TL;DR:
- John Lennon said it took a long time to finish one of the songs from The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour.
- He said part of the song was “sort of ludicrous.”
- The tune inspired covers by the Bee Gees, Candy Flip, Todd Rundgren, Cyndi Lauper, and Peter Gabriel.
John Lennon said one of the songs from The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour was supposed to sound like a conversation. He felt the song didn’t live up to the vision in his head. Subsequently, several famous artists covered the track.
John Lennon wrote a song from The Beatles’ ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ alone on a beach
During a 1968 interview with Rolling Stone, John was asked if he wrote “Strawberry Fields Forever” while he was alone on a beach. “Yeh, in Spain, filming How I Won the War,” he said. “I was going through a big scene about songwriting again you know — I seem to go through it now and then, and it took me a long time to write it. See, I was writing all bits and bits.”
John discussed his intentions while writing the song. “I wanted the lyrics to be like conversation,” he said. “It didn’t work, that one verse was sort of ludicrous really, I just wanted it to be like [John sing-talks] ‘We’re talking and I just happen to be singing’ — like that. And it was very quiet.”
John Lennon said he wasn’t proud of all of The Beatles’ songs
John gave fans more insight into the origin of “Strawberry Fields Forever.” “But it was written in this big Spanish house, part of it, and then finished on the beach,” he recalled. “It was really romantic — singing it too — I don’t know who was there.”
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John discussed what he thought about “Strawberry Fields Forever” at the time. “I’m not proud of all of my songs,” he revealed. “‘[I Am the] Walrus,’ ‘Strawberry Fields,’ you know — I’ll sort of stick my name on them, the others are a bit … I think they’re more powerful.”
How ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ and ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ performed on the charts
“Strawberry Fields Forever” reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for nine weeks. The tune appeared on the album version of the Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack, which reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and stayed on the chart for eight weeks. Magical Mystery Tour lasted on the chart for 93 weeks.
According to The Official Charts Company, “Strawberry Fields Forever” peaked at No. 2 in the United Kingdom and remained on the chart for 11 weeks. In the 1980s, the tune recharted at No. 65 in the U.K. and lasted on the chart for two weeks. Magical Mystery Tour reached No. 31 there and stayed on the chart for 10 weeks.
The song didn’t become a major standard like “Something” or “Yesterday.” Despite this, several notable artists released covers of “Strawberry Fields Forever,” including Melanie Martinez, the Bee Gees, Candy Flip, Todd Rundgren, Cyndi Lauper, and Peter Gabriel.
“Strawberry Fields Forever” was a hit even if it doesn’t sound much like a conversation.
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