‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was released on 13 February 1967 as a double A-side single with ‘Penny Lane’. The song was the first track the Beatles recorded after completing Revolver and was intended for inclusion on their forthcoming (as yet untitled) Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Instead, under pressure from their record company and management for new product, the group were forced to issue it as a single and they followed their usual practice of not including previously released singles on their albums.
The double A-side peaked at number 2 on the Record Retailer chart, breaking the band's four-year run of chart-topping singles in the UK. In the United States, ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100. To the band's displeasure, the song was later included on the US Magical Mystery Tour LP.
Strawberry Field was a Salvation Army home in Liverpool where John Lennon used to go. He had fond memories of the place that inspired this. John's aunt Mimi did not like John going to Strawberry Fields, as it was basically an orphanage and she thought they would lead John astray. John liked going there because having lost his father and later his mother he felt a kinship to the lads. When John and his aunt would argue about his going, he would often reply, "What are they going to do, hang me?" Thus the line "Nothing to get hung about." In America, to be "hung up" is to worry about something, so many US listeners thought the line meant that it was nothing to get "hung up about."
Lennon viewed ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ as his finest work with the Beatles. After Lennon's murder in New York City, a section of Central Park was named after the song. In 1996, the discarded first version of the song was issued on the outtakes compilation Anthology 2; in 2006, a new version was created for the remix album Love.
A distorted voice at the end sounds like "I buried Paul," which fuelled rumors that Paul McCartney was dead. The voice is actually Lennon saying, "Cranberry sauce." Over the end credits of the Simpsons episode "D'oh-in In The Wind," you can hear Homer saying "I buried Flanders" in reference to this.
Labels – Parlophone (UK), Capitol (US)
Songwriters – John Lennon, Paul McCartney
Producers – Sir George Martin
SONG LYRICS
[Mellotron Intro]
[Chorus]
Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to
Strawberry Fields
Nothing is real
And nothing to get hung about
Strawberry Fields forever
[Verse 1]
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
[Chorus]
Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to
Strawberry Fields
Nothing is real
And nothing to get hung about
Strawberry Fields forever
[Verse 2]
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
[Chorus]
Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to
Strawberry Fields
Nothing is real
And nothing to get hung about
Strawberry Fields forever
[Verse 3]
Always, no, sometimes, think it's me
But you know, I know when it's a dream
I think I know, I mean—er—yes, but it's all wrong
That is, I think I disagree
[Chorus]
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
[Instrumental Break]
[Outro]
Cranberry sauce, cranberry sauce