If one song is synonymous with John Lennon’s creativity and personality, it’s probably “Strawberry Fields Forever”. Released in 1967 as a double A-side single with Paul McCartney’s “Penny Lane”, the iconic anthem stands as one of the centerpieces in The Beatles’ experimental period. But what does “Strawberry Fields Forever” mean? In this article, we will dive into Lennon’s account of the story and meaning behind one of his most-loved classics.
Strawberry Field
In “Strawberry Fields Forever’s” opening line, ‘Let me take you down’, John Lennon guides you into his psychedelic landscape. Where to? Strawberry Fields! While the song’s fantastical aura makes you believe Strawberry Field(s) is an imaginary place, it was a real children’s home in Lennon’s hometown Liverpool. During the summers, a young Lennon attended the home’s garden parties.
“Strawberry Fields is a real place,” Lennon reflected in 1980. “After I stopped living at Penny Lane, I moved in with my auntie who lived in the suburbs in a nice semidetached place with a small garden and doctors and lawyers and that ilk living around…”
“Near that home was Strawberry Fields, a house near a boys’ reformatory where I used to go to garden parties as a kid with my friends Nigel and Pete. We would go there and hang out and sell lemonade bottles for a penny. We always had fun at Strawberry Fields. So that’s where I got the name. But I used it as an image. Strawberry Fields forever.”
Childhood In Liverpool
While “Strawberry Fields Forever” is used as an image, the song was inspired by Lennon’s childhood in Liverpool. His first attempt at writing a song about his childhood was “In My Life”, which lyrics Lennon eventually changed because it was “the most boring ‘What I Did On My Holidays Bus Trip’ song.”
Read more: The Story Behind “In My Life” by The Beatles
Lennon was inspired to write about his childhood after a remark by journalist Kenneth Allsop. During the promotion of Lennon’s book In His Own Write in 1964, Allsop confronted Lennon on the different writing styles between the introspective book and The Beatles’ lyrics. “Why don’t you put some of the way you write in the book, as it were, in the songs? Or why don’t you put something about your childhood into the songs?” Allsop asked.
Almeria
Lennon began writing “Strawberry Fields Forever” in Almería, Spain in 1966. He was there to film the British comedy How I Won the War (which Lennon lyrically mentions in The Beatles’ “A Day in the Life”).
“Dick Lester offered me the part in this movie, which gave me time to think without going home,” Lennon said in 1980. “We were in Almería, and it took me six weeks to write the song. I was writing it all the time I was making the film. And as anybody knows about film work, there’s a lot of hanging around.
Strawberry Fields Forever’s Meaning
According to his then-wife Cynthia, John Lennon felt insecure and vulnerable in Almería. The Beatles had just quit touring, and for the first time in a long while, Lennon was working without his bandmates. In the lyrics, Lennon explores his insecurities and concerns, and uses Strawberry Fields as a symbolic safe haven for his problems. He later referred to the song as ‘psychoanalysis set to music.’
The second verse of the song addresses Lennon’s unique character, which made him wonder whether he was crazy or a genius. “I was different all my life,” Lennon said. “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,’ the next line. There was something wrong with me, I thought, because I seemed to see things other people didn’t see. I thought I was crazy or an egomaniac for claiming to see things other people didn’t see.”
Lennon’s track record as one of the most important and influential musicians of the 20th century eventually answered his dilemma. “If there is such a thing as a genius, I am one, and if there isn’t I don’t care,” He told Jann Wenner in 1970.
Release and Legacy
On 13 February 1967, The Beatles released “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane” as a double A-side single. The single is often considered the greatest single ever released. The initial reaction to particularly “Strawberry Fields Forever”, however, was mixed, mainly because of the extreme difference between the song and The Beatles’ previous singles. A Daily Mail reporter wrote: “What’s happening to the Beatles? They have become contemplative, secretive, exclusive, and excluded – four mystics with moustaches.”
But over the years, “Strawberry Fields Forever” became a centerpiece in The Beatles’ rich and diverse repertoire. It also ranks as one of the most innovative songs ever released. John Lennon considered the song one of his very best, and when asked why, he answered: “Because it’s real.”
