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Strawberry Fields Forever

"Strawberry Fields Forever" is a song by the English rock band The Beatles. The song was written by John Lennon during the filming of How I Won the War and inspired by a Salvation Army house in Beaconsfield Road, Woolton, Liverpool near where Lennon lived as a child.

"Strawberry Fields Forever" was originally intended for the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), but was instead released in February 1967 as a double A-side single with Paul McCartney's "Penny Lane". "Strawberry Fields Forever" reached number eight in the US, with numerous critics describing it as one of the group's best recordings.  It is one of the defining works of the psychedelic rock genre and has been covered by many other artists. The song was later included on the Magical Mystery Tour LP (1967). The Strawberry Fields memorial in New York City's Central Park (near the site of Lennon's murder at The Dakota apartment building) was named after the song.

Background and composition

Strawberry Field was the name of a Salvation Army Children's Home just around the corner from Lennon's childhood home in Woolton, a suburb of Liverpool. Lennon and his childhood friends Pete Shotton, Nigel Whalley, and Ivan Vaughan used to play in the wooded garden behind the home.  One of Lennon's childhood treats was the garden party held each summer in Calderstones Park (located next to the Salvation Army Home) every year, where a Salvation Army band played.  Lennon's aunt Mimi Smith recalled: "As soon as we could hear the Salvation Army band starting, John would jump up and down shouting, 'Mimi, come on. We're going to be late.'"

Lennon's "Strawberry Fields Forever" and McCartney's "Penny Lane" both shared the theme of nostalgia for their early years in Liverpool. Although both referred to actual locations, the two songs also had strong surrealistic and psychedelic overtones.  Producer George Martin said that when he first heard "Strawberry Fields Forever" he thought it conjured up a "hazy, impressionistic dreamworld".

The period of its composition was one of change and dislocation for Lennon: The Beatles had just retired from touring after one of the most difficult periods of their career, including the infamous "more popular than Jesus" controversy, and unintentionally snubbing Imelda Marcos, the First Lady of the Philippines.  Lennon's marriage with Cynthia Powell was failing, and he was using increasing quantities of drugs, especially the powerful hallucinogen LSD, as well as cannabis, which he had smoked during his time in Spain.  Lennon talked about the song in 1980: "I was different all my life. The second verse goes, 'No one I think is in my tree.' Well, I was too shy and self-doubting. Nobody seems to be as hip as me is what I was saying. Therefore, I must be crazy or a genius—'I mean it must be high or low'", and explaining that the song was "psycho-analysis set to music".

Lennon began writing the song in Almería, Spain, during the filming of Richard Lester's How I Won the War in September–October 1966.  The earliest demo of the song, recorded in Almería, had no refrain and only one verse: "No one on my wavelength (yeah) / I mean, it's either too high or too low / That is you can't you know tune in but it's all right / I mean it's not too bad". He revised the words to this verse to make them more obscure, then wrote the melody and part of the lyrics to the refrain (which then functioned as a bridge and did not yet include a reference to Strawberry Fields). He then added another verse and added the mention of Strawberry Fields.  The first verse on the released version was actually written last, close to the time of the song's recording. For this verse, Lennon was again inspired by his childhood memories: the words "nothing to get hung about" were inspired by Aunt Mimi's strict order not to play in the grounds of Strawberry Field, to which the young Lennon once replied, "They can't hang you for it."  The first verse Lennon wrote became the second in the released version, and the second verse Lennon wrote became the last in the release. The song was complete.

Musical structure

The song was originally written in the key of C major. The recorded version is approximately in B-flat major; owing to the manipulation of recording speed that the group often used, the finished version is not in standard pitch. The introduction was played by McCartney on a mellotron, and the vocals begin with the refrain instead of a verse.  A half-measure complicates the meter of the verses, as well as the fact that the vocals begin in the middle of the first measure. The first verse comes after the refrain, and is eight measures long. The verse starts with an F major chord (V), which progresses to G minor (vi) in a Deceptive Cadence. According to Alan Pollack, the "approach-avoidance tactic" is encountered in the verse, as the V chord never resolves into an I chord directly as expected.  Instead, at the end of the verse, the V chord turns into a I chord after passing through the E-flat major (IV) chord. In the middle of the second chorus, the "funereal brass" is introduced, stressing the ominous lyrics.  After three verses and four refrains, the line "Strawberry Fields Forever" is repeated three times, and the song fades out with a guitar, cello, and swarmandal. After a few seconds, the song fades back in to the "nightmarish" mellotron playing dissonant notes, scattered drumming, and Lennon saying, "cranberry sauce".

Recording

The working title was "It's Not Too Bad", and Geoff Emerick, the sound engineer, remembered it being "just a great, great song, that was apparent from the first time John sang it for all of us, playing an acoustic guitar."  Using Abbey Road's 4-track machine, recording for "Strawberry Fields Forever" began on 24 November 1966, in Abbey Road's Studio Two. It took 45 hours to record, which were spread over five weeks.  The song was meant to be on the band's 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, but was released as a single instead.

The band recorded three distinct versions of the song. After Lennon played the song for the other Beatles on his acoustic guitar, the band recorded the first take. Lennon played an Epiphone Casino; McCartney played a mellotron, a new instrument introduced to The Beatles by Mike Pinder of The Moody Blues; Starr played drums; and Harrison played electric guitar.  The first recorded take began with the verse, "Living is easy...", instead of the chorus, "Let me take you down", which starts the released version. The chorus functioned as a bridge instead, with Lennon being double-tracked. The last verse, "Always, no sometimes...", has three-part harmonies, with McCartney and Harrison singing "dreamy background vocals".  This version was soon abandoned and went unreleased until the Anthology series in 1996.

Four days later the band reassembled to try a different arrangement. The second version of the song featured McCartney's mellotron introduction followed by the refrain. They recorded five takes of the basic tracks for this arrangement (two of which were false starts) with the last being chosen as best and subjected to further overdubs. Lennon's final vocal was recorded with the tape running fast so that when played back at normal speed the tonality would be altered, giving his voice a slurred sound. This version was used for the first minute of the released recording.

After recording the second version of the song, Lennon wanted to do something different with it, as Martin remembered: "He'd wanted it as a gentle dreaming song, but he said it had come out too raucous. He said could I write him a new line-up with the strings. So I wrote a new score with four trumpets and three cellos] and we recorded that, but he didn't like it".  Meanwhile, on 8 and 9 December, another basic track was recorded, using a mellotron, electric guitar, piano, backwards-recorded cymbals, and the swarmandel (or swordmandel), an Indian version of the zither.  After reviewing the tapes of Martin's version and the original, Lennon told Martin that he liked both versions, although Martin had to tell Lennon that the orchestral score was at a higher tempo and in a different key (B major) than the first version (A major).  Lennon said, "You can fix it, George", giving Martin and Emerick the difficult task of joining the two takes together.  With only a pair of editing scissors, two tape machines, and a vari-speed control, Emerick compensated for the differences in key and speed by increasing the speed of the first version and decreasing the speed of the second.  He then spliced the versions together, starting the orchestral score in the middle of the second chorus.  (Since the first version did not include a chorus after the first verse, he also spliced in the first seven words of the chorus from elsewhere in the first version.) The pitch-shifting in joining the versions gave Lennon's lead vocal a slightly other-worldly "swimming" quality.

Lennon says something during the outro of the song. These words are difficult to understand as they were not a part of the vocal track but were picked up as leakage onto one of the drum overdubs (close listening shows Lennon making other comments to Ringo). It's believed to be Lennon saying "I buried Paul" causing a stir in the Paul is Dead hoax.  In 1974, McCartney said, "That wasn't 'I buried Paul' at all—that was John saying 'cranberry sauce'. It was the end of Strawberry Fields. That's John's humour. John would say something totally out of sync, like cranberry sauce. If you don't realize that John's apt to say cranberry sauce when he feels like it, then you start to hear a funny little word there, and you think, 'Aha!'".

Release

When manager Brian Epstein pressed Martin for a new Beatles' single, Martin told Epstein that the group had recorded "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane", which were their two finest songs to date, in Martin's opinion.  Epstein said they would issue the songs as a double A-side single, as they had done with their previous single, "Yellow Submarine"/"Eleanor Rigby". The single was released in the US on 13 February 1967, and on 17 February 1967, in the UK.  Following The Beatles' philosophy that songs released on a single should not appear on new albums, both songs were ultimately left off Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, but Martin later admitted that this was a "dreadful mistake".

For the first time since "Love Me Do" in 1962, a single by The Beatles failed to reach number one in the UK charts. It was held at number two by Engelbert Humperdinck's "Release Me", because the BBC counted the two songs as two individual singles; discounting the fact that The Beatles’ single outsold Humperdinck's by almost two to one.  In a radio interview at the time, McCartney said he was not upset because Humperdinck's song was a "completely different type of thing".  Starr said later that it was "a relief" because "it took the pressure off".  "Penny Lane" reached number one in the US, while "Strawberry Fields Forever" peaked at number eight. In the US, both songs were included on the "Magical Mystery Tour" LP.

The song was the opening track of the compilation album 1967–1970, released in 1973, and also appears on the Imagine soundtrack issued in 1988.  In 1996, three previously unreleased versions of the song were included on the Anthology 2 album: Lennon's original home demo, the first studio take, and the complete take seven, of which only the first minute was heard in the master version.  In 2006, a newly mixed version of the song was included on the album Love.  This version builds from an acoustic demo (which was run at the actual recorded speed) and incorporates elements of "Hello, Goodbye", "Baby, You're a Rich Man", "In My Life", "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", "Penny Lane", and "Piggies".

Promotion and reception

The promotional film for "Strawberry Fields Forever" was filmed on 30 and 31 January 1967, in Knole Park in Sevenoaks. It was directed by Swedish television director Peter Goldman. Goldman was a friend of Klaus Voormann, who had recommended Peter to the group.  The film featured reverse film effects, stop motion animation, jump-cuts from daytime to night-time, and The Beatles playing and later pouring paint over an upright piano.  The video for "Strawberry Fields Forever", along with that of "Penny Lane", was selected by New York's MoMA as two of the most influential music videos in the late 1960s.  Both were originally broadcast in the US on 25 February 1967, on the variety show The Hollywood Palace, with actor Van Johnson as host.  A cartoon based on the song was the final episode produced for The Beatles animated television series.

"Strawberry Fields Forever" was well-received by critics, and is still considered a classic today. Three weeks after its release, Time magazine hailed that the song as "the latest sample of The Beatles' astonishing inventiveness".  Richie Unterberger of Allmusic hailed the song as "one of The Beatles' peak achievements and one of the finest Lennon-McCartney songs".  Ian MacDonald wrote in Revolution In The Head that it "shows expression of a high order... few if any [contemporary composers] are capable of displaying feeling and fantasy so direct, spontaneous, and original."  In 2004, this song was ranked number 76 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.  The song was ranked as the second-best Beatles’ song by Mojo, after "A Day in the Life".

Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys said that "Strawberry Fields Forever" was partially responsible for the shelving of his group's legendary unfinished album, SMiLE.  Wilson first heard the song on his car radio whilst driving, and was so affected that he had to stop and listen to it all the way through. He then remarked to his passenger that The Beatles had already reached the sound The Beach Boys had wanted to achieve.  Paul Revere & The Raiders were among the most successful US groups during 1966 and 1967, having their own Dick Clark-produced television show, Where the Action Is. Mark Lindsay (singer/saxophonist) heard the song on the radio, bought it, and then listened to it at home with his producer at the time, Terry Melcher. When the song ended Lindsay said, "Now what the ... are we gonna do?" later saying, "With that single, The Beatles raised the ante as to what a pop record should be".

The song returned to popularity 23 years later when British dance group Candy Flip released an electronic version of the song. The song was generally well-received, Allmusic describing it as "funkier and more club-happy than the Beatles' original"  and was a commercial success on both sides of the Atlantic, reaching number three in the UK pop charts and number eleven on the U.S. Modern Rock Tracks chart.  That same year lyrics from the song also appeared in Beautiful People (Stress) by Stress.

Strawberry Fields was the name given to the "Bond girl" played by Gemma Arterton in the 2008 film Quantum of Solace.

Strawberry Alarm Clock, a psychedelic rock/pop rock band from Los Angeles, took its name as an homage to 'Strawberry Fields Forever'.

A-side "Penny Lane"
Released 13 February 1967 (US)
17 February 1967 (UK)
Format 7"
Recorded November–December 1966
EMI Studios, London
Genre Psychedelic rock
Length 4:10
Label Parlophone (UK)
Capitol (US)
Writer(s) Lennon/McCartney
Producer George Martin

(https://en.wikipedia.org)




"Penny Lane" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released in February 1967 as a double A-side single with "Strawberry Fields Forever". It was written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership. The lyrics refer to Penny Lane, a street in Liverpool, and make mention of the sights and characters that McCartney recalled from his upbringing in the city.

The Beatles began recording "Penny Lane" in December 1966, intending it as a song for their album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Instead, after it was issued as a single to satisfy record company demand for a new release, the band adhered to their policy of omitting previously released singles from their albums. The song features numerous key changes that occur mid-verse and between its choruses. Session musician David Mason played a piccolo trumpet solo over its bridge section.

"Penny Lane" was a top-five hit across Europe and topped the US Billboard Hot 100. In Britain, due to chart protocol regarding double A-sides, it was the first Beatles single since "Please Please Me" in 1963 to fail to reach number 1 on the Record Retailer chart. In November 1967, "Penny Lane" was included on the US Magical Mystery Tour album. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the track at number 456 on its list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". In 2006, Mojo ranked the song at number 9 of "The 101 Greatest Beatles Songs".


(https://en.wikipedia.org)

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FBI Says Ex-Prof Sent Judge "Sweet Revenge"

Reuters
  NEW YORK — A former university professor jailed for making illegal drugs tried to gain revenge by sending a Valentine's box of poisoned chocolates to the judge who sentenced him, the FM said yesterday.

  The judge's wife opened the candies which arrived with an anonymous card last Friday the 13th [1987], and she collapsed after eating some of them, it said. She survived the poisoning.

  Dr. John Buettner-Janusch, former chairman of New York University's anthropology department, was charged With attempted murder after sending the box of poisoned chocolates to judge Charles Brieant's Westchester County home.

  Buettier-Janusch was arrested Thursday night on his way back to his temporary Greenwich Village apartment after spending the evening at the opera, the FBI said.

  Buettner-Janusch. 62, who is currently on probation, was convicted and sentenced by Brieant to five years in 1980 on charges that he manufactured LSD, Quaaludes, and other illicit drugs in his NYU laboratory with the assistance of students.

  The manufacturing allegedly took place in 1977-79. He was released in 1983 and lived in Greenwich Village until last September, when he moved to Eagle River, Wis. He was allowed by his probation officer to come to New York for 30 days.

  Brieant's wife, Virginia, received the box of chocolates on Friday the 13th. The box contained a Valentine's Day card marked only with a question mark, officials said.

  She ate several of the chocolates and fell unconscious. She was discovered by her husband that evening and taken to a hospital where her stomach was pumped out, the FBI said.


(Philadelphia Daily News (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)  21 Feb 1987, Sat Page 10)

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Penny Lane

"Penny Lane" is a song by The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon/McCartney.  Recorded during the Sgt. Pepper sessions, "Penny Lane" was released in February 1967 as one side of a double A-sided single, along with "Strawberry Fields Forever". The song was later included on the Magical Mystery Tour LP (1967). The single was the result of the record company wanting a new release after several months of no new Beatles releases. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the song at #449 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Background

The song's title is derived from the name of a street in the band's hometown, Liverpool. The area that surrounds its junction with Smithdown Road is also commonly called Penny Lane. Locally the term "Penny Lane" was the name given to Allerton Road and Smithdown Road and its busy shopping area. Penny Lane is named after James Penny, an 18th century slave trader. McCartney and Lennon grew up in the area and they would meet at Penny Lane junction in the Mossley Hill area to catch a bus into the centre of the city. The street is an important landmark, sought out by most Beatles fans touring Liverpool. In the past, street signs saying "Penny Lane" were constant targets of tourist theft and had to be continually replaced. Eventually, city officials gave up and simply began painting the street name on the sides of buildings. This practice was stopped in 2007 and more theft-resistant "Penny Lane" street signs have since been installed though some are still stolen. The Abbey Road sign is also frequently stolen for the same reason.

Beatles producer George Martin has stated he believes the pairing of "Penny Lane" with "Strawberry Fields Forever" resulted in probably the greatest single ever released by the group. Both songs were later released on the US Magical Mystery Tour album in November 1967. In the UK, the pairing famously failed to reach #1 in the singles charts, stalling one place below Engelbert Humperdinck's "Release Me".  In the US The song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a week before being knocked off by The Turtles song "Happy Together". The song features contrasting verse-chorus form and was credited "Lennon/McCartney", although McCartney was the main contributor to the song.

Following the success of the double A-side "Yellow Submarine"/"Eleanor Rigby", Brian Epstein inquired if they had any new material available. Both songs, though recorded during the sessions for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, were left off the album, a decision Martin regretted, although the Beatles usually did not include songs released as singles on their British albums. This was also the first single by the Beatles to be sold with a picture sleeve in the UK, a practice rarely used there at that time, but common in the US and various other countries (such as Japan).

Production

Production began in Studio 2 at Abbey Road on 29 December 1966 with piano as the main instrument.  On 17 January 1967, trumpet player David Mason recorded the piccolo trumpet solo.  The solo, inspired by a performance of Bach's 2nd Brandenburg Concerto, is in a mock-Baroque style for which the piccolo trumpet (a small instrument built about one octave higher than the standard instrument) is particularly suited, having a clean and clear sound which penetrates well through thicker midrange textures. Mason was paid 27 pounds and 10 shillings for his performance on the recording. Penny Lane production effects include percussion effects, piano through a Vox guitar amplifier with added reverb.

The original US promo single mix of "Penny Lane" had an additional flourish of piccolo trumpet notes at the end of the song. This mix was quickly superseded by one without the last trumpet passage, but not before a handful of copies had been pressed and sent to radio stations. These recordings are among the rarest and most valuable Beatles collectibles. A stereo mix of the song with the additional trumpet added back in was included on the US Rarities compilation in 1980, and is included on an alternate take of the song released on Anthology 2 in 1996.

Lyrics and music

The verse and chorus in "Penny Lane" are in the keys of B major and A major, respectively.

A feature of the song was the piccolo trumpet solo played by Mason. This is thought to be the first use of this instrument (a distinctive, speciality instrument, pitched about an octave higher than the standard B-flat trumpet) in pop music. Martin later wrote, "The result was unique, something which had never been done in rock music before."  McCartney was dissatisfied with the initial attempts at the song's instrumental fill (one of which, featuring cors anglais, was released on Anthology 2), and was inspired to use the instrument after seeing Mason's performance on a BBC television broadcast of the second Brandenburg Concerto by Johann Sebastian Bach.

During the recording process, McCartney helped incorporate several incidental sound effects in keeping with the lyric, which can be heard on the final mix. These include a clanging bell in references to the fireman, a wispy flute depicting the children laughing, a splashy cymbal illustrating the rain, and a deep-seated bass string as the banker sits down in a chair.

Lyrically there are several ambiguous and surreal images, which Ian MacDonald has interpreted as evidence of the song's hallucinogenic nature derived from McCartney's LSD intake.  The song is narrated at the height of summer sun, despite the fact that it is simultaneously raining, and the clear blue skies appear in what seems to be November (as reference to poppies would be associated with Remembrance Day). MacDonald also notes LSD-induced perception in the fact that the nurse feels she is in a play - and is, anyway.  Conflicting with MacDonald's interpretation, McCartney has repeatedly stated that he took LSD for the first time in March 1967, several months after the song was recorded.

Context

The 'shelter in the middle of the roundabout' refers to the old bus shelter, later developed into a cafe/restaurant with a Beatles theme, but now derelict and abandoned, despite its popularity as a tourist attraction. This is also Penny Lane Bus Terminus and is officially on Smithdown Place.

The mysterious lyrics "Four of fish and finger pies" are British slang. "A four of fish" refers to fourpennyworth of fish and chips, while "finger pie" is sexual slang of the time, apparently referring to intimate fondlings between teenagers in the shelter, which was a familiar meeting place. The combination of "fish and finger" also puns on fish fingers. The lyrics as printed on the Blue (1967-1970) Album, however, are "Full of fish and finger pies" which are incorrect.

Penny Lane today

Prior to securing international fame, Penny Lane's chief renown was as the terminus for several bus routes from the city centre and as the site, in the middle of the roundabout, of a handily located public convenience. The area remained largely unremarkable for the remainder of the 1960s and the 1970s; its most distinguishing feature was, perhaps, the regular arrival of tour buses from which tourists would alight, take a photograph or two, and then get back on the bus.

Towards the end of the 1970s, businesses there included Penny Lane Records, Sven Books (Liverpool's first high-street sex shop), and a wine bar known in the early years as Harper's Bizarre, now called Penny Lane Wine Bar. In the mid-1980s, the bus shelter and public convenience were converted into a café that marketed itself as Sgt. Pepper's. Following privatisation, the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive bus depot, slightly up the hill past Bioletti's, was demolished and replaced with a shopping precinct complete with a supermarket and a public house.

Since then, the general Penny Lane area has acquired a distinct trendiness and desirability. The "alternative" businesses (wholefood outlets, charity shops), the now expanded array of cafés, bars, bistros, and takeaway food emporiums, as well as handily located traditional businesses (Woolworths, WHSmiths and Clarke's cake shop) make the neighbourhood the most sought-after among Liverpool's large student population. Though the song refers to the "Penny Lane junction" on Smithdown Road, the street itself also leads down at the other end to the University of Liverpool's student halls of residence, near Sefton Park.

In July 2006, a Liverpool Councillor proposed renaming certain streets because their names were linked to the slave trade. It was soon discovered that Penny Lane, named after James Penny, a wealthy 18th-century slave ship owner and strong opponent of abolitionism, was one of these streets. Ultimately, city officials decided to forego the name change and re-evaluate the entire renaming process.

On 10 July 2006, it was revealed that Liverpool officials said they would modify the proposal to exclude Penny Lane.

The fireman and fire engine referred to in the lyrics is based upon the fire station at Mather Avenue. This is some distance from Penny Lane. The station is still in use today.

Promotional film

The promotional film for the song was not filmed at Penny Lane — The Beatles were reluctant to travel to Liverpool. Street scenes of the Beatles were filmed in and around Angel Lane in London's East End. The outdoor scenes were filmed at Knole Park in Sevenoaks on 30 January 1967, where the promotional film for "Strawberry Fields Forever" was also shot. Both videos - directed by the Swede Peter Goldmann - were selected by New York's MoMA as some of the most influential music videos in the late 1960s. Film of Penny Lane was included - with some scenes of green Liverpool buses and a brief overhead view of the 'shelter in the middle of the roundabout', but none of the Beatles attended.

A-side "Strawberry Fields Forever"
Released 13 February 1967 (US)
17 February 1967 (UK)
Format 7"
Recorded 29 December 1966 –
17 January 1967
EMI Studios, London
Genre Baroque pop
Length 3:03
Label Parlophone (UK)
Capitol (US)
Writer(s) Lennon/McCartney
Producer George Martin
Certification Gold (RIAA)

(wikipedia)

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