45 Release Stats:
UK: February 13, 1967
US: February 17, 1967
Chart Position: #2
"Strawberry Fields Forever" was on a double A-sided single.
"Penny Lane" was on the other side of the 45.
LP Release Stats:
Album: Magical Mystery Tour
UK: December 8, 1967
US: November 27, 1967
Recording Stats:
Dates: November 24 - December 1966
Studio: Abbey Road Studios, London, England
Song History:
Although this song is credited as "Lennon/McCartney" it is widely known that this is a Lennon composition.
While filming the move How I Won The War in Almeria, Spain, John Lennon began to write "Strawberry Fields Forever". This was also around the time that John started to get into heavier drugs such as, LSD, which is highly evident in this song. The sound of this song was a teaser as to what was to come, with their next album being Sgt. Pepper's....
Recording History:
When recording this song, there were many takes (26+), and with all the takes, John decided that he liked the first minute of Take 7 (the "acid rock" version) and the ending of Take 26 (the "chamber" version).
He left the task of somehow editing these two takes together to George Martin. Which he did, wonderfully, although you can hear the edit of the 2 takes if you listen closely to the song at 59 seconds or 1 minute.
For more information about the editing of these two takes please click here or Google it.
Strawberry Fields (The Place):
Yes, Strawberry Fields is a real place. It is/was a Salvation Army orphanage in Woolton (suburban area of South Liverpool, England). John and his friends Pete Shotton and Ivan Vaughan used to play in the trees as children.
There is also the name of a memorial in New York City's Central Park. The Strawberry Fields Memorial is a garden which is located on Central Park West at 72nd Street, which is directly across from the Dakota building (the place of Lennon's killing). It serves as a memorial for not only John but of George Harrison and other rockers that have passed. It also been home of candle light vigils for the 9-11 attacks
Source:
All the information above was gathered from Wikipedia.Org but edited by me.
