This makes me want to cry. Hearing Lennon's voice saying "No I canna do it" to a demo of what became the greatest pop recording of all time. Shows a genius mind at work.
I was 12 in 1967 and became a Beatles fan in 1963 at the age of 8. When Strawberry Fields was released the public thought the beatles had gone mad. I thought then, as I do now, that this song was the moment that the Beatles turned Rock into Art in its highest form. The process began on Revolver, and with Rain, but this song shook me to my foundations. Nothing compares to this. John takes us inside his head for 3 minutes. A strange and wonderful place.
That’s so incredible, I can’t imagine having been there to experience this fundamental shift in human culture that The Beatles ushered in. If you’re still around, thank you for sharing your story, rock on my friend! :)
I believe Strawberry Fields and many other songs John wrote will be with us for a very long time. The 60's will never come again but thank goodness, we have these wonderful recordings to help remember.
200 years from now, we will still be listening to The Beatles much the same way as we listen to Mozart or Beethoven today. Here it is over 50 years since they 1st appeared and they are more popular than ever. As Steven Van Zandt has said, the precise moment of the Big Bang for pop music was Feb 9, 1964 when the Beatles 1st played Ed Sullivan. Everything changed at that moment and we are still feeling the effects of it, and will for many many years to come.
This sums up Lennon, you can take his songs strip them to just a knackered old acoustic guitar, record them in what sounds like a bathroom and have him singing like he's under the influence and you can still hear the magic. Genius
I appreciate the sentiment, but let's be real. By this point in his career there was nothing remotely resembling a "knackered old acoustic" anywhere in John Lennon's life.
@@dinkaboutit4228 He was quite happy playing a scruffy guitar if he liked how it sounded. The Gibson acoustics have a curious sound and the 12 string Hofner certainly wasn't top tier- unlike his Martin !
+BlueDodgerman can you imagine a young undeserved John lennon going to an x factor audition with this ? they would give him a triple NO .and that is exactly what is wrong with the music industry. They have destroyed it!
I'm talking about The Truth Contest, which was brought up by Puer Mystic, and seems always to be mentioned in the comment section in every Beatle related YT vid! What are you trying to tell me exactly? That the Beatles destroyed music, please, please enlighten me?
I love these demos so much more than the studio recording. The pure beauty of the melody and chord progression shows so much more in these versions. I love it.
I agree in a way. I think each version (home version vs final studio version) have merits. The home version has all the imperfections that make music the strongest force in our world today. With that said, the final studio version isn't a song. It's an experience. This is just my opinion, and this opinion may have strong bias considering the studio version helped me get through the death of my younger sister as a four year old kid not understanding the premise of death or loss. I do agree with you that the home recording has an angelic beauty.
What a stupid comment. The final version of the song is the beautiful piece of art we all know it became. .....yes it's nice to hear all the behind the scenes stuff....but do you think this demo would have made number One in the USA? ........ maybe think before you type in future...
A unique voice and musician. He sings directly from his spirit, something magic, beyond this world. The simple and at the same time intrincate way of singing, composing...just John Lennon could do it.
My brother once asked me why John Lennon did it for me , i had to say when I hear him my heart just doubles in size , I feel less stressed, less anguished and not so troubled . I don’t know why but does it matter , He just changes something in me and for that I thank him . Xxx
I love the sheer determination to get it to a professional sounding song. They never gave up on a song until they were satisfied with it, but they had this amazing ability to get to that point in short order. This song seemed to present more of a problem. I think Lennon could hear what it should sound like but getting it there was eluding him. I believe it started to really come together when Ringo added his drum part. Sometimes you can scrub and scrub and scrub on a guitar part, but until other instruments are added, you totally miss the big picture. They eventually got the big picture. This is my favorite Beatles song, though I like them all, just because of what it took to get the final product.
I've heard it. They were clowning around. Loved their clowning around. These guys were musicians first and being comedians was a close second. It would have been awesome to have had 30 minutes in their presence when they were clowning around. I'm sure they would have achieved in me what I call "The Laugh". I've seen footage of McCartney in stitches from Lennon acting stupid, and it is a lot like my laugh. Miss these guys, big time! :0)
I love these versions. You can hear the whole song in here. Every bit of orchestration. A brilliant song by a brilliant, troubled musician. Just wonderful.
this is awsome! Lennon is still composing the song on this tape. you can hear the song improve and take shape as he repeats and alters and adds. to a song writer like me being able to hear the master at work is invauable. thank you!
Always loved the Beatles. Saw them on a little black and white T.V. in Feb 64. The next day the school was alive with The Beatles. I was in 5th grade. John by far the coolest. Loved his voice and Paul had a great voice too. God could those boys harmonize. Genius song writers. The rate they cranked out great songs back in the day has never been matched!!
i would not agree that it is the best song ever written but will say it was the best ever experimental song ever written, as it was so different from every other song in the chart at the time. The song was like way out there......
@@Tarsus-y4d He didn't even mean it as an insult. He meant that it's a perfect example of how everyone makes mistakes. Even people of John Lennon's standard. But keep crying mate 🤣🤣
Oh my goddddd. This sounds more beautiful. John's voice brings me tears. I don't know why. The voice just takes me back to places, times when I was just having pure fun with my loved ones. Some are dead and some are living, in my life, I've loved them all.
This is so fckn awesome I can't believe it! I always wondered what it would have been like to hang around with him n see how he wrote. To be able now, all these years later to hear how arguably the greatest songwriter of our time created the songs that helped shape my life is awesome ! Great..beyond words! Lets hear it for this internet contraption eh..!!
I'm a Beatle freak. It was great to listen to the raw take of part of this song. The production, which George Martin did, really made this song come alive. I recall George Martin once saying that John wasn't too happy with the ending and he asked George Martin to fix it by doing "a score". History being made with these geniuses.
Sir George Martin was the 5th Beatle. His ideas made the band stand out as clever, unique, and innovative. He was certainly the talent behind the talent. Things would not have been the same without him or their persistent manager Brian Epstein.
Sabrina Umstead true, but then again, he had to listen to Paul sing, who’s one of the greatest rock pop singers of all time. But I’ll take John’s voice over anyone. To this day, his vocals on Come Together still get me every time
Wow! What I would've given to have been a fly on the wall during their writing/demo/recording sessions. Hearing a few ideas being strummed on a guitar and witnessing it blossom into a masterpiece. It certainly would've been a masterclass in crafting a song... :)
Many more sophisticated guitarists out there than John but his use of odd chords, notes & time keeping, lyrics with profound meaning & imagery, plus the nasally trippy voice makes him an incomparable artist. IMO the GOAT
Listening to John's demos after tuning into 'some instrumental experience' of Strawberry Fields Forever in a different TH-cam clip is the best experience ever. Such a masterpiece
We saw the Beatles and their Magical Mystery Tour Bus passing through Dawlish, Devon on their way to Plymouth back in 1967. It was a very special Psychedelic Experience. The Coach was blaring out Magic Mystery Tour as it passed through.😊👍
It also makes me appreciate Ringo because how can you listen to a raw guitar and vocal track of this song and know exactly what to play on drums to make it fit so perfectly?
Absolutely. As a drummer myself, I really admire his feeling for what was right on what song. The drum parts he came up with were and will always remain timeless
This is my favourite Beatles song. The final version of course but this is very interesting to hear it as a demo. The same as reading a first draft of a best seller novel.
The greatest Beatles song in utero... Fantastic, thanks for posting this, it had me mesmerised!! Like being in the room while he is composing, shivers down the spine stuff.....
I, being an American, assumed he was referring to a close friend circle, tree being like a family reference, so no body understood cause he didn’t have friends that’s thought the way he did. Interesting how it still kinda makes sense
He's referring to an actual tree, strawberry fields is a place he would frequent regularly as a child. He's writing from the view of a completely innocent adolescent who has little else to worry about then trying to claim ownership of something so meaningless.
The power of a masterpiece birth...composition, composition, composition!! One can feel the root of a giant tree that grown then in the studio, after hours and hours of the hard work of genius.
jamie I'd only buy it if there was a lot more bonus tracks than just Carnival of Light. I already own Pepper on vinyl, and same with Magical Mystery Tour, so for those who own both, I guess it's kind of pointless. I would like to hear what Carnival sounds like - if it's anything as dreadful as Revolution 9.
What I found most fascinating about this, is the very beginning where you could hear that John had trouble getting the chording correctly. However, with his excellent ability to 'come up with the correct sound', amazingly you can hear how he worked on it until he had it where the chords and vocals where in the correct sync.
Brilliant find, this has more value than the finished song, love it. It's amazing back then bands where demoing on better mic's and limiters than we generally use today, mind you they were rich and rightly so ;)
At this point, it was only over two years since The Ed Sullivan Show, it doesn't seem possible that it's the same band. I've lost sleep over it. As the band is presented here, doesn't seem it could be the same band that did Let It Be later on for example. They evolved more in one year than most bands do in 10 to 15 years. One could categorize their history (actually, you can't) into 3 main time periods: Early (Mop Top), Middle (psychedelic), and Later......but it's actually MUCH more complicated than that. I've studied The Beatles most of my life, and still cannot comprehend any of this!! They are an enigma, and a rare phenomena. Someone could, and probably will argue this..........won't change my view for a second, perhaps enlighten me to other possibilities, and maybe add to it, and enrich my stance, but won't alter my awe of the band.
many bands would succeed with only one Beatle song... but they have many many great songs!!! I think in all of their periods, they were "Brilliant". they were Brilliant all the time
+somps33 I think you may be missing the context in which the Beatles reigned supreme. There was an explosive energy and creative drive that sucked everything up and propelled it all forward. I was ten in 1962 when the Beatles first burst onto the scene in the UK, and I followed their progress intently, along with everyone else on the music scene. There was an irrepressible momentum which swept all before it in music, literature, art, fashion, philosophy and sport. The Beatles were at the forefront and were one of the undoubted driving forces, but there were others like the Kinks who also composed their own original music without being influenced by others, and these groups inspired an army of followers like the Rolling Stones and the Who, plus all their derivative followers. Once the Rolling Stones and the Who began to find their own feet and start creating their own original music, the pace redoubled. In this frenzied melting pot of creative advances, anyone who wanted to get into the charts had to come up with another new gimmick or twist that hadn't been heard before, even if they were chart regulars already. Things were quickly considered stale or old hat and pioneering new trends came to be the way forward. Nobody was as well suited to this or as capable of coping with this as the Beatles, who although they frequently went out on a limb with a new sound or trend always managed to judge the mood and musical appetite of the public exactly right. Many other talented groups made incorrect decisions of this sort and ended their promising careers early in consequence. The simple answer is that the Beatles took a lot of risks with their musical pioneering, but always judged them right and always managed to keep themselves at the front of the pack. It helped that they were superb musicians and songwriters, but a lot of their continued development and success is attributable to taking risks and getting them right every time.
What, are you an ass or something? I am well aware, and agree with everything you said. So....you're telling me, that you don't agree with one single thing I mentioned? You forgot to mention the driving counter culture scene of San Francisco which helped to fan the flames of creativity, which in turn, the British invasion fanned those flames also. What you said, doesn't change the CONTEXT of what I said at all, perhaps it reinforced it. There's always has got to be a critic out here.
I feel as if John's life was only for this song because this take is so good. I mean this song is so amazing that I can't express my inner feeling and thankfulness.
No other song had such an impact on me when I first heard it than Strawberry Fields. A bit of trivia (or another clue for you all) for you...the line "and nothing to get hung about" was regarding Aunt Mimi telling/yelling at him for going in that tree at strawberry fields. He told Mimi, relax Auntie, they won't hang me for it (or something to that effect). :)
why john. i wish he was still here. he had more inspirational music waiting in his soul to give to the world. but now i have something to look forward to when dying. cuz when i go to heaven, everyone will be listening to john lennons latest songs up there. i can't wait. just about 70 more years and i will get there.
Love the organ demo. pure sound-on-sound recording. or at least what i did when i was a kid: playing the original tape, and adding more parts while recording to another tape recorder. Love it.
Ian Rust the second version on the anthology i think is the greatest because it had production value almost and the meltone or what ever was only in the intro and wasnt all up in your face
My interpretation of *this version only @ 1:55... Comment questions? Should be self explanatory how to combine the parts then tag it. Lennon will usually strum all open when changing chords, and that's slightly significant to the harmonic design. C................................. G Bm Dm no one i think is in my tree Am Am7/G F ...I mean it must be high or low (F ) Gmaj5 C That is, you can't you know tune in (c) Am But it's all right..... F G F C - add high G 1st string 3r fret ...That is i think its not too bad...... C(with high G) Let me take you down cause I'm going Gm Gm7 To.......strawberry fields............ A7 .......Nothing is real F A7 And nothing to get hung about F ( F) C Am Strawberry fields forever..............2x F G F (C) Strawberry FIEEELLLLDSSS FOREVVVAH'............
I prefer his voice. It's honest and one-of-a-kind. Listen to the Plastic Ono Band album and you'll recognise how John's raw and emotive voice compliments his honest lyrics. You can tell he truly believes in what he's saying.
This song and Walrus. How do you come up with this? They still blow me away. John hit a peak maybe? Lennon-McCartney. George had some damn good teachers...
This makes me want to cry. Hearing Lennon's voice saying "No I canna do it" to a demo of what became the greatest pop recording of all time. Shows a genius mind at work.
I was 12 in 1967 and became a Beatles fan in 1963 at the age of 8. When Strawberry Fields was released the public thought the beatles had gone mad. I thought then, as I do now, that this song was the moment that the Beatles turned Rock into Art in its highest form. The process began on Revolver, and with Rain, but this song shook me to my foundations. Nothing compares to this.
John takes us inside his head for 3 minutes. A strange and wonderful place.
Teeny bopper.
That’s so incredible, I can’t imagine having been there to experience this fundamental shift in human culture that The Beatles ushered in. If you’re still around, thank you for sharing your story, rock on my friend! :)
John could write the most absolutely beautiful melodies. A true artist in the highest form.
Kay Muldoon I'm sorry I admire john too, but a singer/songwriter from the bestselling band in the world can't be a "true artist in the highest form"
SmeiliGamers wow, you're really dumb
SmeiliGamers What the fuck does that even mean lol
SmeiliGamers ill fight u dumb kid
I don't really know if it's being a true artist when you make music for money and be a complete asshole.
Most beautiful voice
John never gave up. He kept trying. And now it's one of my fav songs. Miss you John and George!!
CelMendo Well, he certainly gave up on his first wife and son, didn’t he? Or do they not count?
bionicbigfoot Yeah. John Lennon was the first and only man to divorce in all the history of the world.
@@bionicbigfoot2790loser comment
Me too, the only group I idolise.
@@bionicbigfoot2790What in the hell does that have to do with his artistry??? What's it like being perfect, btw?
I believe Strawberry Fields and many other songs John wrote will be with us for a very long time. The 60's will never come again but thank goodness, we have these wonderful recordings to help remember.
I really miss the 60's
Like John said: "We have the records!"
The 60's will come again. 2060 brother.
200 years from now, we will still be listening to The Beatles much the same way as we listen to Mozart or Beethoven today. Here it is over 50 years since they 1st appeared and they are more popular than ever. As Steven Van Zandt has said, the precise moment of the Big Bang for pop music was Feb 9, 1964 when the Beatles 1st played Ed Sullivan. Everything changed at that moment and we are still feeling the effects of it, and will for many many years to come.
True talk👍
@@lawrencenjawe9875True
This sums up Lennon, you can take his songs strip them to just a knackered old acoustic guitar, record them in what sounds like a bathroom and have him singing like he's under the influence and you can still hear the magic. Genius
I appreciate the sentiment, but let's be real. By this point in his career there was nothing remotely resembling a "knackered old acoustic" anywhere in John Lennon's life.
@@dinkaboutit4228 He was quite happy playing a scruffy guitar if he liked how it sounded. The Gibson acoustics have a curious sound and the 12 string Hofner certainly wasn't top tier- unlike his Martin !
Raw, raw, raw.. John is alive! I feel like I'm in the room with him.
I want some ^_^
Yeeeeees
There's always One,,sigh....
+BlueDodgerman can you imagine a young undeserved John lennon going to an x factor audition with this ? they would give him a triple NO .and that is exactly what is wrong with the music industry. They have destroyed it!
I'm talking about The Truth Contest, which was brought up by Puer Mystic, and seems always to be mentioned in the comment section in every Beatle related YT vid! What are you trying to tell me exactly? That the Beatles destroyed music, please, please enlighten me?
I love these demos so much more than the studio recording. The pure beauty of the melody and chord progression shows so much more in these versions. I love it.
+AEUGNewtype you nailed it, the final version is far too clean and obvious.
I agree in a way. I think each version (home version vs final studio version) have merits. The home version has all the imperfections that make music the strongest force in our world today. With that said, the final studio version isn't a song. It's an experience. This is just my opinion, and this opinion may have strong bias considering the studio version helped me get through the death of my younger sister as a four year old kid not understanding the premise of death or loss. I do agree with you that the home recording has an angelic beauty.
What a stupid comment.
The final version of the song is the beautiful piece of art we all know it became.
.....yes it's nice to hear all the behind the scenes stuff....but do you think this demo would have made number One in the USA?
........ maybe think before you type in future...
Rupert Evans stfu u bitch this version is way more beautiful and has Johns original voice. I like this version way more
+Rupert Evans its not stupid because it's her opinion. And a raw version of any really good song is always a treat to both ears.
happy birthday
you will never be forgotten
not in 176 years
strawberry fields forever
that first progression he does at the beginning might be the most beautiful chord progression ive ever heard
...and is , in 2019, contemporary. Could be a artist of today . I quite liked were he was going on that first idea too.
E to Emaj7 to E7 played barring the 9th fret.. just working on it. NOT EASY.. but really beautiful.
A unique voice and musician. He sings directly from his spirit, something magic, beyond this world. The simple and at the same time intrincate way of singing, composing...just John Lennon could do it.
My brother once asked me why John Lennon did it for me , i had to say when I hear him my heart just doubles in size , I feel less stressed, less anguished and not so troubled .
I don’t know why but does it matter , He just changes something in me and for that I thank him . Xxx
You and me both. There's a resonance, a connection on a deeper level, it's a mysterious, mystical feeling to me.
@@matthewbowen8556 What you have just said is exactly how it is for me .. I identify very strongly with your words ...
I love the sheer determination to get it to a professional sounding song. They never gave up on a song until they were satisfied with it, but they had this amazing ability to get to that point in short order. This song seemed to present more of a problem. I think Lennon could hear what it should sound like but getting it there was eluding him. I believe it started to really come together when Ringo added his drum part. Sometimes you can scrub and scrub and scrub on a guitar part, but until other instruments are added, you totally miss the big picture. They eventually got the big picture. This is my favorite Beatles song, though I like them all, just because of what it took to get the final product.
+jsmyers24151 Right on Bro. Good analogy..
+jsmyers24151 listen to their version of "house of the rising sun" lol
I've heard it. They were clowning around. Loved their clowning around. These guys were musicians first and being comedians was a close second. It would have been awesome to have had 30 minutes in their presence when they were clowning around. I'm sure they would have achieved in me what I call "The Laugh". I've seen footage of McCartney in stitches from Lennon acting stupid, and it is a lot like my laugh. Miss these guys, big time! :0)
jsmyers, you are correct they would spend 18 hours a day just going over their songs, sometimes spending months making them better , imroving them
should be improving
Whenever I listen to this, it is the closest I ever feel to crying. It is the best song ever written, and it takes me back to the days.
I think it's amazing that a human being can compose this song with just one guitar
Well, other people have composed symphonies, cantatas etc without any instrument, just a pencil and manuscript paper!
@@Krabadaque really? Who composed this way?
All composers since Adam de la Halle (or earlier): For instance J.S.Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Brahms, you name them!
The Beatles. A true gift from GOD!
From John Lennon
xBoolin your very much mistaken he remained an atheist.
God doesn't exist
Nicolás Benavides i think you don’t exist
dacanay the kjersten You win...
I love these versions. You can hear the whole song in here. Every bit of orchestration. A brilliant song by a brilliant, troubled musician. Just wonderful.
this is awsome! Lennon is still composing the song on this tape. you can hear the song improve and take shape as he repeats and alters and adds. to a song writer like me being able to hear the master at work is invauable.
thank you!
Being able to listen into the craftwork of John Lennon is so remarkable and not appreciated enough.
Always loved the Beatles. Saw them on a little black and white T.V. in Feb 64. The next day the school was alive with The Beatles. I was in 5th grade. John by far the coolest. Loved his voice and Paul had a great voice too. God could those boys harmonize. Genius song writers. The rate they cranked out great songs back in the day has never been matched!!
0:00 guitar
4:08 meletron/organ
6:10 demo in Spain
The creative process of a genius..........
Is it me or is this something amazing to listen to, knowing what was going on in John`s mind and the concept behind this melodious song...
Basically, the best song ever written.
You mean all the songs they ever composed, right? ;)
i would not agree that it is the best song ever written but will say it was the best ever experimental song ever written, as it was so different from every other song in the chart at the time. The song was like way out there......
+mark caine. To me it is as well.
Not sure about that but it was certainly original and ground breaking for it's time. There is a touch of genius to it for sure.
One of the worst songs ever written. The guy was a public menace.
It's so inspiring to see John failing.
Lil Sebastian Shows we should never ever give up.
Happens to every artist when they write or practice,we usually only see a performance that was rehearsed 50 times beforehand lol
Its so inspiring to see twats talk grub about john
@@Tarsus-y4d
He didn't even mean it as an insult. He meant that it's a perfect example of how everyone makes mistakes. Even people of John Lennon's standard.
But keep crying mate 🤣🤣
@@dank9300 Zoomer is intruding on the tail end of a Zoomer's comment to a Boomer. 2685: Okay Zolfelphlab- Cloom-Schtoffah
1.55 - 4.00
Best ever version. Beautiful..
Oh my goddddd. This sounds more beautiful.
John's voice brings me tears. I don't know why. The voice just takes me back to places, times when I was just having pure fun with my loved ones.
Some are dead and some are living, in my life, I've loved them all.
His voice just sends chills up my spine and soothes me.
I love listening to this old non-autotuned stuff.
A genius at work. A privilege to be given a glimpse of how that works.
this happened in Almeria Spain!! una melodía sublime hermosa!! it seems that comes from the stars....
A genius at work!
This is so fckn awesome I can't believe it! I always wondered what it would have been like to hang around with him n see how he wrote. To be able now, all these years later to hear how arguably the greatest songwriter of our time created the songs that helped shape my life is awesome ! Great..beyond words! Lets hear it for this internet contraption eh..!!
I'm a Beatle freak. It was great to listen to the raw take of part of this song. The production, which George Martin did, really made this song come alive. I recall George Martin once saying that John wasn't too happy with the ending and he asked George Martin to fix it by doing "a score". History being made with these geniuses.
Always good to hear other peoples points of view and to get more information.
Sir George Martin was the 5th Beatle. His ideas made the band stand out as clever, unique, and innovative. He was certainly the talent behind the talent. Things would not have been the same without him or their persistent manager Brian Epstein.
one of the best ever..
This, and Penny Lane, takes me right back to childhood in London. I was 5 or 6 and England had just won the World Cup.
Funny how John had such a beautiful versatile voice, ranging from soothing to angry to nostalgic, etc yet he hated the sound of his own voice
Sabrina Umstead true, but then again, he had to listen to Paul sing, who’s one of the greatest rock pop singers of all time. But I’ll take John’s voice over anyone. To this day, his vocals on Come Together still get me every time
This is fantastic! It's so cool to hear John working through the complexities of how the melody of SFF hangs dissonantly over the chords.
The beginnings of a Master Piece!
Wow!
What I would've given to have been a fly on the wall during their writing/demo/recording sessions.
Hearing a few ideas being strummed on a guitar and witnessing it blossom into a masterpiece.
It certainly would've been a masterclass in crafting a song... :)
God his voice.😍 Rest in peace Johnny-Boy. ):
their voices in the demo recordings a so pure and strong. there aren´t words for it
I love to hear how the song goes on evolution gradually. Great! !!
Sends chills up my spine and put tears in my eyes. Thanks.
this made me cry
Many more sophisticated guitarists out there than John but his use of odd chords, notes & time keeping, lyrics with profound meaning & imagery, plus the nasally trippy voice makes him an incomparable artist. IMO the GOAT
Tks for this. makes me cry. Eerily, hauntingly beautiful.
Thank you for posting this. Sublime. I listen to it regularly.
I always love them!!!!
Of course I love the final version, yet there is something truly magical in this tentative explorations. Breathtaking.
Love it this music for ever John was good.
The creative ability to write beautifully flowing melodies. A rare gift.
I grew up listening to Beatles thank u
Listening to John's demos after tuning into 'some instrumental experience' of Strawberry Fields Forever in a different TH-cam clip is the best experience ever. Such a masterpiece
I love so much the Love version the first 20 seconds. wow, enchanting
Thank you for sharing this. Feels like he's right here next to me. Love & miss you John
This makes me so impossibly happy in a difficult period of my life. I love the beatles
We saw the Beatles and their Magical Mystery Tour Bus passing through Dawlish, Devon on their way to Plymouth back in 1967. It was a very special Psychedelic Experience. The Coach was blaring out Magic Mystery Tour as it passed through.😊👍
It also makes me appreciate Ringo because how can you listen to a raw
guitar and vocal track of this song and know exactly what to play on
drums to make it fit so perfectly?
Absolutely. As a drummer myself, I really admire his feeling for what was right on what song. The drum parts he came up with were and will always remain timeless
KantarellJulle Tjolahopp “As a drummer myself..”. What a blithering, boring jackass you must be in real life.
bionicbigfoot why? Cuz he mentioned he's a drummer? Get off your high horse
bionicbigfoot Musicians do exist believe it or not, also drummers are hard to find
No Ringo
No beatles
I love that this late in the story people are still finding things I never heard.Thank you!
This is my favourite Beatles song. The final version of course but this is very interesting to hear it as a demo. The same as reading a first draft of a best seller novel.
The greatest Beatles song in utero...
Fantastic, thanks for posting this, it had me mesmerised!!
Like being in the room while he is composing, shivers down the spine stuff.....
He means in my tree - meaning in his way of thinking.
It is an english expression to say "You're out of your tree mate" meaning you're insane.
I, being an American, assumed he was referring to a close friend circle, tree being like a family reference, so no body understood cause he didn’t have friends that’s thought the way he did. Interesting how it still kinda makes sense
I think he was just high on LSD
He's referring to an actual tree, strawberry fields is a place he would frequent regularly as a child. He's writing from the view of a completely innocent adolescent who has little else to worry about then trying to claim ownership of something so meaningless.
The power of a masterpiece birth...composition, composition, composition!! One can feel the root of a giant tree that grown then in the studio, after hours and hours of the hard work of genius.
I can't wait for November 24th. Fifty years ago, on that day, recording commenced on this song.
Mark your calendars.
TheRoseTintedDuke 3 days
TheRoseTintedDuke fifty years man! Still Love The Beatles and still listening to Strawberry Fields Forever
Dang, I missed it.
jamie I'd only buy it if there was a lot more bonus tracks than just Carnival of Light. I already own Pepper on vinyl, and same with Magical Mystery Tour, so for those who own both, I guess it's kind of pointless. I would like to hear what Carnival sounds like - if it's anything as dreadful as Revolution 9.
Damn i missed it. Now i have to wait again another 50 years
A fantastic insight into one of John's most beautiful songs..Pure genius!! Nothing to get hung about!!
What I found most fascinating about this, is the very beginning where you could hear that John had trouble getting the chording correctly. However, with his excellent ability to 'come up with the correct sound', amazingly you can hear how he worked on it until he had it where the chords and vocals where in the correct sync.
Brilliant find, this has more value than the finished song, love it.
It's amazing back then bands where demoing on better mic's and limiters than we generally use today, mind you they were rich and rightly so ;)
At this point, it was only over two years since The Ed Sullivan Show, it doesn't seem possible that it's the same band. I've lost sleep over it. As the band is presented here, doesn't seem it could be the same band that did Let It Be later on for example. They evolved more in one year than most bands do in 10 to 15 years. One could categorize their history (actually, you can't) into 3 main time periods: Early (Mop Top), Middle (psychedelic), and Later......but it's actually MUCH more complicated than that. I've studied The Beatles most of my life, and still cannot comprehend any of this!! They are an enigma, and a rare phenomena. Someone could, and probably will argue this..........won't change my view for a second, perhaps enlighten me to other possibilities, and maybe add to it, and enrich my stance, but won't alter my awe of the band.
many bands would succeed with only one Beatle song... but they have many many great songs!!! I think in all of their periods, they were "Brilliant". they were Brilliant all the time
+somps33 I think you may be missing the context in which the Beatles reigned supreme. There was an explosive energy and creative drive that sucked everything up and propelled it all forward. I was ten in 1962 when the Beatles first burst onto the scene in the UK, and I followed their progress intently, along with everyone else on the music scene. There was an irrepressible momentum which swept all before it in music, literature, art, fashion, philosophy and sport. The Beatles were at the forefront and were one of the undoubted driving forces, but there were others like the Kinks who also composed their own original music without being influenced by others, and these groups inspired an army of followers like the Rolling Stones and the Who, plus all their derivative followers. Once the Rolling Stones and the Who began to find their own feet and start creating their own original music, the pace redoubled. In this frenzied melting pot of creative advances, anyone who wanted to get into the charts had to come up with another new gimmick or twist that hadn't been heard before, even if they were chart regulars already. Things were quickly considered stale or old hat and pioneering new trends came to be the way forward. Nobody was as well suited to this or as capable of coping with this as the Beatles, who although they frequently went out on a limb with a new sound or trend always managed to judge the mood and musical appetite of the public exactly right. Many other talented groups made incorrect decisions of this sort and ended their promising careers early in consequence. The simple answer is that the Beatles took a lot of risks with their musical pioneering, but always judged them right and always managed to keep themselves at the front of the pack. It helped that they were superb musicians and songwriters, but a lot of their continued development and success is attributable to taking risks and getting them right every time.
What, are you an ass or something? I am well aware, and agree with everything you said. So....you're telling me, that you don't agree with one single thing I mentioned? You forgot to mention the driving counter culture scene of San Francisco which helped to fan the flames of creativity, which in turn, the British invasion fanned those flames also. What you said, doesn't change the CONTEXT of what I said at all, perhaps it reinforced it. There's always has got to be a critic out here.
Blues fan , , and the Animals and of course Pink Floyd , , , , , ,
I feel as if John's life was only for this song because this take is so good.
I mean this song is so amazing that I can't express my inner feeling and thankfulness.
The organ at 4:55 sounds really cool.
Mitchell Wheeler i think they started to use a mellotron on these demo
It's pure genius, I truly believe John&Paul were sent on earth so that we can all live better lives... thank you for the music, John!
No other song had such an impact on me when I first heard it than Strawberry Fields. A bit of trivia (or another clue for you all) for you...the line "and nothing to get hung about" was regarding Aunt Mimi telling/yelling at him for going in that tree at strawberry fields. He told Mimi, relax Auntie, they won't hang me for it (or something to that effect). :)
I love this so much. I always come back to it. Thank you.
the very early versions makes you feel like the tune is crying to you.
Oh my god!
this should be in a museum!
AMAIZING, how it evolved, you know; just great
John lennon is the best song writer, and incredible singer! :)
why john. i wish he was still here. he had more inspirational music waiting in his soul to give to the world. but now i have something to look forward to when dying. cuz when i go to heaven, everyone will be listening to john lennons latest songs up there.
i can't wait. just about 70 more years and i will get there.
Absolute bliss
What a privilege and stroke of luck to be able to hear this and a blessing
I sometimes wonder how he manged to write so many amazing songs, the only answer i could think of is that he was a Genius.
Lo que subiste es tremendoooo... Oro puro!!!!!!!!
Nice job sneaking this one past the Beatles Banners!
You will always be in our hearts, you are my inspiration.
"i canny do it, i canny do it."
Yes you Canny
I quote this regularly
@@unclefrancis400 Me too! haha
Love the organ demo. pure sound-on-sound recording. or at least what i did when i was a kid: playing the original tape, and adding more parts while recording to another tape recorder. Love it.
I almost like the demos more. Something was lost in translation
+Ian Rust Yea, me too on this song.
Ian Rust the second version on the anthology i think is the greatest because it had production value almost and the meltone or what ever was only in the intro and wasnt all up in your face
He should have kept the picking instead of changing it to chords.
There is a version of this song totally remastered and totally acoustic, sweet and peaceful, you can found in the love album, de nada. xd
these recordings are so ominous and you feel like you are back in time.
Wow, the creative process on audio. All songwriters should hear this
My interpretation of *this version only @ 1:55... Comment questions? Should be self explanatory how to combine the parts then tag it. Lennon will usually strum all open when changing chords, and that's slightly significant to the harmonic design.
C.................................
G Bm Dm
no one i think is in my tree
Am Am7/G F
...I mean it must be high or low
(F ) Gmaj5 C
That is, you can't you know tune in
(c) Am
But it's all right.....
F G F C - add high G 1st string 3r fret
...That is i think its not too bad......
C(with high G)
Let me take you down cause I'm going
Gm Gm7
To.......strawberry fields............
A7
.......Nothing is real
F A7
And nothing to get hung about
F ( F) C Am
Strawberry fields forever..............2x
F G F (C)
Strawberry FIEEELLLLDSSS FOREVVVAH'............
+Mike Bohan One correction: for "to get hung about" I wrote A7 should be just A major.
+Mike Bohan thank you.
+Mike Bohan Thanks for this, Mike!
+Mike Bohan Spot on !
+Mike Bohan After '...nothing to get hung about...' FMajor 7 for 'Strawberry fields forever...'
I really really liked John and miss him. This song got me thru high school. I was 17 when he passed.
this is the history.
john is an angel come to earth, he's touching us with his voice and talent, i am thankfull to have met him
Trial and error...It goes like this even for geniuses!
This is pure beauty made into music.
I never know that John got nice voice, I know that he was no Elvis or Frank Sinatra but I still love his voice.
I prefer his voice. It's honest and one-of-a-kind. Listen to the Plastic Ono Band album and you'll recognise how John's raw and emotive voice compliments his honest lyrics. You can tell he truly believes in what he's saying.
I far prefer his voice to the other two.
Thank you for having the patience to finish the recording
This song and Walrus. How do you come up with this? They still blow me away. John hit a peak maybe? Lennon-McCartney. George had some damn good teachers...
LSD
You may have a point!
I love these home demos, I love John's voice, I love the tone of the Vox, I love this song!