On this day in music history: November 24, 1966 - The Beatles begin recording “Strawberry Fields Forever” at Abbey Road Studios in London. After a three month vacation, the band return to the studio to begin work on the follow up to “Revolver”. The first song recorded is a new composition of John Lennon’s titled “Strawberry Fields Forever”. Lennon writes the song in Almeria, Spain while filming “How I Won The War” with director Richard Lester in the early Fall of 1966. One take of the song is recorded that evening, though changes dramatically and grows more complex over the month that it takes to complete the track. The song marks the beginning of a new era in The Beatles creativity that changes the face of popular music yet again. Strawberry Fields is the name of a Salvation Army orphanage around the corner from Lennon’s childhood home in Liverpool, where he would attend garden parties in the Summer. Once in the studio, the song evolves from a gentle, sparsely arranged ballad to a heavily scored piece with horns and strings complimenting the basic track. The finished version of the song consists of two separate versions. Lennon likes the first half of the first remake and the second half of the other. He suggests to producer George Martin that the two be edited together, which at first seems to not be possible since they are recorded in different keys and tempos. Martin discovers that by increasing the speed of one and slowing down the other recording, that they match. Originally intended to be part of the bands’ next album (“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”), “Strawberry Fields Forever” is instead issued as one half of a double A-sided single in February 1967 (w/ “Penny Lane”). The band films a promotional clip for the song on January 30 - 31, 1967 in Sevenoaks, Kent, UK, directed by Swedish television director Peter Goldman. “Strawberry Fields Forever” peaks at #2 on the UK singles chart and #8 on the Billboard Hot 100.
One of my favourite singles and I still have the paper pic sleeve . . . . still recall the video on the tele and it gave me a funny feeling . . . . . . still does
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