On this day in music history: November 24, 1966 - The Beatles will begin recording Strawberry Fields Forever at Abbey Road Studios in London. After a three month vacation, the band will return to the studio to begin work on the follow up to Revolver. The first song recorded is a new composition of John Lennons titled Strawberry Fields Forever. Lennon will write 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 will be recorded that evening, though itll change dramatically and grow more complex over the month that it takes to complete the track. The song will mark the beginning of a new era in the bands creativity that will change the face of popular music yet again. Named for a Salvation Army orphanage around the corner from Lennons childhood home in Liverpool, where he would attend garden parties in the summer. Once in the studio, the song will evolve 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 will consist of two separate versions. Lennon will like the first half of the first remake and the second half of another. He will suggest 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 will discover that by increasing the speed of one and slowing down the other recording, that they will match. Originally intended to be part of the bands next album (Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band), Strawberry Fields Forever will instead be issued as one half of a double A-sided single in February 1967 (w/ Penny Lane). It will peak at #2 on the UK singles chart and #8 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 22:00:05 +0000
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