“Strawberry Fields Forever” represented a major turning point in The Beatles’ artistic development. If there were any doubt that the lovable, innocent mop-tops era was over, this surreal, groundbreaking piece of music made it eminently clear.
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The song holds a special place in the hearts of Beatles fans everywhere. But do you know some of the little-known facts behind the making of the track?
Child’s Play
“Strawberry Fields” would end up being the first song that The Beatles recorded when they returned to the studio in late 1966 following a brief break. While they didn’t have a hard and fast plan, Lennon and Paul McCartney were initially considering an album based on songs about the group’s childhood experiences. That fell by the wayside once the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band idea came to the fore. But both “Strawberry Fields Forever” and McCartney’s “Penny Lane,” the two sides of the group’s first single of 1967, came from that abandoned concept.
No Flautist Necessary
The Beatles delivered “Strawberry Fields Forever” right in the heart of the baroque pop era in music history. Songs that belonged to this loose genre generally combined pop-song structure with classical touches. But it could be a bit prohibitive to get orchestras and guest musicians to add these flourishes. That’s where the Mellotron came in handy. A kind of early synthesizer, the instrument allowed musicians to mimic certain instruments via a keyboard setup. The first notes of “Strawberry Fields Forever” are a Mellotron on a flute setting.
Slow Down, John
It’s notable that “Strawberry Fields Forever” was the first song that The Beatles recorded after their decision to stop touring. (Their last show was in August 1966.) That meant that they could spend much more time in the studio tinkering and perfecting what they heard in their heads. And it also meant that they wouldn’t need to reproduce the sounds on stage. The end result: ideas like slowing down John Lennon’s lead vocal on “Strawberry Fields Forever.” This effect added to the song’s otherworldly feel.
Martin’s Magic Touch
Piggybacking on the above note, The Beatles had the time to try many different approaches on a song like “Strawberry Fields Forever”. They delivered three different basic versions of the song, in part because John Lennon couldn’t quite decide what he wanted. In the end, he decided that he liked one version that was more straightforward rock instrumentation and another that included strings backing his vocals. The solution? Blend them together, which producer George Martin handled, making the whole thing sound seamless.
Well, They Did Record It Near Thanksgiving
The Beatles largely improvised the weird coda at the end of “Strawberry Fields Forever”. Had they known that it would cause such a stir down the road, they might have reconsidered. At the end of this section of the song, John Lennon can be heard way back in the mix saying something in a cartoonish voice. When the Paul is Dead phenomenon took off in the late 60s, conspiracy theorists insisted that they heard those words as “I buried Paul.” In fact, Lennon, in a moment of whimsy, was uttering the words “cranberry sauce.”
Photo by Jeff Hochberg/Getty Images
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