The Craziest Edit in Beatles History
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- Опубликовано: 25 май 2019
- Strawberry Fields Forever is one of the Beatles' most well-known and beloved songs. But you might not have realized that the final version of the song is actually two completely different takes of the song, stitched together seamlessly by the talented team of engineers at Abbey Road Studios.
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Behold, the first beat drop in the world.
Underrated comment
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That is if you ignore Beethoven Mozart Brahms
Mr. Mackey ok ploopy
@@jasonvoorhees9190 Shhh! He's tripping.
“Let me take you down cus I’m- GOING TO STRAWBERRY FIELDS”
Woah, John, calm down!
For some reason - THAT COMMENT WAS FUNNY.
Cus im *G O I N G T O S T -*
Strawberry Fields--the Pot Take vs. the Crank Take
Don't worry, he's just stoned from drugs.
Danger 5
I've always noticed the sound changing throughout this song and thought it was intentional to make it psychedelic.
Daniel Me too!
I love stuff like that. I live for mind-melting Psychedelic musical voyages.
@@SonGoku-iw4zk Amind brother Amind
@@SonGoku-iw4zk Gong, Floyd, Hawkwind, FSOL, Soft Machine :) lol loads
@@SonGoku-iw4zk I hate it
Ringo's drumming - *intensifies*
Ringo's drumming - methodical
I wouldn't call the drumming in the intro " methodical". Listen again; it's that great Ringo rolling lope that no one else can do. Dude's not phoning it in.
Paul bass drums - intensifies
I gotta ask... after it's all said and done.. could it have POSSIBLY sounded better and more bad-assed than this? I just don't think so!
Yes, Ringo's drumming does intensify. He was banging his head against the walls more powerfully as each second passed
I always noticed this, but I just figured it was always intentional, like the drugs just kicked in and such.
Joseph John-Ramos yea, I noticed it too. the music is heavily free form and the perfect definition of psychedelic
Like a very commonly written key change, even.
I thought it was kinda like a getting suddenly blasted out of reality, like as you said "the drugs kicked in" I thought the voice pitching was part of a deprivation of senses or something.
@@ajorsomething4935 yeah same
Especially with the lyric "nothing is real"
I think John's deeper vocals is what made me like this song so much, consciously or subconsciously
Ikr it adds the high, dark, and intense element of the song
I noticed it but thought it was an intentional drop to darken the lyric.
@duggie25 No no, he was unconscious when he first heard the song
@@SansBinky damn you
Beatles Club 4 Life
Basically, this is reiterating what most already knew: George Martin was the fifth Beatle.
The fifth but not the Best...
For further proof of this, cue the orchestral track of "I Am the Walrus." For starters.
@@salmanuel4053 agreed, George Best was the 5th Beatle, at least in '66
Stuart.
Except the splice of the tape was the work of Geoff Emerick.
REMEMBER: Strawberry Fields is where they played as KiDS.. and the nostalgia resonated with them as they grasped at the bittersweet loss.. hence - not just "a drug song"
The narrator didn't say it was a drug song. He just mentioned that this was the period of time The Beatles were experimenting with LSD. But he even says that it wasn't what made their music great, it just explains the switch in mindset and vision they had when compared to their first albums.
The thing is the drug itself is very much about revisiting memories you may have forgotten about entirely. It’s not some colorful world of giggles, lsd can take you deep into your own mind and give you insight you may never have had. With that said I think the point youre making here does not detract from the influence of lsd on the making of this song. It just shows how powerfully therapeutic the drug can be. The Beatles using lsd should be seen as a groundbreaking acceptance of psychedelics in modern society, but because of stigma and propaganda people would rather forget about the time the Beatles got a bit more “criminal”.
The experience of lsd is far more profound than the concepts of bitter sweetness and nostalgia. It makes you feel like you never even scratched the surface of such emotions. Why do you think weak people can’t handle the drug? Because it forces them to face problems such as identity, guilt, loss, depression, with such deep realization, that it destroys their ego. I only write so detailed about this to show just how much deeper LSD goes than these surface level ideas.
Only John played at SF.
The drugs were the Pointe dichotomy of the Reckoning of childhood choices now which makes it completely revolving around the choices made in their life that were revolving around the park the tempo of free expression into the drug culture and without the nostalgic reminiscence of the Innocence Lost it the song juxtaposed drug affiliation is only completed with ignorance uninformed
“You can’t unhear this”
Do I want to finish the video?
Go for it. It's just some interesting context
Yes you do, it makes the song even better
If you know the song, you've already noticed what he points out, so you won't have anything ruined for you. The video just takes what you've been hearing forever and explains how they accomplished it, in musician's terms.
I paused at 0:20 to find this comment. Thank you, I shall continue
Yes
“By this point the Beatles were experimenting heavily with LSD which,,,,
probably explains a lot...”
Fuck off with your psychedelic stigma
@@brodyc4114 --WHAT????
Send me magic mushrooms, - *N O W!*
@@brodyc4114 She was just quoting the video...
I think@@brodyc4114 has been experimenting with LSD which....
...probably explains a lot.
I dont see how anyone could ever write a song on enough lsd to fuck u up
The genius of George Martin. I always remember a BBC interview where he talked about the recordings he made with The Beatles. For this one, when John Lennon said he wanted to start with take 7 and end with take 26, Martin told him they couldn't do that because they were in different keys and at different tempos. Lennon said "I'm sure you can figure it out!" Martin then realized that the faster take was also in the higher key, so slowing it down with varispeed would bring it closer to the other take in both tempo and pitch. By a miracle, it just happened to perfectly match. Lennon got back, heard it, and said, "See? I knew you could do it!" and walked off, leaving Martin thinking, "...You cheeky bastard. You just regularly expect the impossible..."
This edit (and most other Beatles edits where two takes are spliced together) is much more noticeable in earlier releases, as George Martin has since gone back and redone the edits to make them more seamless.
John, Paul, George and Ringo + George Martin = musical alchemy
...and Geoff Emerick, of course.
BFisch ~ your comment almost makes George Martin sound like Scottie to Lennon's Capt. Kirk. :)
Thanks, phenomenal story.
This explanation has always seemed suspect to me. If the song had been in a different key, but the same tempo or a different tempo, but the same key-it wouldn’t have worked. It all just fell together too neatly. I suspect either George Martin planned it that way and never told John-or John planned it that way and never told George. Either way, someone intentionally changed both speed and tempo at exactly the same ratio, so that when the tape was slowed down it would match the other take.
The song is 60 years old, and I’m still listening in 2020, thats evolution.
Guess you're a velvet evolver
Not quite 60, 1960 was 60 years ago
Math much?
@@BrownsburgKevin eh not really. My mom is 60 so that's what I'm going by
man some of you guys are slow
I'm 65 and often I realize that being young and really alive during the time of the Beatles was a fortunate, lucky gift. Thanks for the cool info.
I am 62 and I have always said the same thing, we were certainly lucky.
63 and remember when ‘ I Am The Walrus ‘ hit the streets it changed the whole music world. That was the craziest, weird sounding thing ever and if it was anyone else but the beloved Beatles it would probably never have been played
@@michaelszczys8316 you dont know me yet
@@michaelszczys8316 That is one of my best ever songs, for me all the Beatles songs are like my children, its hard to say which one I love more than the other.
I'm only 25 and far from a big Beatles fan but it blows my mind how much innovation came from them in the studio making these classic masterpieces.
The "Engineers" you refer to was just ONE engineer, and his name was Geoff Emerick. It was HE who did the masterful work of joining the two pieces together. RIP Geoff!!
oldredbarnman didn’t both George Martin and Geoff Emerick work on the edit
@@robertdominguez6002 both of them holding one pair of scissors?
Wrong.
Geoff Emerick - 1st engineer
Richard Lush - 2nd engineer
Also involved:
Ken Townsend - technical engineer (responsible for solving the problem of syncing two Studer J37 four-track machines for A Day In The Life).
It's definitely _engineers_.
Geoff was mostly or rather fully responsible for all the innovating sounds we can hear. Geoff describes in his book that he was the one that figured out how splice the two different takes and speed one up while slowing the other one down. Even then we know Geoff and George Martin where working very closely together. But I wish Geoff would get the recognition he deserves with the Beatles sonic innovations. I see George Martin get a lot of credit or people will never speak on how the Beatles achieved so many different sounds never heard before
@@joahanramirez5811
True, but Ken Townsend shouldn't be forgotten: the 'flange/ADT" thing was his, as was the syncing of two J37s with a VCO and a power amplifier driving the second machine from the first by using a 50Hz sine wave recorded on track 1.
All I can focus on is the "Paul is dead" theory because he's facing backward on the album cover.
Lmao me too. I cant unsee all of the subtle references and hints that he is dead.
He just wants you to look at his bum
M M
I was thinking the same thing
Was thinking same thing. Plastic Paul I mean Plastic Soul.
You mean, Faul. 🤔
I can’t hear this song without a recent memory haunting me: I went to The Beatles Story meuseum in Liverpool a month ago and in the Seargent Pepper section, I wasn’t looking where I was going and tripped and fell in the mock grave as Strawberry Fields Forever played
Coverdrivegirl shut up bruh
Well, John did take you down
Let me take you down 😶
Coverdrivegirl - that’s hilarious
I miss liverpool
Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see.
genius, just a genius. period
That's John Lennon for ya
...Or hear. :)
Not that genius, it's only because he makes the lyrics more subtle like many rock bands do. Read some of Kurt Cobain lyrics and you'll realise he's a lyrical genius, mainly because he's not emphasizing his masterpieces.
I had "living is easy with eyes closed" engraved on my first iPod when I started college. Always loved that statement.
Tash Cobain has nothing on Lennon despite how good Cobain was
It definitely sounds deliberate. Like when LSD starts kicking in lol!
it most likely was
Because it was 2 different recordings they had to be matched pitch wise to maintain consistency but retain it’s unique intention which is music making genius imo
i noticed this about the song while on lsd haha
@@danklordylord3783 same here man, it was abundant back then in high school
epiphonium same also here it’s such a different experience.
I have always thought that John wanted you to feel as if you were entering "strawberry Fields" As he sings let me take you down cause I'm going to .....enter the fields and the magical enhancement of instruments and sounds. Like when you enter OZ in the wizard of oz, the movie switches from B&W to COLOR.
yes like the memory kicks,,, or fall inte the memories... or tha acid stats his thing... evrithing slowded, distorted... Jungian
Same here!
this is exactly how i feel listening to it
As usual, if John says something bad about any of his tracks, then it's definitely a masterpiece.
Only an expression of John's, not to mention George's, complaint that Paul was selfish. His belief that Paul, with complicity of George Martin, hogged studio time in favor of McCartney songs to the neglect of Lennon songs. Funny how McCartney was such a "perfectionist" with regard to his songs as a Beatle and so perfunctory as a solo artist.
@@Kermit_T_Frog so they complained that Paul wanted his music to sound perfect to him? 😅 sounds like they just didn't appreciate good music production due to a difference in opinion. They kinda liked playing live and getting it done - for a long time. George even admitted later on he and Paul just have 2 different styles of practicing the song too.
@@ibkristykat The production values on Paul's solo albums were nothing great. Often plain bad. And I don't know what you are talking about with regard to difference in style, other than that George didn't like Paul's much. As was the often the case with John and even Ringo. Most certainly when it came to Paul's solo work. Case in point,? "Back Off Boogaloo."
@@Kermit_T_Frog have you never seen the Get Back series? You can kinda hear Paul say he wanted the song to be practiced and George wanted to riff and play along until they figured it out. I saw George H. Interviews in the 80s that summed it up as I already stated - "we have different styles in the studio. I prefer the live jams that get recorded and Paul will want to perfect everything first and I just don't like that".
So yes most of them had different styles that maybe made them a little snootier about Paul's style. Instead of letting it be they would argue and insult at times toward the end. Kinda sad really. George was growing into his style and taking the reigns and insisting his stuff get heard too while John & Paul led as they always did. There was a level of hierarchy in the band it seemed while also being a real band. One person argued with me that it was John's band. It was in the 50s. Then it became a BAND with all 4 contributing and having a say. If they didn't why do you hear studio audio letting us hear them argue with George M. About the sound they wanted much less each other.
@@Kermit_T_Frog anywho I like Paul's work regardless of your POV
I'm still pissed that EMI never gave The Beatles access to better recording equipment and studios in the early days.
John Alesi maybe a blessing? The engineering required to circumvent this limitation was masterful!
Right. There is an Abbey Road Paul's isolated bass floating around on RUclips. As wonderful as Paul's musical ideas for the bass were the actual sound of the bass is thin and disappointing. Imagine having the band's best instrumentalist on his primary instrument and not giving it the full, rich sound it deserved. Not sure what George Martin was thinking there. Paul's ideas alone save the lackluster recording quality.
or their later days...
“The enemy of art is the absence of limitations.” - Orson Welles
In the early days the facilities at Abbey Road were state of the art for the early sixties, they were as good as they got at that time. It was not till around 67-68 that eight track recorders became available, and EMI had one of the first, which the Beatles and the engineers used before it had been fully tested by the Abbey Road technical department and approved for use.
If Paul was sabotaging Johns work then I think he owes Paul a debt of gratitude. I wish someone like Paul would sabotage my work.
It's an odd statement, especially considering John in many quarters still is regarded as the experimental Beatle. And in 1980 he appears to be whining about it.
@@EmileJoulbert John was making excuses for his own wishy-washiness (and drug-addledness), for the most part. On the other hand, as George Martin said, John's imagination was always beyond what could be put on tape, at least in that period. If you hear it one way in your head, and it sounds different in the end, you might be disappointed. Blaming Paul was just spiteful and silly.
He sabotaged the beginning of this song with his mellotron intro.
@@EmileJoulbert As I understand it, Paul is regarded in many quarters as the experimental Beatle. Paul is the one who was into the avante garde art scene, and was working with George Martin to come up with cool sounds. John seemed extremely bothered by all that, even said some nasty things about George Martin and refused to work with him again at one point. And you can see in John's solo work, trying to get back to just rock n roll. I mean, choosing Phil Spector in itself is a statement. And then this comment, which in that context makes perfect sense.
Brian Quinn, haha, great comment.
Real reason:
John had voice crack for a whole minute
XD
That evil genius Paul McCartney at it again, subconsciously sabotaging this song so that it would become one of the most epic songs ever recorded. John really needed to lay off the mind-bending drugs.
John really needed to do whatever the fuck he wanted.
Freshcookies 21 Paul didn’t do anything leave him alone! :(
@@Lucille_McCartney73 try reading what I wrote again. This time s l o w l y...
Freshcookies 21 I did and my response is the same. Ik u said “sabotaging this song so it would become one of the most epic songs ever recorded” but I get upset when ppl say Paulie sabotaged or something. Also, love your profile pic! Just noticed!
@@Lucille_McCartney73 the narrator says something about John "being unhappy with the outcome of the song, even suggesting that Paul was subconsciously sabotaging the song..." so it's not how *I* feel, rather mine was a sarcastic response to John's crazy theory. Get it?
I though you were gonna talk about the "fookin hell" in Hey Jude
he already has, it's his first video
TDREYER100 lol
I've always noticed the transition, and always thought of it as an audio representation of the wavy, warping visuals you sometimes see on acid trips.
Imagine if strawberry fields forever didn’t have the beat drop
In my humble opinion. "All You Need Is Love", "Strawberry Fields" and "Penny Lane" were the Beatles at their peak.
Magical Mystery Tour album :)
@@stephanelarocque77 That's it. i keep going back to Side 2 these days.
@@stephanelarocque77 _Strawberry Fields_ and _Penny Lane_ were intended for _Sgt. Pepper's_ . The Beatles were pressured into releasing them as a double-sided single by the record company.
If strawberry fields wasn't released like that, I don't think it would have been as good a song.
if it hadn't been done like that it would have been more like a simple ballad, haven't you heard all the takes of it yet?
I don't prefer the original take 26. Final product was perfect.
James Harwell But it's not perfect. It's just what we're used to because it's the final official product. Quite frankly, I agree with George Martin who said to his dying day that it was purer and more emotional when it started with the first verse and not the chorus.
That being said, I think John's delivery in take 26 is too frenetic, which was probably a product of all the excitement involved. Slowing it down was for the best, but it should have been sung slower to begin with, not simply had the tape slowed down which muddied and slurred John's beautiful voice. Dare I say it - it did what Autotune does- it removed the human feel from the vocal performance.
I wish they kept the ending from take 7
Take 7 made sense, but the final product was so unique and dark that it was just pure innovation and a heavy experience for any listener who expected another happy beatles song.
I think take 26 sounded a little too fast and happy, I'm glad they went with the final
Unless you were there, you can't imagine what it was like as a young boy in the sixties hearing this and having no idea how they did it, but knowing that it was special. Knowing how it was done just reinforces what we knew all along, The Beatles were the best band ever!
“John Lennon said that he wasn’t pleased when the final edit came out.”
Really? John Lennon wasn’t happy about a thing? Then he blamed Paul McCartney? So out of character...
stop. just stop. john was a wonderful person. please stop acting like he isnt.
@@braedynadams2827 What about John actually made him a good person? The part where he beat his wife? How about when he abandoned his son? How about when he cheated on Yoko? John was a legitimately terrible person. Good music does not equal good person.
@@jesslesinski he never beat his wife, you just havent done research, yoko forced him to stay away from julian, and he never cheated on yoko so..
@@jesslesinski You're just spreading more lies about John! He never beat his wife, he never cheated on Yoko and he was forced to stay away from Julian! Also he was a peace activist who helped fight for equal rights and expose the corrupt politicians! He was a great person! You just don't do research. You're lying so I'd advise you to do more research before spreading such misinformation. Shut up!
@@braedynadams2827 "I used to be cruel to my woman, and physically - any woman. I was a hitter. I couldn't express myself and I hit. I fought men and I hit women. That is why I am always on about peace." - John Lennon in All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
Also, I guess you've never heard of May Pang and the lost weekend?
It definitely makes it sound like you're on a "trip" when you listen to it. Not that I have been on one, literally, but have an imagination
same here! I like the kind of psych that makes you see things BEFORE you take the drugs! Who needs drugs when you have an imagination?
@@RedVynil Some parts of their album Magical Mystery Tour were trippy to one's with imagination.
Yes, I know! I've got most of it ready to go into The Enpsychlopedia. The only ones I'm not using are the two Paul songs.
@@RedVynil I'm sure you don't need drugs, but acid makes everything better man
No, thanks. I'll stay straight.
after viewing this video, I am still convinced that Strawberry Fields Forever remains a masterpiece
I agree Timothy. David L. Saelens (drummer, Rock Island, IL.) Posted 30 May 2019.
And youd be right. Along with about 20-25 other Beatle Masterpieces.
I'm still crushed that in 2023, after a lifetime of devouring Beatles' hits that I've only now found that there was no harpsichord in "In My Life".
Once you realize that it's a sped-up piano, it's pretty much impossible to un-hear it!
I’ve listened to Strawberry Fields hundreds of times and never tire of it, owing much to the incredible production. It’s candy for the ears. Oh, and the drumming... how it builds and propels the song... quintessential Ringo and totally original.
Exactamundo!!!!!!!!!
Love the electric guitar linking the lines at the start.
Fun. I've actually thought that it sounds slowed down. Nice to have it confirmed.
Same here.
Slowed down works well for the mood of the song....wouldn't have it any other way.
Yeah I thought the same thing.
Yeah it makes his voice sound more trippy, which I feel adds to the lyric...
its a piece of artwork ,,,edited or not ..very interesting tho,,,
I noticed the switch up during a shroom trip but I thought it was just cuz the shrooms
how good did it feel to know it wasn’t just the shrooms?
guatemalantomcat
👍🏽🤣!!!
NPC Slayer Interesting you would’ve been disappointed, I feel like I found a gem.
Mushrooms help us understand music.
Shrooms and acid really make things stand out more
What impressed me was, not only the PITCH matched, but the TEMPO matched also.
This is what I find almost hard to believe. How did they both magically match up?
I'd just like to thank this channel. For making this video and introducing me to an absolute masterpiece of a song.
John didn't like his voice. He thought it was too light. He wanted it darker. I think much more was slowed down in their catalogue.
You're right! Slowed down and sped up.
Paul got much stronger voice than John. Listen to Sgt Peppers or A Hard Day's Night. HDN was actually written by John but he couldn't reach the notes in the bridge so Paul sang it. There's no comparsion man, Paul was much much better singer. But John got something in his voice that was alluring.
So Paul had a larger vocal range than John! That doesn't make one any better than the other.
Actually it does, cos you can sing more stuff.
But you can always train yourself to sing in another octave range! Wayne Newton always sounded like a girl until he got tired of Johnny Carson teasing him about his high voice so, he got someone to get him to sing in a deeper register.
Sabotaging?? I wish McCartney would "sabatoge" things I do.
+No,Isaidposse Honestly, that sounds like something Yoko would say. She probably put that in John's head.
Maybe you mean Billy Shears...
@@jpoeste Billy Faul still fooling them all
@@OldSchoolVibes1978 So true!
I want Paul McCartney to sabotage my asshole
Strawberry Fields Forever is a masterpiece
John: "I'm really digging these two totally different takes done at different tempos and in different keys."
George Martin: "Yeah, they both sound great. Let's do another take and see if we can combine some of those ide--"
John: "Just go ahead and figure out a way to splice them together."
George Martin: ...
John: "Both takes. In different keys. At different tempos. Together. So it sounds like one take."
George Martin: ...
John: "I'll wait."
Geoff Emerick: “I got you.”
This made me enjoy Strawberry Fields Forever even more.
same here, I just got a few new productions beatles albums basically for the quality, I don't always like to hear the crackling and popping of older original records, even though i do love them and own many originals. I played the sgt peppers lonely album for my 4 year old son and he absolutely loves it, his favorite songs are hello goodbye and strawberry fields, new beatles fan in the making
Same
John, as much as I love him, said a lot of stupid shit about the Beatles after it was over. If only he’d lived to see his legacy.
Totally agree with you. He was a complex person...
Self criticism and self awareness are very big signs of high intelligence.
After the split, he just wanted to move on from the Beatles, as he felt his writing style had changed. His thought was he and the others had grown musically from “I Want to Hold Your Hand”, and he vocalized that. Of course, calling certain songs throwaway shit and trite was stupid, but he just wanted people to know each of the Beatles was an individual, and shouldn’t have their current work tied to the past.
alfjgist c
It's not what Zephaniah says...It's how he says it.
I have a feeling John and Paul get more credit than they deserve and Martin doesn’t get enough...
I think any self-respecting Beatle fan knows that Martin was absolutely vital - the 5th Beatle, but so much of what he did, came from the seeds implanted by the boys themselves. I often get the impression that people almost want to give Martin actual song-writing credit and I don't think that's appropriate.
Freshcookies 21 Not all the time but In couple cases it absolutely would be IMHO. Eleanor Rigby for example. Martin’s string arrangements and orchestration is just as important as the words/melody.
Fact. But it’s one of those rare synergies the universe creates once or twice a century... Classically trained Geo Martin was wasting his pent-up creativity and talent recording spoken comedy albums... in walk these four kids... We’re talking about it almost 60 yrs later and they will still be talking about it 600 yrs. later.
You said it: opinion. We'll never really know. But what I do know is that a lot of what was orchestrated by Martin were ideas and musical suggestions by John, and Paul in particular, and that is no way meant to detract from Martin's contribution. ETA: the idea for the strings on Eleanor Rigby came directly from Paul (who in turn, was inspired by Bernard Herrmann). Paul had just watched Psycho and he went into the studio and told GM that he wanted a similar violin sound on Eleanor.
Shawn Ryan 😩
Just discovered this channel and I love it! I’m a massive recording geek so hearing all about how the Beatles and the engineers built the tracks is fascinating for me. If I may make one correction though, you say at 3:17 they used scissors to splice tapes together; they actually used razor blades. Excuse me being so pedantic
Yeah, scissors would be strange. A single-edge razor blade, a splicing block, a grease pencil and gen-yoo-wine splicing tape. And save those tiny bits of tape just there in case we need to put them back.
This just shows why George Martin was the 5th Beatle
Always thought that it said:
Let me take you down cause im going too
Strawberry fields
(Like separated phrases)
Me too!
LOL
Thats the trip with these lyrics
nothing is real
Never thought of it this way and I think it's brilliant.
That's why the first time i heard this song, I thought it was paul who was singing because the timbre of the voice was much closer to his than it is to john
As a child, the transition always resonated with me, it reminded me of my dark, nostalgic dreams. Lennon’s intuitive genius was that he knew the two tracks needed to be used and somehow tied together. The way in which Martin explains how John looked cunningly over his glasses as he left this complexity in Martin’s skillful hands is just brilliant. He could have easily re-recorded the other take, but the pitch shifting used creates an otherworldly effect, rather off-putting, as off-putting as nostalgia itself. Some may say a happy accident, but I’m inclined to believe Lennon knew instinctively that the experiment would work. That’s art. Incredible.
I have a copy of Take 7, guitar, bass, mellotron,drums, John's voice not slowed down. Sounds great.
Where and how did you get it?
@@tilesetter1953 It's on Spotify: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Deluxe Edition)
@@tilesetter1953 It's also on Anthology 2. I personally prefer take 7.
Take 7 is amazing
Excellent analysis and explanation. “Nostalgic fever dream” is brilliant.
Agreed. The perfect description. 😁👍🏻
Yeah,was that particular magic line that stood out for me too.Great words.World lacking of craftsmen hitting the nail.
And what you forgot to mention (don't know why) is that the take 26 was slowed down by hand, ie putting your finger on the tape machine to slow it down, which is even more brilliant
The song is an amazing peice that will last forever.
The song stands as a masterpiece regardless of what John said. John was a very moody kind of person, so depending on his mood when asked a question, any question, you just might get 10 different answers.
John also said Penny Lane was "granny music" so I take his criticism with a grain of salt, lol
@@carlosmatos9848 No matter what John might have said about any of their songs, he surely never complianed about the royalty checks coming in... :)
Carlos Matos Didn’t John also say that was what he said about Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da. If I remember the story correct, John hated Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da, and came into the studio supposedly high and angrily played the opening chords of the song, which weren’t in there before, which Paul kept in the final song. Argument got pretty heated, and Paul almost punched John.
...and he's exactly the only human on the planet that is entitled to opine. No, the finished song is a work of perfection. period.
Yes I agree, John was a GENIUS! Asshole at times, but I guess when you mix a scouse guy with super stardom, super richness and drugs you occasionally get brainstorms but that is the nature of the beast I guess
Also,if You listen closely,In Ringo's wild drum ending You will hear John's Cranberry Sauce,mistaken for I Buried Paul,spoken twice at the end.
In the original drum recording it is very clearly "cranberry sauce".
Damm at first i heard "im very bored"
So if John says “I buried Paul”, then Paul is really dead? Is that your theory? There’s no other option?
@@handle-schmandle Turn I buried Paul backwards and it sounds like ,Me, you , and John.
@@Rixxrox1969 I didn’t know that one. My point earlier is that “I buried Paul” doesn’t mean that Paul is really dead. It was just The Beatles messing with us.
ive always found this moment overwhelmingly menacing
Yes its dark & scary...
Back then nobody cared about having a "perfect" sound. People preferred music that sounded weird even if a bit uneven.
And that is how we arrived at EDM/dubstep
"Nostalgic fever dream" is probably the best description of the song. It's remembering old times, but the memories are somehow a little wrong... love this song.
George Martin explained this a long time ago. So did Lennon in the Rolling Stone Interview in 1980. Thanks for bringing it back. It's an interesting subject.
I’m wondering if y’all hear the edit in “cant buy me love” when Paul screams before the solo. You can clearly hear the cut and change of pitch not even a half a second after the lyric “money can’t buy me love”
Strawberry Fields Forever is an incredibly complex and experimental sounding song and doesn't seem unfinished to me. John discounted a lot of his songs which others find brilliant.
Absolutely Greg-now think of the brilliance of everyone-john,paul,George, Ringo, George Martin, Geoff Emeric,to have put out these timeless hits using a 4 trac tape machine, and a 6 channel tube console. (and when you see 5/6/7 year old kids singing all the lyrics to Beatles music, no other band(certainly not Muck and Screech from the 'best rock and rolling and rolling stunds. band in the world')have that kind of listenable catalog to this day!And they produced all these wonders on a 4 track machine and a 6 channel board. Artist now record on computers with 96/128 tracks and mix down on 80 channel consoles. GO FIGURE
@@willyrocker4746 John was insecure and would bash his own work, even his masterpieces, before anyone else could. He didn't know how to take praise graciously because he doubted it. A simple, "Yes... we think it turned out well," would have been good, but he couldn't say that. Maybe he could now, all these years later.
The fact that it's "experimental" is just another reason why this track is so good. Just like most of the Beatles' other songs, it's always about the song itself as well as how it was recorded.
When was the last time a track so innovative topped the charts? I think it speaks not only to them as artists but to the way society was willing to accept the experimentation
That's easily one of my favourite musical moments of The Beatles, it starts off so simple and quaint and it goes into a more desperate place where the longing for childhood goes into desperation and paranoia. Just great! Still more complex and nuanced than by far most of the rock bands that came after them...
Of course, I didn't know this was made up of 2 takes. I thought that it was the point of the song to go from this almost innocent, child-like view of the world into this gritty, battle-hardened adult with a now bitter and cynical point of view of the world that the singer descended into. Like the point of vocal change was the pinpoint of when hopelessness sinks in. Excellent video.
The reason the edit works is because the first part was originally in a lower key of E and at a slower tempo. The second part was done in a higher key at a faster tempo. The mixes were done with the playback machine running fast, bringing the key of E up to F and at the edit point engineer Geoff Emerick manually slows down the tape machine using a vari-speed control knob to match the keys and tempos. It's quite amazing how it all miraculously came together like that.
This has puzzled me since the first time I heard the track; my impression as a child was that the first part was recorded in the countryside and that they suddenly reach a crowded square.
I love hearing thoughts of when we were kids, this made me laugh. Kid logic is awesome. Ty for this
Despite John's final opinion, it's classic. Martin's work is nothing less than genius. Great commentary by the way.
P.s.
John was a perfectionist, except when it came to Yoko's singing.
P.s.s.
They say love is blind.
Apparently, for my favorite Beatle, it was also deaf when it came to Yoko's singing.
😊
Joe Ramirez I Geoff emerick needs crediting for the splice
Geoff should get a lot more credit than he does with everything he did to help bring the sounds the Beatles heard in there head to life!
@@SonicRave1 regarding Geoff, i completely agree
Paul was about implementation, John was about experimentation, George was about Spiritualism, Ringo was about realism. Heart Soul Body Mind all together it's what makes it so great.
According to George Martin's book, John wanted to re-record everything the Beatles had recorded. Apparently, for John "most of what the Beatles did was rubbish", especially SFF.
As for this, and nearly every other Beatles song, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I loved them just the way they are for all my life.
When this was released I went to my local record store. Bought the record and took it home. Listened to it over and over on Sunday. When I got home from school Monday (8th grade , Billings Montana) the record was gone. My mom had listened to it while I was ay school and returned it to the store and got my money back because she thought that the record was warped and defective. This edit is what pointed out, though neither of us knew edits were even possible back then. Thanx for posting this
Probably my favorite Beatles song. The arrangements are so amazing.
try to hear also Good Vibrations
I’ve always noticed the cuts, transitions etc. It’s never bothered me, because I’ve always assumed it was intentional. Nice to see everything broken down though!
First time I heard Strawberry Fields I was on an aircraft carrier off the California Coast late at night laying on the flight deck chilling while listening to an LA radio station. Looking at the stars and rocking back and forth. Blew me away. Definitely one of my favorite memories out of many in my love for the Beatles. Beatles 4 Ever!
All I know is that at that specific part of the song, while tripping... Talk about a fucking lift off. Your mind explodes. Fucking beautiful. It's like they knew...
Strawberry Fields Forever was the first record I ever bought, and I bought it as a 45, with Penny Lane on the other side. I absolutely loved it and played it to death. I had never heard music like that before.
It’s so awesomely edited that you can’t tell there’s a 19 take difference this shows how ingenious both the Beatles and their producers were
There is so much music in this song , this and, A day in the Life are two of the Beatles greatest
songs.
I’ve noticed the change in John’s voice since I bought the vinyl album. I notice every little thing in there singing and background noises and voices. I still have the 45 ‘If I Fell’, where Paul’s voice cracks. I just love them so much!
There will never be another Beatles. Their brilliant songs, lyrics, arrangements and recordings are unmatched.
Geo Zero true. There'll never be another beetles, but there may someday, be another group which creates as much revolutionary work of such High quality, But society now is even more buttoned down and intollerant of stepping outside the accepted ataus quothan it was when the beetles started out and at least as far as I can see it isnt ready to seeiously shake things up as happened in the 60's, I dint think that aveen if a few pople of equivalat talent, creativity and drive got together today,they wouldn't even be alloeed time when get I the stattingbox, much less get it n the track and in the race. But then again I dint think people in the late 50's and early 60s sensed that society was nearing a tipping point and that so much would change as dramatically as it did. Tho things are pretty bad and many are unhappy with the way things are the powers that be have grown more adept at nipping in the bud anything new which might threaten their control. The beetles could aprout and grow as they did in no small measure because the soil of society had a sort of fertilitywhixh nourished the, but now they have herbicides which kill such weeds before they even break the surface and GMO music which can survive the poisons they spray time kill those unwanted pest that manage to begin to take root and flourish. Not. Great analogy, but the point is as things are, even the Beetles wouldn't become the Beetles if they were starting off today. Many cinditionsoutside the group itself has to be just right for them to be able to become what they did and I don't think such a phenomenon could happen now. But who knows, as I've mentioned an awful lot of people aredissatuafued wirh the way things are now, so it's not impossible some major attitude adjustments might start happening more rapidly rhan one might expect. One never knows until it happens, or even until it's over. Agreed, never another Beetles, but simsrhing just as fantastic may eventually arise, but when it might happen is difficult to inpossible to so much as hazard a guess and having said that um guessing it isn't going to be any time soon.
@@oiudatropen9548 I remember when the Bay City Rollers hit the states. The Scotland fab four, (Or were there 5?) LOL. In any case they were hyped up as the next Beatles. Their fame was brief. Even briefer than the Beatles.
if take 26 isn't a sped up recording, i'll eat my hat.
Exactly what I thought
VS you win the internet for best name!
@@SikerScrapyard lol dude, it's SO obvious
@@SikerScrapyard i have played guitar and drums since i was 16, i understand tempo and key. and you are wrong
@@SikerScrapyard only way to solve this fellas, sample up the track take26 and start vari-speeding it around. My hunch would be it is as it is, faster and a key up but just my guess.
I’ve recently been trying to recreate Tomorrow Never Knows and when recording the drums I noticed slight time differences and not like what naturally happens when recording without a click track, like when someone has cut two takes together, great video!
This video not only reveals a breathtaking editing job by Geoff Emerick, but just what an ingrate Lennon could be. He demands the two takes be combined, knowing well the risk it may have on his voice, and then he goes on to blame Paul for this. It's just proof of how deep his insecurities were when it came to singing.
Great work by George Martin. He really was class.
Let's not forget engineer Geoff Emerick! He also worked on achieving this bit of brilliance. It's also worth noting that Martin and Emerick were working on this just a few days before Christmas of that year. There's always work to be done in Beatle land.
You can guarantee that it was an engineer that made the edit and probably first found the varispeed trick for getting the two versions together. I speak as an old sound engineer and sometime producer.
This is the video that got me into the Beatles. Thank you.
That's really awesome, I'm sure the poster is proud. You are not alone we are all a big family of Beatles fans.
I remember playing this new song for my neighborhood friend. He completely lost it, and started dancing around uncontrollably, as if it put him in a trance. I new the song was incredible because I had heard it a few times before. All us kids were head over heels with the Beatles because of their earlier records, but this record just completely blew our minds. Ringo man, just the most heavy drumming right there! The groove, the swing!
this is one of the best psychedelic songs i ever heard. the increasing darkness and density of the song as it progresses used to literally blow my mind when i used to listen while tripping back in the 70s and 80s. the beatles did some pretty awesome psychedelic work. strawberry fields forever, rain, tomorrow never knows, lucy in the sky with diamonds, ... a good set of headphones and a hit of decent blotter will show these songs in a whole new light to anyone that hasn't done so already.
the song is absolutely beautiful, but i'll never stop wondering how lennon wanted the song to end up sounding like!
I just want to note (as a former tape/studio recording engineer) that the Beatles were CONSTANTLY playing around with tape speeds, and tape (audio & sticky) editing as a way of life in those days. This is an interesting edit, but to understand the logic in how it was done - using the VSO ( variable speed oscillator) and marking the spot on the control where you had exactly 2 beats to slow it down by one half-step probably only took them five minutes to figure out. It is commendable and interesting that that they did it, but to say it is "the craziest edit in history" is far from accurate. It was very logical edit; two takes, one faster and recorded one 1/2-step higher, slowed down to match another take in a slower & lower key.
In fact - they did it the hard way. The easier way would have been to bounce the faster version with the VSO already on to clean tape and then just do the edit. It would have already been in the right key and speed - no playing with the VSO. I would not be surprised to learn that they tried this trick just to see how it would sound, and realized it would save them time (over my suggestion) and just went with it.
But they did far crazier edits in the studio - look up the history of Revolution #9, or the organ solos in "Benefit of Mr. Kite". - George Martin was far fonder of some of the edits in Sgt Peppers, such as the rooster that turns into a Guitar lick. And what about all the beautiful edits to create the "medley" on Abbey Road? I am guessing none of us has any idea how many edits were done in mixing these songs (hundreds, I am sure).
In the days before automation editing was how you made the perfect mix. Mixing was all done by hand and often required several coordinated moves. Engineers who could not edit had to do mixes top to bottom until they got one with no mistakes. Engineers who could edit mixed songs in sections until a mistake was made and then they would just stop the mix master, roll back the multi-track master and start mixing from the point where they left off. Then they would edit the two pieces together. Complicated mixes might have several edits, but tape editing is actually very easy once you learn how to do it.
And no - you would very rarely edit in the middle of a vocal - because it is much easier to hear perfect edit spots by referring to the drums tracks (when rolled backwards by hand there is an unmistakable reverse attack you can mark for the perfect cut down to the millisecond).
ruclips.net/video/aHw6JtS9xGY/видео.html
Thanks for sharing! I love learning more from experienced studio engineers about the analog era.
I'll admit I might have gone a bit far by calling it the "craziest" edit. That being said, few other singular edits in the Beatles catalog have as transformative an impact on the song as does the 1:00, mid-phrase splice in Strawberry Fields.
And I agree with your theory that the Beatles (and George Martin) often forsook the "easier" method in pursuit of the more creatively satisfying end result. That guiding philosophy was a big part of what makes their music so magical even today.
You Can't Unhear This I
The edit is "crazy" because of how crazy well it worked!
Paul Motter Why did you go to all this trouble with your essay talking over peoples heads with all your hi tech jargon.
Most of the posters are making simple appreciative comments but you had to come along and flood people with your opinion which is uncalled for and is tedious and boring.
Shouldnt you be up there with all the George Martins of this world with all that knowledge must be frustrating for you.
Dino Carlucci
" that the Beatles were CONSTANTLY playing around with tape speeds,"
This really only applies from around Revolver to the White Album. The other albums had little to no 'playing around' with tape speeds, so your CONSTANTLY is quite an exaggeration. They were also not constantly bothered by their technical elements, they were musicians and thus busy with making music as a whole. Tape speeds is just one of their tools they used sometimes.
I love this song, I remember being a kid , laying on our red carpet in front of the living room window , the sun beaming threw.
it's winter time in Michigan and I'm enjoying spring time in my mind listening to the Beatles
this song scared the shit out of me when i was tripping because of the change of tone. i hadn’t listen to it before and i was like o__0
Had no idea how it was done, but have always loved that transition.
Just a small correction - reel-to-reel tape was not cut with scissors but with a blade.
Knew about the splice, but never heard the original take of part two. So brilliant. Thanks so much for these videos.
I bought this song on 45 when it came out and must have listened to it 100 times to try to figure out what are The Beatles where doing. We'd gone from I Want To Hold Your Hand to Strawberry Fields Forever in such a short time and there certainly was some listener adjustment required. Thanks for your fascinating analysis of The Beatles collection.
One of those songs that put me in a trance. Beautiful.
What I love about this song is the beginning when "let me take you down, cause I'm going to..." sounds so tinny and then splash, "strawberry fields". Bass kicks in and the sound is much more dimensional. It's like you fall into the surface of a pool in that moment. Didn't know how many takes it took. Thanks!
Back in 1990, when I was in the Marine Corps, I read a book that went over every song in the Beatles catalog. Strawberry Fields Forever fascinated me. Hearing where the two songs came together was absolutely brilliant.
I love the thought of our Marines reading something like Ian MacDonald's book (maybe?). Just wonderful! Thank you for giving of your time and your service.
I literally can't unhear this, but you haven't ruined the song for me, you've made it so much better