Why ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ / ‘Penny Lane’ is the greatest single of all time…
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 พ.ค. 2024
- I take a look at the Beatles’ 1967 masterpiece of a single: ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ / ‘Penny Lane’.
As ever, thanks for watching! - เพลง
If you enjoy this video, then please consider checking out my ongoing White Album series where I take a in-depth look into each track on the album: th-cam.com/play/PLmlgynYCJ-Yx5jYiQjAUHojz60bW53g4Q.html&si=5WrkAMtTEvtoJs20
I was in college in Ohio when Magical Mystery Tour came out. Someone on the street held the record above his head and said "I've got the new Beatles record." A crowd of total strangers began following him, like the Pied Piper. We all ended up in a totally darkened room, sitting in a circle. We listened to both sides without a sound, several pipes circulating in the darkness. The Sixties were magical, and the Beatles were a big part of that magic.
Paperback Writer/ Rain, is another perfect 🥰 single
Love your insights! Also love how much you look like young Paul ! You’re so SMART !
An excellent review of the greatest single of all-time!
Ps I just saw Paul at the “ Hollywood F____ing Bowl!” He was a performer at Jimmy Buffet memorial concert . I had to restrain myself a little from SCREAMING , as I was 9 when the Beatles hit , and I was screaming then and now ! Now and Then ,,,
MEATLESS MONDAYS !
George Martin challenged John and Paul to each write a song about their childhood, so they had a single to release to tide over the fans while they spent extra time on Pepper. Sadly both were not included on Pepper
I can see why you think that those two songs should have been included on pepper, but I for one am thrilled that they did not end up on that album. Because it just made magical mystery toward that much more magical!
Sgt Pepper would have benefitted greatly from having these two songs included.
The single may not have reached number one in Britain, but Penny Lane became number one in America.
You’ve really upped the game when it comes to production value here! Great video and you make a very good case for this being the greatest single, it’s very difficult to argue anything otherwise, only other contenders for me would be something like Waterloo Sunset or This Charming Man but they don’t have great/iconic b sides
Cheers Ross - appreciate it. There’s a lot of great singles out there but this one stands out for both sides of it being iconic.
I have to admit when this single came out, I was't really over keen on it . But it grew on me, and it is one of the best singles of time. I do think Strawberry fields could have slotted into SGT Pepper, somewhere, and it was a crime it did't reach number one ,I guess the public were not quite ready ,but the fans were hence the success of SGT Pepper.
Excellent choice.
The childhood theme, the videos, the advancement in technology, the creative jump, the double A sided, makes this masterpiece the greatest single of all time.
Also, the artwork for the single is stunning!
Paul still so dang handsome !
Yeah, on vinyl there is no room for Penny Lane/SFF on Pepper without dumping other tracks, but the vinyl era is over. In this digital age it is very easy to insert PL/SFF onto a playlist of Pepper without sacrificing any other songs - and it works. It works extremely well. (And to make up for losing those tracks from MMT, get rid of the Yellow Sub album and add the four unique YS tracks to MMT, plus the WWF version of Across The Universe. That works very well too!).
"Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" were part of an album by the Beatles tentatively titled "Liverpool Stories". The album was abandoned when Paul McCartney crashed his Austin Healey into a tree killing himself and the female passenger beside him. The Beatles were faced with a dilemma and decided to use their Beatle double for Paul as a stand in. The rest is history. I agree this was a high point for the Beatles and we seriously miss the original and true Paul McCartney.
I would personally consider the double A single "Hound Dog" and "Don't Be Cruel" to be the best single ever; after all, it was #1 for eleven straight weeks back in '56. But "Strawberry Fields"/"Penny Lane" though is right up there with the best, along with "Wouldn't It Be Nice"/"God Only Knows" by the Beach Boys, and "Hey Jude"/"Revolution" also by the Fab Four.
Personally, my favorite single EVER was 'Hey Jude".
I fell totally in love with it when I first heard it. And I haven't changed my preference today.
This was in a period where the between albums singles would have fit right into the next album. These two could be right at home in Sgt. Pepper.
Yes it is the greatest single ever released along with the two promo films made for each song.
Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane would not have made Sgt Pepper any better. That album is perfect.
Engelbert Humperdinck (the singer) was actually named Arnold George Dorsey.
The REAL Engelbert Humperdinck was a 19th century German composer. I say 19th century, but he actually died in 1921. He's mostly known for his opera, Hansel and Gretel, written around 1893. Here's a link to the overture (prelude) to the opera (it's actually rather good!): th-cam.com/video/85Mb7nOl9tQ/w-d-xo.html
I think consideration also should be given Rain/Paperback Writer and Something/Come Together
Hello Oliver, I agree with you 100% that this is the best single ever. I was 11 when I went to the record store to buy Strawberry Fields/ Penny Lane in mid-February 67. I remembered just staring at the front and back cover of the single. I would play one side and then play the other side and then again and again and again. When Penny Lane first came out here in the states we got the little extra piccolo at the end of Penny Lane. Then after a couple weeks it was gone and then we just had the version that's out now. I have a cassette of George Martin talking about Strawberry Fields forever and it's at 59 seconds where you hear takes 7 go to take 26. George Martin went on to say that he cringed every time he heard that but in my opinion it works. When I hear Strawberry Fields I hear the cut but so what. They did a fantastic job putting it together and it's a damn good song. Now you see what you did now I got to go play both those songs right now on my stereo. Okay Oliver great video man.Take Care Then
Cheers Kregg - I forgot a different version of Penny lane came out in the states originally, think that version got rereleased as a bonus track on the 50th anniversary edition of Pepper? Take care
@@oliversaunders_ I know the version with the extra piccolo is on the Beatles (rarities) album. Yeah maybe you're right maybe it's also on the box set.
@@daytripper9222 just been listening to it now on the Pepper boxset - I wonder how that version ended up getting issued in the US originally, presumably a mistake?
@@oliversaunders_ I was just thinking the same thing. I was trying to think back and as I recall we had three radio stations that played top 30 top 40 back then, so the one radio station did play the extra bit at the end and the other two stations did not, so yeah I think you're correct maybe it was meant just for the people at Capital to listen to but yeah it had to have been a mistake. But when they first started playing it it was a nice little mistake 😀
@@daytripper9222 I wonder if Capitol were accidentally sent an early mix from EMI by mistake and they’ve accidentally sent it to that radio station instead of the corrected one
The best double A side with a mellotron of all time. Until Little By Little and She Is Love of course 😉
You are completely wright in your analyses. The best single ever made.
Why ? Its a question that doesn't need an answer. Because it is.
Paul my favorite forever.❤
Confusion why you have a button that says hidden and then the one that says thumbs down.
That being said, I totally agree with you that strawberry Fields forever was a game changer.
And obviously Penny Lane was masterful as well and in a completely different way.
I'm surprised that you didn't talk about its inclusion on the eventual album called magical mystery tour. Which started out as the English version with five songs I think and then George Martin on the other half of the album I think. Correct me if I'm wrong.
But in my opinion, the American release which was the one I grew up with was the best Beatles album maybe ever. Besides revolver. I like magical mystery tour much better than Sergeant pepper.
I'm actually glad that strawberry Fields forever and Penny Lane landed on the magical mystery tour album. So more information of why you didn't cover the magical mystery tour album unless there's some videos that I don't know about that you've made. Thank you for all your wonderful information. Side note, I posted a creation I made on Instagram, and I tagged it Peter Max cuz it had a Peter Max look. Geoff Emerick give me a like. I thought I had have died and gone to heaven!
Keep up the good work. I really enjoyed this.
Thanks mate. I’m not sure what you mean though about a “button that says hidden and then the one that says thumbs down”?
I didn’t include anything about magical mystery tour as I was purely focusing on just the original single itself in this video, rather than the subsequent releases of the songs that followed later.
Lol! I think you meant "Good Vibrations."
Dear Oliver, have you measure the time you have devoted to the six weeks John Lennon spent to write and compose this song? You did not even mention Almería,Spain, which John always recalled on several intervews until his last days. Thanks for the video. My best regards.
Strawberry Fields goes at the end of side one and Penny Lane starts side 2.
It is
The Greatest Single in the Pepper era for the band and honestly if either Strawberry fields or Penny lane was on Sgt pepper then it would be a better listen but pepper is still a great album
Agree this is the greatest single of all time. But a very, very close second is The Beach Boys Wouldn’t It Be Nice / God only Knows. And that perfect record barely cracked the top ten in the US. Go figure. I bought both when they were released and at 85 cents apiece the greatest bang for the buck ever.
Baffling that Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane is the only Beatles single to break their Number One streak. What is the explanation for this?
I think it’s to do with the fact that it was a double a-side so the way the charts worked at the time meant that sales were halved so for example, if they sold 100k copies, the charts company would assign 50k to Starwberry Fields and 50k to Penny Lane, and then the would just class the overall sales as 50k, so basically they halved everything. So had one of the songs been made a b-side, I think it would have got to number one as they wouldn’t have halved the sales then. Don’t quote me on that though, I might be completely wrong!
@@oliversaunders_ This is actually a logical explanation. if this is true, this Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane was a number one in sales, just not on a technicality....in which case, it really was a number one from a moral point of view
@@oliversaunders_ I just asked Ai and you were right!
"The single featuring "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" by the Beatles actually outsold the number one contender, Engelbert Humperdinck's "Release Me," by a significant margin."
Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane were number one in terms of sales!
But the Beatles are a guitar based band so they couldn't reproduce this stuff on stage. I have a lack of integrity feeling about this - like pretending to play live on tv when it's really a recording.
Meh. Harrison's sitar song is weak and doesn't fit. It could have been removed and the single squeezed in, since it frees up 5 minutes no problem.
Nice! I was looking to be turned on to new (to me) dead men! What a snappy little european beat combo with vocal! (Hops in my zephyr zodiac and burns rubber sole outta the Jacaranda's car park) brilliant sunnies, m8
Macca and Lennono and Rin Gogh and that bitchy Jort Harrisongs
George R.R. Martin is the shadow G.O.A.T. behind the boldest experiment eras of the boys. #paul 's #brok'n #a #glass #broknaglass