How Two Lines in “Strawberry Fields Forever” Summed up John Lennon's Feelings of Isolation
John Lennon often talked about the fact that he wanted the verses to the songs that he wrote to have the same musical potency as the choruses. Although he never stated this intent, Lennon also had a knack for dropping lines into the middle of his songs that could stop you in your tracks with their profundity. In his classic song “Strawberry Fields Forever”, a couplet in the second verse summed up much of what the song was meant to convey. And it also provided a stunning glimpse into just how Lennon saw himself within the wider world.
As The Beatles prepared to make new music in 1967, John Lennon and Paul McCartney originally gave themselves a brief to write about their childhoods. Although they soon abandoned the idea, it stuck around long enough to influence the songs that would serve as the band’s first single of the year, a double A-side.
McCartney wrote “Penny Lane”. The song takes a specific look at the people and places he remembered encountering as a kid. Lennon based “Strawberry Fields Forever” around a local park area within the grounds of a Salvation Army home. But the location simply served as a touchstone for happier memories, a la Rosebud in Citizen Kane.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Jim Beviglia
