, this Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane was a number one in sales, just not on a technicality....in which case, it really was a number one from a moral point of view
@@oliversaunders_ I just asked Ai and you were right! "The single featuring "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" by the Beatles actually outsold the number one contender, Engelbert Humperdinck's "Release Me," by a significant margin." Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane were number one in terms of sales!
Hi Oliver - nice video! Even though I’m born and bred in Liverpool and like the Beatles the greatest single from the 1960s is Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys!
But the Beatles are a guitar based band so they couldn't reproduce this stuff on stage. I have a lack of integrity feeling about this - like pretending to play live on tv when it's really a recording.
Nice! I was looking to be turned on to new (to me) dead men! What a snappy little european beat combo with vocal! (Hops in my zephyr zodiac and burns rubber sole outta the Jacaranda's car park) brilliant sunnies, m8 Macca and Lennono and Rin Gogh and that bitchy Jort Harrisongs
