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Post by nowheregirl on Jul 12, 2007 13:01:33 GMT 1
Every month I'll post a different John Lennon song for us to discuss.
Here are some things to think about:
* When did you first hear the song and what were your first impressions of it?
* What do you like or dislike about it?
* Do you know any interesting facts or quotes about the song?
If you'd like to suggest a song of the month please send me a PM (the only rule is that it must be either a John Lennon solo song or a Beatles song of which John was the main songwriter).
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Post by nowheregirl on Jul 12, 2007 13:05:58 GMT 1
Our song of the month for July 2007 is...
Strawberry Fields Forever
Let me take you down cause I'm going to strawberry fields Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about Strawberry fields forever
Living is easy with eyes closed Misunderstanding all you see It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out It doesn't matter much to me
Let me take you down cause I'm going to strawberry fields Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about Strawberry fields forever
No one I think is in my tree I mean it must be high or low That is you can't, you know, tune in but it's all right That is I think it's not too bad
Let me take you down cause I'm going to strawberry fields Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about Strawberry fields forever
Always no sometimes think it's me But you know I know when it's a dream I think I know I mean a yes but it's all wrong that is I think I disagree
Let me take you down cause I'm going to strawberry fields Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about Strawberry fields forever Strawberry fields forever strawberry fields forever
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Post by nocturnalquadruped on Jul 13, 2007 1:38:12 GMT 1
I think I have said somewhere before that SFF has been my favourite song since I heard it on the TV on something or other when I was small. I didn't know about Beatles and had no idea who wrote the song until much later. The over all sound attracts me, the beats are years ahead of thier time and the words connect with me in a way that makes sense to me but is hard to explain why. It doesnt really matter what version I listen to either, there have been several demos and other stuff released in recent years but as soon as John utters Let Me Take You Down, 'Cos I'm Going Too I get the shivers down my spine. I am sure most of you know the following but in case you don't or are new to the Beatles, the song was started in 1966 while John was in Almeria, Spain filming How I Won The War with Dick Lester. There are some very simple acoustic demos from this period that are quite beautiful. The song was recorded during the beginning of the Sgt Pepper sessions, Brian Epstein felt that the boys needed a hit and decided the song should be released as a single with Penny Lane. this was a decision that George martin regretted years later as the single failed to top the charts in the UK, the first time the Beatles had missed since Please Please Me. When the song was recorded John liked the beginning of one take and the end of another. He asked George Martin to cut and splice the two parts together, something George martin said could not be done as the two halves were in different tempos. However Martin worked his magic and came up with what we all know and love today. The song title is taken from the name of an orphanage called Strawberry Field in Liverpool. John used to play in the grounds when he was a child. Simply put this song is everything to me. Thanks for the music John.
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jean
Trying to change the whole wide world
[M:206]
Posts: 127
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Post by jean on Jul 13, 2007 19:32:11 GMT 1
Strawberry Fields Forever is a beautiful song. I love everything about it - the dream-like sound, the disjointed lyrics, the mellotron...it's one of those songs that really moves me every time I hear it. It's said that Brian Wilson (the Beach Boys) had to stop his car when he heard it on the car radio for the first time, and abandoned his Smile album soon afterwards because the Beatles had 'got there first'.
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Post by lennonfan on Jul 14, 2007 8:58:03 GMT 1
This is from the Playboy interview. "Living is easy, with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see. It still goes, doesn't it? Aren't I saying exactly the same thing now? The awareness apparently trying to be expressed is - let's say in one way I was always hip. I was hip in kindergarten. I was different from the others. I was different all my life. The second verse goes, "No one I think is in my tree." Well, I was too shy and self-doubting. Nobody seems to be as hip as me is what I was saying. Therefore, I must be crazy or a genius - "I mean it must be high or low," the next line. There was something wrong with me, I thought, because I seemed to see things other people didn't see." - John Lennon, 1980.
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Post by thewalruswasmike on Jul 15, 2007 9:29:01 GMT 1
what do you think about the version on the Love album?
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Post by nowheregirl on Jul 15, 2007 9:46:49 GMT 1
It's beautiful apart from the ending. I think it was a mistake to put all that stuff at the end - it doesn't fit the mood of the song, and wasn't really necessary. Just my opinion - maybe other people like it?
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Post by nowheregirl on Jul 15, 2007 14:01:09 GMT 1
I still can't believe the Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane single only reached #2 on the UK charts (their first single not to reach #1 since 1963). It was kept off the top by Release Me by Engelbert Humperdinck.
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Post by nocturnalquadruped on Jul 16, 2007 6:18:10 GMT 1
I think we both know what song will be remembered in a 100 years or more though, by then it will be Engel.... Who?
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Post by nowheregirl on Jul 17, 2007 19:44:22 GMT 1
Definitely.
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Post by lennonfan on Jul 20, 2007 13:58:43 GMT 1
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Post by nowheregirl on Jul 28, 2007 19:42:21 GMT 1
Just a few days left for you to comment on this song, before we move onto the next one. This is another quote I found, from George Martin: "The first time I heard the song was when I listened to John singing and playing it on an acoustic guitar. John was very Dylanish in many ways, but of course, he had that lovely voice which I think was much better than Dylan's. Just to hear his voice with a simple guitar backing was absolutely delightful, and I wish we had been able to record a version like that - the way I first heard it." I wish you'd recorded it like that too, George.
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Post by nocturnalquadruped on Jul 30, 2007 10:26:54 GMT 1
There is a very early demo that was released on Anthology 2 which is just John and his guitar. Maybe George martin ttoyes around with it a little but it is still very basic and is a really nice version.
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Post by nowheregirl on Aug 1, 2007 11:25:10 GMT 1
Okay, it's August - time to move on to our next song, which is...
Tomorrow Never Knows
Turn off your mind, relax and float down stream It is not dying It is not dying
Lay down all thought Surrender to the void It is shining It is shining
That you may see The meaning of within It is being It is being
That love is all And love is everyone It is knowing It is knowing
That ignorance and hate May mourn the dead It is believing It is believing
But listen to the color of your dreams It is not living It is not living
Or play the game existence to the end Of the beginning Of the beginning Of the beginning Of the beginning Of the beginning Of the beginning
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Post by nocturnalquadruped on Aug 2, 2007 2:32:55 GMT 1
The last track on the Revolver album, and a track that was twenty odd years ahead of it's time. I think the techno heads took the beats of this track as inspiration for what they would put together in the nineties, has a drum sample ever compared with this. I think you could write a book about this song, George Martin said that the Beatles always came to him with ideas, they always had something but in this case it was all on one chord. Paul McCartney said he remembers John just earnestly strumming a c chord. Almost total experimentation was going on at this time, one part of the track saw pieces of tape being cut and thrown in the air and stuck back together again to get the weird swirling sounds and then it came time to record the voice. John stated that he wanted to sound like the Dalai Lama chanting on the top of a mountain with a thousand monks backing him or something along those lines. George Martin said of course that it was not practical and they settled for feeding Johns voice through a revolving Leslie speaker to get the far out sound. As for the words themselves, John had been reading the Tibetan Book of the Dead and the words were almost directly lifted from the text of the Psychedelic Experience, a book by Timothy Leary that guided the user through an LSD trip. The title of Tomorrow never knows was originally going to be The Void which is where the Tibetan book of the Dead says the soul finds itself after death. Fearing negative reaction from certain circles the title was changed to Tomorrow never knows, the title coming from none other than Ringo. For me this is one of the hi-lights of the Beatles releases from 1966 and is certainly for me one of the best in the Beatles catologue. I love Revolver.
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