Editing Strawberry Fields Forever (section)

==Cultural influence and legacy==
===Reactions from contemporaries===
{{quote box|quote= Featuring backwards cymbals, cascading Indian harp … guitar solos, timpani, bongos, trumpets and cellos, this was the lushest music The Beatles had recorded up to then … From its weird Mellotron opening to its fake drum forward reprise where John's voice could be heard saying "Cranberry sauce", "Strawberry Fields Forever" inaugurated 1967 like no other song on earth.{{sfn|Prendergast|2003|p=193}}|source= – Author Mark Prendergast, 2003|width=25%|align=|style=padding:8px;}}
Upon its release, [[The Who]]'s [[Pete Townshend]], a regular on London's psychedelic club scene, described "Strawberry Fields Forever" as "utterly bizarre, creative, strange and different".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-story-of-psychedelia-and-progressive-rock|first=Mark|last=Blake|title=From Sgt Pepper to Syd Barrett: The psychedelic birth of prog rock|publisher=[[LouderSound]]|date=19 June 2016|access-date=18 October 2018}}</ref> [[Mark Lindsay]] of the US band [[Paul Revere & the Raiders]] listened to the single at home with his producer, [[Terry Melcher]]; as "the song ended we both just looked at each other. I said, {{'}}''Now'' what the fuck are we gonna do?' With that single, the Beatles raised the ante as to what a pop record should be." Lindsay said he then ensured that the clips for both songs were broadcast on the Raiders' television show, ''[[Where the Action Is]]''.{{sfn|Babiuk|2002|p=201}}

In a famous anecdote, [[Brian Wilson]], who had been struggling to complete [[the Beach Boys]]' ''[[Smile (Beach Boys album)|Smile]]'' album, first heard "Strawberry Fields Forever" on his car radio{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|pp=187–88}} while under the influence of [[barbiturate]]s.<ref name="Leaf/BeautifulDreamer">{{cite AV media |people= Leaf, David (director)|year=2004 |title=[[Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of Smile]] |medium=biographical film |time=52:18–53:09 }}</ref> In the recollection of his passenger at the time, [[Michael Vosse]], "[Wilson] just shook his head and said, 'They did it already – what I wanted to do with ''Smile''. Maybe it's too late.'"<ref name="Kiehl/BaltimoreSun">{{cite news|last=Kiehl|first=Stephen|title=Lost and Found Sounds ''(page 2)''|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2004/09/26/lost-and-found-sounds/|newspaper=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|date=26 September 2004|access-date=23 April 2018}}</ref> Vosse recalled that they then exchanged laughter, although "at the moment he said it, he sounded very serious."<ref name="Kiehl/BaltimoreSun" /> According to author [[Steven Gaines]], the "wondrous and different-sounding" quality of the Beatles' single was one of several factors that accelerated Wilson's emotional descent and led to him [[Collapse of Smile|abandoning ''Smile'']].{{sfn|Gaines|1995|p=177}} In response to a fan's question on his website in 2014, Wilson denied that hearing the song had "weakened" him and called it a "very weird record" that he enjoyed.<ref>{{cite web|title=Brian Answers Fans' Questions in Live Q&A|url=https://www.brianwilson.com/news/2014/1/29/brian-answers-fans-questions-in-live-qa|publisher=brianwilson.com|access-date=15 December 2017|date=29 January 2014|archive-date=24 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224224421/https://www.brianwilson.com/news/2014/1/29/brian-answers-fans-questions-in-live-qa|url-status=dead}}</ref>

"Strawberry Fields Forever" is featured in its near-entirety in Canadian [[structural film]] director [[Michael Snow]]'s 1967 film ''[[Wavelength (1967 film)|Wavelength]]'', playing on a radio in a room that is gradually zoomed in on through the course of the film. It was filmed in December 1966, but Snow began editing it in early 1967 and was significantly drawn to the song when it was released, choosing to overdub it over a song playing in the original footage.<ref name="enright">{{cite magazine |last=Enright |first=Robert |date=May 2007 |title=The Lord of Missed Rules: An Interview with Michael Snow |url=https://bordercrossingsmag.com/article/the-lord-of-missed-rules-an-interview-with-michael-snow |magazine=[[Border Crossings (magazine)|Border Crossings]] |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=22–23 |access-date=June 5, 2024 }}</ref>

===Psychedelia, recording and music videos===
The song was influential on [[psychedelic rock]]{{sfn|DeRogatis|2003|p=49}} and, in Chris Ingham's description, it established "the standard and style for the entire [[psychedelic pop]] movement that would follow".{{sfn|Ingham|2006|p=194}} Ian MacDonald recognises the track as having "extended the range of studio techniques developed on ''Revolver'', opening up possibilities for pop which, given sufficient invention, could result in unprecedented sound images".{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=219}} He views it as having launched both the "English pop-pastoral mood" typified by bands such as [[Pink Floyd]], [[Family (band)|Family]], [[Traffic (band)|Traffic]] and [[Fairport Convention]], and English psychedelia's LSD-inspired preoccupation with "nostalgia for the innocent vision of a child".{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=216}} Among other music historians, Simon Philo describes much of Pink Floyd's first album, ''[[The Piper at the Gates of Dawn]]'' (1967), as being in the style of the "patented British psychedelia" introduced by "Strawberry Fields Forever".{{sfn|Philo|2015|p=126}} David Howard says the production was a "direct touchstone" for Pink Floyd, [[the Move]], [[the Smoke]] and other bands in London's upcoming psychedelic scene.{{sfn|Howard|2004|p=28}}

Although the Mellotron had been a feature of [[Manfred Mann]]'s late 1966 hit single "[[Semi-Detached, Suburban Mr. James|Semi-Detached Suburban Mr James]]",{{sfn|Cunningham|1998|pp=126–27}} its appearance on "Strawberry Fields Forever" remains the most celebrated use of the instrument on a pop or rock recording.{{sfn|Brend|2005|p=57}}{{sfn|Prendergast|2003|p=83}} Mike Pinder, whose band the Moody Blues went on to make extensive use of Mellotron and swarmandal in their work,{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=67}} said he was "in bliss" when he heard the keyboard's flute sound on the Beatles' single.<ref name="MikePinder" /> Together with the resonant tone of Starr's drums, the cello arrangement on "Strawberry Fields Forever", as with "[[I Am the Walrus]]", was much admired by other musicians and producers, and proved highly influential on 1970s bands such as [[Electric Light Orchestra]] and [[Wizzard]].{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=219}}

Walter Everett identifies the song's ending as an example of the Beatles' continued pioneering of the "fade-out–fade-in coda", further to their use of this device on the 1966 B-side "Rain". He cites "[[Helter Skelter (song)|Helter Skelter]]" as a later example, as well as [[Led Zeppelin]]'s 1969 track "[[Thank You (Led Zeppelin song)|Thank You]]" and, as a direct response to the Beatles' lead, both sides of [[the Rolling Stones]]' August 1967 single, "[[We Love You]]" and "[[Dandelion (Rolling Stones song)|Dandelion]]".{{sfn|Everett|2009|p=154}} According to historian David Simonelli, further to "Tomorrow Never Knows" in 1966, "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" "establish[ed] the Beatles as the most avant-garde [pop] composers of the postwar era". He also says that the single heralded the group's brand of [[Romanticism]] as a central tenet of psychedelic rock, which ensured that "The Beatles' vision dominated the entire rock music world."{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|p=106}} In his contribution to the book ''[[In Their Lives: Great Writers on Great Beatles Songs]]'', [[Adam Gopnik]] describes the single as the 1960s' most important work of art and "the one that articulated the era's hopes for a crossover of pop art and high intricacy".<ref>{{cite news|first=Anthony|last=Quinn|title=In Their Lives: Great Writers on Great Beatles Songs review – musical madeleines|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jul/06/in-their-lives-great-writers-great-beatles-songs-review|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=6 July 2017|access-date=7 March 2019}}</ref>

Further to the band's pioneering use of promotional films since 1965, the clip for the song served as an early example of what became known as a [[music video]].{{sfn|Austerlitz|2007|pp=17–18, 19}}{{sfn|Frontani|2007|pp=132–33}} In 1985, the "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" clips were the oldest selections included in the New York [[Museum of Modern Art]] (MoMA)'s exhibition of the most influential music videos.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yCQEAAAAMBAJ&q=Strawberry+Fields+Forever&pg=PT109 |author=New York staff|title=Clips Receive an Artful Showcase|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|date=31 August 1985|access-date=15 December 2017|page=51}}</ref> The two films occupied a similar place in MoMA's 2003 "Golden Oldies of Music Video" exhibition, where they were presented by avant-garde artist [[Laurie Anderson]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.moma.org/exhibitions/film/2003/oldies.html |title=Film Exhibitions: Golden Oldies of Music Video|publisher=[[Museum of Modern Art]]|year=2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070718040116/http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/film/2003/oldies.html |archive-date=18 July 2007|access-date=15 December 2017}}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|In his book on the history of the music video, Saul Austerlitz recognises the two 1967 clips as superior to efforts by the Beatles' contemporaries and a development on the band's work with director [[Michael Lindsay-Hogg]] in 1966.{{sfn|Austerlitz|2007|p=18}} He also says they lack a satisfactory resolution to the concepts and innovative ideas they introduce, however, and concludes: "The Beatles' videos laid the table for future music-video experiments in symbolism, but their own symbols were, for the most part, muddled and unclear."{{sfn|Austerlitz|2007|pp=18–19}}}} The "Strawberry Fields Forever" clip also provided the inspiration for the start of the fan [[vidding]] phenomenon in 1975.{{sfn|Brode|Brode|2015|p=170}} [[Kandy Fong]], influenced by the Beatles not attempting to perform the music,<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/44/64 |first=Francesca|last=Coppa|title=Women, ''Star Trek'', and the early development of fannish vidding|journal=[[Transformative Works and Cultures]]|date=July 2008|volume=1|number=1|doi=10.3983/twc.2008.044|access-date=15 December 2017|doi-access=free}}</ref> set images from the ''[[Star Trek]]'' TV series to an apparently unrelated musical soundtrack.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101154811 |first=Neda|last=Ulaby|title=Vidders Talk Back to Their Pop-Culture Muses|publisher=[[NPR]]|date=25 February 2009|access-date=15 December 2017}}</ref>

===Strawberry Field, accolades and cultural depictions===
[[Image:Strawberry fields liverpool.jpg|thumb|right|Heavily graffiti-ed gatepost sign at Strawberry Field – with the word "Forever" added in acknowledgement of the Beatles song]]

Strawberry Field became a popular visiting place for fans of Lennon and the Beatles as a result of the song.<ref name="BBC News">{{cite news|author=BBC News staff|title=Beatles' Strawberry Fields gates removed |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-13344102 |publisher=[[BBC News]]|date=10 May 2011|access-date=15 December 2017}}</ref><ref name="DT">{{cite news|author=Telegraph staff|title=Not even Strawberry Field's forever|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1481076/Not-even-Strawberry-Fields-forever.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1481076/Not-even-Strawberry-Fields-forever.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|date=13 January 2005|access-date=15 December 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref> In 1975, the Liverpool Public Relations Office published a tourism media package titled ''Nothing to Get Hung About'', which contained Beatles-related postcards and history, and a map of Liverpool.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=219}} By 2011, the level of graffiti left by visitors at Strawberry Field had forced the Salvation Army to have the entrance gates removed<ref name="BBC News" /> and later relocated to the Beatles Experience centre in Liverpool.<ref name="Arnold/Times" />{{refn|group=nb|The children's home closed in January 2005. On his death in December 1980, Lennon left money to Strawberry Field in his will,<ref name="Fontenot/About2" /> and in 1984 his widow, [[Yoko Ono]], donated £50,000 to help maintain the home.<ref name="DT" />}} In July 2017, the Salvation Army began raising funds – through the sale of T-shirts and mugs emblazoned with "Nothing is real" and other lines from Lennon's lyrics – to help finance the construction of a new building at Strawberry Field. The purpose of the building is to help provide job opportunities for young adults with learning difficulties, and to commemorate Lennon, in both an indoor exhibition and a "garden of spiritual reflection".<ref name="Arnold/Times">{{cite news|first=Damian|last=Arnold|title=Salvation Army unlocks spirituality of John Lennon's Strawberry Field|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/salvation-army-unlocks-spirituality-of-john-lennons-strawberry-field-ppnlhmv7f |newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=8 July 2017|access-date=13 December 2017}}</ref>

The [[Strawberry Fields (memorial)|Strawberry Fields memorial]] in New York's [[Central Park]] is named after the song.<ref name="nycdpr">{{cite web |url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/historical_signs/hs_historical_sign.php?id=12890 |title=Strawberry Fields |publisher=New York City Department of Parks & Recreation |access-date=16 December 2007}}</ref> The memorial and the Strawberry Fields area of the park, spanning 3.5 acres, was officially dedicated by [[Yoko Ono]] in Lennon's memory in October 1985.{{sfn|Badman|2001|p=359}}{{refn|group=nb|The song also inspired the title of the most widely known of the Beatles' many US [[fanzines]], ''Strawberry Fields Forever''. Its publisher, Joe Pope, organised the prototype for the official Beatles fan conventions (such as [[Beatlefest]]) with an event held in [[Boston, Massachusetts]] in July 1974.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2010|pp=299–300, 303}}}} In addition to referencing "Strawberry Fields Forever" in its title, the 2013 Spanish film ''[[Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed]]'' is a fictional account based on real-life events when a 41-year-old teacher from [[Cartagena, Spain|Cartagena]] visited Lennon in Almería when he was writing the song.{{sfn|Turner|2016|pp=524–26}}

"Strawberry Fields Forever" is one of the [[Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]]'s "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll" and in 1999 was inducted into the [[The Recording Academy|National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences]]' [[Grammy Hall of Fame]].{{sfn|Womack|2014|p=874}} In the June 1997 issue of ''[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]'' magazine, [[Jon Savage]] included "Strawberry Fields Forever" in his list "Psychedelia: The 100 Greatest Classics" and wrote: "When this first came on radio in early 1967, it sounded like nothing else, with its wracked vocal, out-of-tune brass section and queasy strings."<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Jon|last=Savage|title=Psychedelia: The 100 Greatest Classics|magazine=[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]|date=June 1997|pages=61–62}} Available at [https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/psychedelia-the-100-greatest-classics Rock's Backpages] (subscription required).</ref> In 2004, ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' ranked the track at number 76 on its list of the "[[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time|500 Greatest Songs of All Time]]",{{sfn|Womack|2014|p=874}} a placing the song retained in the magazine's 2011 list,<ref name="rs500s">{{cite web|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/500songs|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070225151511/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/500songs|author=Rolling Stone staff|title=500 Greatest Songs of All Time: 76. The Beatles, 'Strawberry Fields Forever'|publisher=[[Rolling Stone|rollingstone.com]]|date=7 April 2011|archive-date=25 February 2007|url-status=dead|access-date=21 December 2017}}</ref> then was re-ranked at number 7 on its 2021 list, the band's highest placement.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-songs-of-all-time-1224767/the-beatles-strawberry-fields-forever-2-1225331/|title=Strawberry Fields Forever ranked #7 on Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Songs List|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=15 September 2021|access-date=16 September 2021}}</ref> On a similar list compiled by ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]'' in 2006, it appeared at number 31.{{sfn|Womack|2014|p=874}} In 2010, ''Rolling Stone'' placed "Strawberry Fields Forever" at number 3 on its list of the "100 Greatest Beatles Songs".{{sfn|Womack|2014|p=875}}<ref name=RollingStone100>{{cite web|author=Rolling Stone staff|title=100 Greatest Beatles Songs: 3. Strawberry Fields Forever |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-greatest-beatles-songs-20110919/strawberry-fields-forever-19691231|publisher=[[Rolling Stone|rollingstone.com]]|access-date=21 May 2013}}</ref> It was ranked as the second-best Beatles song by ''Mojo'' in 2006, after "[[A Day in the Life]]".<ref name="MojoList">{{cite magazine|last=Alexander|first=Phil|title=The 101 Greatest Beatles Songs|magazine=[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]|date=July 2006|page=83|display-authors=etal}}</ref>