"Strawberry Fields Forever" by the Beatles

[A Thug Named Slickback]

No matter how you look at it, this song is genius. It just may be my favorite Beatles song. It hit #2 in the UK and #8 in the US in 1967.

The arrangements on this record are so complex and detailed, especially for the 1960s. It was like they toyed around with every convention of pop music to produce one of the most sonically interesting psychedelic records from the decade. The thing that I admire most about the Beatles is that they took creative risks with their material and still came up with hits, unlike many of their contemporaries who gained chart success through formulaic songs.

The flipside to this record was another classic: "Penny Lane." Interestingly, both songs were based on actual places from their childhood.

[mst3k]

This song is so cool. I love the story of how they used two takes sung in different keys/tempos, slowed one of them down until it almost matched the other, and edited them together to make the final song. And of course the bit of weirdness that follows the false fadeout... featuring the infamous line "Cranberry sauce / I buried Paul".

[joker]

Love this song.. one of their very best. I also liked when a couple demo versions were included on Anthology 2, so you could get a sense of the song's evolution.

[Ginger Spice]

One of my all time favorite Beatles songs, if not my favorite. The ending used to scare the shit out of me, though. ESPECIALLY when I learned about all the Paul is Dead stuff. I read an entire fucking book about it, lmao.

[Deleted]

One of my favorites by them.

[Ginger Spice]

A neat video about the recording's conception.

[Ernesto]

I love this record. These four mates were geniuses, all of them. My favourite is Sir Paul, though.
My older brother had the single with "Penny Lane" on the A side and "Strawberry Fields Forever" on the other. The sleeve was sort of a map of the two places. Very cool stuff.

[leonagwen]

My favorite Beatles song.