I wanted to start this post with the last paragraph of the "Background and Composition" passage of the wikipedia entry about the song, Strawberry Fields Forever, but then I realized maybe not everybody would understand, what was I talking about. So I decided to make a quick reference to introduce the song myself.

This is a song by "The Beatles" the Rock & Roll band that created a whole new paradigm in music bands. In only ten years working, creating together they made songs that have resisted time and still are being played (and loved) by millions, everywhere on planet earth (and who knows? maybe on outerspace too). It was originally intended to be part of 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". The song was later included on the Magical Mystery Tour LP (1967). To me it is particularly appealing, since it becomes a milestone in psychedelic rock genre, and it shows the third chapter in the group's metamorphosis.


HERE'S THE FIRST RECORDING, BY LENNON ON HIS ACOUSTIC GUITAR





AND FROM WIKIPEDIA'S SITE, THE INTERESTING PART (FOR A FAN, AT LEAST)


Background and composition

The gatepost to Strawberry Field, which is now a popular tourist attraction in LiverpoolStrawberry 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.[10] 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 SeptemberOctober 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.