The legend of Strawberry Fields starts in Spain. John Lennon wrote it in 1966, while he was abroad playing in Richard Lester’s movie “How I Won the War”.

It’s not coincidental that such an important chapter of Beatles’ story was written in those days. The year 1966 is a main one in their career. In few mounths two important things happened: first, they decided to stop playing live, after one of their unluckiest tournée ever; second, they released “Revolver”, an album that showed the Beatles definitely on the way to avant-gard.

Although the success of the latter, it was all but sure that the Beatles would have a future together, the press often suggesting they were about to split.

And by the way the four had taken a rest from working together, involved as they were in some soloist projects. While McCartney wrote with George Martin the soundtarck for “The Family Way”, Lennon tried playing as actor in Lester’s movie.It was in those days that he wrote on acoustic guitar a song called “Strawberry Fields Forever”.

They actually had been thinking about writing something about Liverpool and their roots for a couple of years. For example one of the first lyrics of “In My Life” named many places and streets from their childhood, which were later cancelled. Such an idea came back in 1966: while John in Spain composed “Strawberry Fields”, Paul wrote “Penny Lane”, a coincidence - if it was so - that lead them to plan a whole conceptual album about Liverpool. This never came to life, since EMI made pressures to release a single and those were the first songs to be completed: for the habits of that time, this meant those songs would not be included in any album.

Strawberry Fields was the name of a reform school in Liverpool whose park Lennon was used to play in, but the song doesn’t shows any link with its author’s autobiography but the title: its lyrics are tipical lennonian of that time, an amusing nonsense inspired by psychedelic drugs; or it’s better to say any kind of suggestion about childhood - from litterature, autobiography etc. - rivisited and filtered by an acid distorted eye. It was noticed that “Penny Lane” and “Strawberry Fields” represent a perfect example of the main differences between their author’s writings , by any point of view: music, lyrics, production. So rich of variations the first as linear the latter; so realistic the first as surrealistic the latter; so classical and clean the first as anarchic and experimental the latter.

Sessions for “Strawberry Fields” began on November the 24th 1966, but didn’t lead to a final version until the New Year’s Day. First demotapes show a simple acoustic ballad, with a different structure: it started on the first verse and went on with the second one before the first chorus. The Beatles started rehearsing together and produced a slight first take, with a psychedelic overdriven slide guitar and a gentle instrumental coda on mellotron (both versions can be found in volume 2 of Anthology). During the next sessions the band adopted a heavier sound, as tipical of american bands like The Byrds (as they have made before for “Rain”). It was finally recorded a good take, ready for mixing.

But Lennon was unsatisfied. He suggested to work on a new take with different instruments: so he asked George Martin to write an orchestral score. The Beatles recorded a new instrumental base and few days before Christmas some trumpets and violas were overdubbed.

But Lennon wasn’t happy with the result yet. So he asked Martin to link the beginning of the first take with the end of the second. The producer still remembers as a funny thing how Lennon, totally anaware of technical difficulties, could make such an absurd request: ‘cause the takes were in different speed and tonality.Anyway Martin tried. The first take was slowed down and the second one speeded up so to reach the same tonality; and he was lucky enough to find out that this way they were at about the same speed. Those variations explain why, if you pay attention, the voice and the drums sound so different from a part to another of the same song: try skipping from a timing before 1:00 to one after. You’ll notice that even tonality change a bit.Three days before Christmas the song was finally finished, ready to be mixed on December the 30th and published on February the 17th 1967.

It’s strange to notice that such a single was the Beatles’ first one not to reach the n.1 in the UK chart. And this dispite the fact that presented also one of the first videoclips ever, that you can see here.

I’ve listened to “Strawberry Fields” for the first time when I was a child. It was a horrible cover by a 80s pop band I can’t remember the name of (if you help me you’re very kind). I liked it at that time, but I had to face the real one still: and everything changed. I never understood why who played it often made a harmless and sweety song out of it. But it’s something about all Beatles’ songs. People talk about“beatles-style” for any vaguely melodic song by the pop nine days wonder of the day.Try listening to Ringo Starr’s great drum work on this song, instead. Not so harmless, is it?