Strawberry Fields Forever

Song Meaning and Background of Strawberry Field Forever by The Beatles

Although John Lennon was one of the most well-known figures in the world in 1966, "Strawberry Fields Forever" was the song he wrote that was the most achingly lonely. The Beatles' entry into the psychedelic era changed how mainstream music was produced and heard.

But it all started with John Lennon writing a song about his traumatic childhood experiences all by himself on a Spanish beach and playing an acoustic guitar. He used to play and hide from the world as a young boy in a Salvation Army home called Strawberry Field in Liverpool.

In this song, Lennon exposed so much of himself that he felt uneasy performing it in front of the other Beatles. After a brief pause, Paul McCartney broke the silence by exclaiming, "That is absolutely brilliant." George Martin's studio prowess helped them transform it into a ground-breaking audio collage.

The band worked on three different versions of the song for five weeks beginning in November 1966, totaling 45 hours in the studio.

The autobiographical novel Report to Greco by Nikos Kazantzakis, which Lennon was reading in Almera and "tells of a writer searching for spiritual meaning," is most likely where he got his idea.

‘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" ...’ John Lennon said in 1980.

Lyrics of Strawberry Field Forever by The Beatles

Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields

Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about

Strawberry Fields forever

Living is easy with eyes closed

Misunderstanding all you see

It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out

It doesn't matter much to me

Let me take you down, cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields

Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about

Strawberry Fields forever

No one I think is in my tree

I mean it must be high or low

That is you can't you know tune in but it's all right

That is I think it's not too bad

Let me take you down, cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields

Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about

Strawberry Fields forever

Always know, sometimes think it's me

But you know, I know when it's a dream

I think a "No," I mean a "Yes"

But it's all wrong

That is, I think I disagree

Let me take you down, cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields

Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about

Strawberry Fields forever

Strawberry Fields forever

Strawberry Fields forever