Editing Strawberry Fields Forever (section)

===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>