page_title: Strawberry Fields Forever
section_title: Take 7
hierarchical_section_title: Strawberry Fields Forever / Recording / Take 7
caption_attribution_description: Mellotron, Museum of Making Music
context_page_description: "Strawberry Fields Forever" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was released on 13 February 1967 as a double A-side single with "Penny Lane". It represented a departure from the group's previous singles and a novel listening experience for the contemporary pop audience. While the song initially divided and confused music critics and the group's fans, it proved highly influential on the emerging psychedelic genre. Its accompanying promotional film is similarly recognised as a pioneering work in the medium of music video.
  Lennon based the song on his childhood memories of playing in the garden of Strawberry Field, a Salvation Army children's home in Liverpool. Starting in November 1966, the band spent 45 hours in the studio, spread over five weeks, creating three versions of the track. The final recording combined two of those versions, which were entirely different in tempo, mood and musical key. It features reverse-recorded instrumentation, Mellotron flute sounds, an Indian swarmandal, tape loops and a fade-out/fade-in coda, as well as a cello and brass arrangement by producer George Martin.
context_section_description: On 28 November, the band reassembled to try a different arrangement. The second version of the song featured McCartney's Mellotron introduction followed by the chorus. The instrumentation on the basic track was similar to that for take 1, but with the inclusion of maracas. Take 4 was considered sufficient for mix down and overdubs, which included a lead vocal by Lennon, McCartney's bass guitar, and Harrison again playing the slide parts, including what author John Winn terms "Morse code blips", on Mellotron. Having taken acetates home overnight, the band decided to redo the song again on 29 November, using the same arrangement. The second take that day was chosen as best and subjected to overdubs, such as vocal and bass guitar. In his lead guitar part, Harrison plays arpeggio chord patterns, after Lennon had struggled to master the picking technique.
  Lennon's vocal was recorded with the tape running fast so that when played back at normal speed the tonality would be altered, giving his voice a slurred sound. During the subsequent mix-down process, creating what became take 7, Lennon added a second vocal over the choruses; the other final overdubs were piano and further bass. This version would be used only for the first minute of the released recording.
caption: A 1960s-era Mellotron, similar to that used on the Beatles recording
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