RateItAll: The Opinion Network

crap

Were I to have the opportunity to somehow hear every single rock song I've ever heard for the first time again, there's a pretty good chance I would put this one down as the greatest song I've heard by the greatest of all rock bands. The single, which had "Penny Lane" on the other side is quite possibly the greatest rock single ever, if one considers both sides of the disc. An enormously influential, imaginative, and beautiful record, and almost certainly the single greatest song in all of psychedelic rock, and probably in the Beatles catalog. Canonical: truly impressive lyrics, good drumming , a wonderfully bizarre ending section, and the use of the Mellotron on this was startlingly revolutionary. A-Plus to the two millionth power.

A work of genius, both musically and lyrically. I think a strong case can be made for this as their high water mark.

Here's the thing: Strawberry Fields Forever is easily one of the strongest songs in the Beatle canon which, in it-self, is saying a lot. Minus the remote drug innuendo (which is probably prompted by the obscure imagery rather than any actual references), minus George Martin's ingenius production and Lennon's lyrics, there is still something about the song that resonates within its listener. The story is that Lennon wrote the song while alone in Spain, shooting a film -- that is about a specific point in his childhood spent near an orphanage called Strawberry Field. In essence then, the song is Lennon nostalgically recalling about a better place in time where he had once been. But the beauty of the song is that we, as listeners, without ever having been to Strawberry Field, Liverpool, or even England for that matter, we know exactly where he is talking about -- we all have our own Strawberry Fields... in some distant past that we want to remember.

Another Lennon drug song (Yes I know it's supposed to be about an orphanage, but come on...), and one of his better ones. Also.. Strawberry fields and Penny Lane were supposed to be on Sgt. Pepper but were released beforehand since the Beatles hadn't put out anything in like whole 5 months and the record company was getting nervous.

My favorite from the more complex, later years. Flick's reviews are so much fun to read.

In my view, a groundbreaking song for two reasons. The first is the introduction of four track recording which would give producer George Martin more avenues at his fingertips to create the effect that Lennon wanted. The second reason, well, die hard Lennon fans can get angry with me if they wish, but the facts are this song is just as much the creation of George Martin as it is John Lennon. Written by Lennon when he was in Spain filming How I Won The War, two versions were done. One version was psychedelic, reflecting the LSD / Height Ashbury scene which was at the peak of its popularity at the time. The other version was more Beatle like, softer in tone with stringed instruments. Lennon liked parts of both versions. He asked Martin if he could create a record that used the beginning of the first and the ending of the second. The problem was that the songs were not only different tempos, but were in different keys being a semitone apart. Martin's solution was to speed up one version, slow down the other, and splice the two halves together. George Martin's sculpturing of Strawberry Fields proved to the world that the studio itself could be a musical instrument. Originally slated for the Sgt Pepper album, Capitol records said that they needed a single so Strawberry Fields / Penny Lane was released. It turned out to be the perfect bridge to bring Beatle fans from Tomorrow Never Knows to Sgt Pepper. Strawberry Fields is a prime example of what happened when the genius of John Lennon and George Martin were brought together in a common cause.

Thanks to Flick for that informative review. I think this is one of the prettiest songs ever.

Another of John's best!

This is one of their best efforts. John's vocals are haunting, and I always liked the song's message, too. The lyrics are great:"It's getting hard to be someone/but it all works out/It doesn't matter much to me."

This is actually, in my opinion, their best song. Although I do love TTR more, I think this song is like THE creative peak of their entire career. The music is especially beautuful. People never regard that. They just think its all about the words, but the music is extremely complex and gorgeous. I think the lyrics are simply incomparable. Its a totally unique song and I really, really love it. It made me a BIG Beatles fan, truth be told. Before this, I thought they were nice. But this is great.