Beatles: Strawberry Fields Forever Meaning

Song Released: 1967

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Strawberry Fields Forever Lyrics

Let me take you down, ’cause I’m going to (too.)
Strawberry fields
Nothing is real, and
Nothing to get hung about.
Strawberry fields forever.

Living is easy with eyes closed
Misunderstanding all you see.
It’s getting hard to be someone...
↓ See the rest of these lyrics ↓

1. 1TOP RATED

   drencrom68

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   Sep 27th 2008, 22:34 report

   
   

   PLAYBOY: How about "Strawberry Fields Forever?"
   
   LENNON: Strawberry Fields is a real place. After I stopped living at Penny Lane, I moved in with my auntie who lived in the suburbs in a nice semidetached place with a small garden and doctors and lawyers and that ilk living around -- not the poor slummy kind of image that was projected in all the Beatles stories. In the class system, it was about half a class higher than Paul, George and Ringo, who lived in government-subsidized housing. We owned our house and had a garden. They didn't have anything like that. Near that home was Strawberry Fields, a house near a boys' reformatory where I used to go to garden parties as a kid with my friends Nigel and Pete. We would go there and hang out and sell lemonade bottles for a penny. We always had fun at Strawberry Fields. So that's where I got the name. But I used it as an image. Strawberry Fields forever.
   
   PLAYBOY: And the lyrics, for instance: "Living is easy---- "
   
   LENNON: [Singing] "With eyes closed. Misunderstanding all you see." It still goes, doesn't it? Aren't I saying exactly the same thing now? The awareness apparently trying to be expressed is -- let's say in one way I was always hip. I was hip in kindergarten. I was different from the others. I was different all my life. The second verse goes, "No one I think is in my tree." Well, I was too shy and self-doubting. Nobody seems to be as hip as me is what I was saying. Therefore, I must be crazy or a genius -- "I mean it must be high or low," the next line. There was something wrong with me, I thought, because I seemed to see things other people didn't see. I thought I was crazy or an egomaniac for claiming to see things other people didn't see. As a child, I would say, "But this is going on!" and everybody would look at me as if I was crazy. I always was so psychic or intuitive or poetic or whatever you want to call it, that I was always seeing things in a hallucinatory way. It was scary as a child, because there was nobody to relate to. Neither my auntie nor my friends nor anybody could ever see what I did. It was very, very scary and the only contact I had was reading about an Oscar Wilde or a Dylan Thomas or a Vincent van Gogh -- all those books that my auntie had that talked about their suffering because of their visions. Because of what they saw, they were tortured by society for trying to express what they were. I saw loneliness.

   
   
   
   

2. 2TOP RATED

   anonymous

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   Apr 8th 2006, 12:31 report

   
   

   Strawberry Fields IS an orphanage. John's Auntie's house was right next door and John used to go over there as a child and play there. It was NOT a park, it was NOT a retirement community! The song is NOT about drugs! It was written while John was filming in Spain and realizing he missed the boys. Later Ringo came to keep him company.
   
   "Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about" - nothing really matters because everything dealing with their fame was/is fake; the people, the places, the sentiment.
   "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see" - When you don't pay attenion to the world around you you tend to misunderstand situations though that tends to make things easy because you only see what you want to see.
   "It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out, it doesn't matter much to me" - He doesn't know who he is anymore but when the others are there it seems okay so the fakeness doesn't matter.
   "No one I think is in my tree, I mean it must high or low" - John thought no one ever undersood him because he was on either a higher or lower level than they they were.
   "That is you can't, you know, tune in, but it's all right, that is I think it's not too bad" - He used to hate that people couldn't be like him or understand him but now he was realizing that even if they couldn't 'tune in' to what he was thinking it was cool because he liked them anyroad.
   "Always, no sometimes, think it's me, but you know I know when it's a dream" - he sometimes (said always but then realized that it wasn't always) blames himself for everything that goes wrong but then realized that it's the fakness (dream) of stardom.
   "I think I know, I mean a 'yes' but it's all wrong, that is I think I disagree." - he's saying he thought he knew the answers but then he realized he was wrong so now he disagrees with the crap he was pulling.

   
   
   
   

3. 3TOP RATED

   anonymous

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   Nov 18th 2006, 06:53 report

   
   

   I reckon with all of the beatles songs, its really got to do with your own interpretation of it, which parts of the songs mean different things to you etc. My opinion is that strawberry fields is a place/state your in when contemplating the "big Questions" of life and then relizing that maybe you shouldn't know the secrets, you should just live your life instead.

   
   
   
   

↓ More Strawberry Fields Forever meanings below the jump ↓

4.  

   anonymous

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   Oct 18th 2005, 00:04 report

   
   

   This song, along with Penny Lane, is basically about John Lennon's childhood. Strawberry Fields was the name of a frequent hang-out for children in John's neighbourhood.

   
   
   
   

5.  

   anonymous

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   Dec 17th 2005, 02:08 report

   
   

   The song deals with John coming into adolescence and finding where he belongs. "living is easy with eyes closed..." says how easy things were when he was a young naive boy. "Noone I think is in my tree, I mean it must be high or low" means, nobody is like me. I'm either a genius or a fool. "Nothing to get hung about" is a reference to something John said to his Aunt Mimi. When she used to get angry at John for going to Strawberry Fields, he used to retort my saying "What are they going to do? Hang me?"

   
   
   
   

6.  

   SiliasJones

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   Feb 4th 2006, 03:19 report

   
   

   The song features the view of a confused orphan, as Strawberry Fields is an orphanage. Lennon wrote the song while acting in the movie, "How I Won The War".
   
   Examples of the confusion are below.
   
   "I think, I know, I mean, a yes, but's alright..."
   
   "No one I think is in my tree, I mean it must be high or low."

   
   
   
   

7.  

   anonymous

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   Feb 19th 2006, 07:53 report

   
   

   Strawberry Fields is a retirement home in Liverpoole...hence ..."strawberry fields forever..." Also some of the confusion in the song is based on how confusing everything is when you are older and unable to take care of yourself.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
   
   
   
   

8.  

   CroftD1

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   Mar 14th 2006, 14:40 report

   
   

   Penny lane wasn't John it was Paul! But yes it is a real place.
   Strawberry feild was a place John would play as a kid and he was raised by his Aunt not an orphanage. The song is about growing up, and the joys of being a kid, how life is so easy. I think it does a great job of capturing that aspect. The music is one of the most unique pieces. If you listin to it is almost a reverse of the traditional structure of a rock band make-up. The music is almost entirely a drum solo and yet amazingly it not only works but is a really nice compliment to the lyrics. This is one of my fav John 'poems'.

   
   
   
   

9.  

   Hess21

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   Mar 18th 2006, 12:44 report

   
   

   I believe the song is about taking life for what it is. One should not hold on to small, irrelevant, and unimportant challenges or worries. "Living is easy with eyes closed. Misunderstanding all you see. It's getting hard to be someone, but it all works out. It doesn't matter much to me." This verse sums my theory up pretty well. It's saying that life in theory is extremely easy if the only worry in life is to live well and pleasantly. The final line of this verse is saying that he/she has realized not to worry anymore. "No one I think is in my tree. I mean it must be high or low". This line is comparing a tree to a pure and comfortable place. This place, though, changes according to each individual person (home, family, beach, etc.). In conclusion, Strawberry Fields Forever is a song created to make a person reflect on life and understand that the worries and fears of a person are usually unimportant in the grand scheme of things.

   
   
   
   

10.  

    anonymous

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    Mar 25th 2006, 22:20 report

    
    

    As far I know they weren't into heroin, but strawberry fields is a refrence to heroin. Strawberry fields are the bumps on a heroin addict's arms.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
    
    
    
    

11.  

    anonymous

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    Mar 28th 2006, 00:48 report

    
    

    John was into heroin from '68, not '66 when the song was written, however.

    
    
    
    

12.  

    anonymous

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    Mar 29th 2006, 12:35 report

    
    

    I think that strawberry fields is a place of mind when you are high. It says that nothing is real. nothing is real when your high.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
    
    
    
    

13.  

    anonymous

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    May 21st 2006, 19:10 report

    
    

    It's about the fact that you can go through life not caring but you might be alone because of that.

    
    
    
    

14.  

    anonymous

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    Jun 3rd 2006, 19:52 report

    
    

    It's about Buddhism, how everything is just a dream and we're not really in control of what and who we are. Many of the Buddist beliefs are: This is all a dream of desires...
    
    With some ego loss in there that sometimes happens with LSD or shroom use...It's about nothingness and everything...

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
    
    
    
    

15.  

    anonymous

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    Jun 7th 2006, 19:53 report

    
    

    The interpretation from 2006-04-08 12:31:51 is the most accurate to me...although the song also incorporates John's naive childhood.
    
    Also, I believe the passage "nothing is real, and nothing to get hung about" is also a passage from the bible ("nothing is real, nothing to get hung about")...the chapter/verse escapes me now, though.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
    
    
    
    

16.  

    anonymous

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    Jun 8th 2006, 18:26 report

    
    

    Yes, there is a passage in the bible that states something along those lines, and I think it regards heaven and its paradise. This also draws the parallels between childhood and heaven.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
    
    
    
    

17.  

    anonymous

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    Aug 15th 2006, 01:17 report

    
    

    I think people should find their own meaning to songs and not be swayed by someones opinion just because they think they know what they are talking about. Some people really have strong convictions and that's ok, but really only the writer of the song knows what it was about and wouldn't want his art disected and misconstrued. My opinion.

    
    
    
    

18.  

    anonymous

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    Oct 28th 2006, 01:58 report

    
    

    This is driving me nuts! I've uncovered two very different interpretations of the "I think I disagree" verse:
    
    always, no sometimes, think it's me,
    but you know I know when it's a dream.
    I think I know I mean a 'yes'
    but it's all wrong,
    that is I think I disagree.
    
    Always know sometimes it's me
    but you know I know when it's a dream
    i think a "no" will mean a "yes"
    but it's all wrong
    that is I think I disagree
    
    which one is correct?

    
    
    
    

19.  

    anonymous

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    Nov 12th 2006, 02:14 report

    
    

    When a counselor came to my school to give a bullying lecture once, she showed us a picture of a child who lived in England somewhere in the early 60's. She told us that the child was now deceased because he had committed suicide from constant bullying. He had committed suicide in a grove in strawberry fields. She then claimed that the Beatles had written the song for the child because they heard the story. I dunno whether its true, I haven't heard the song all that much, just thought it might have been interesting to post.

    
    
    
    

20.  

    anonymous

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    Nov 16th 2006, 14:35 report

    
    

    I think things from John's background are important, but I think John uses these things to express ideas beyond just the literal identity of the reference. For example, he surrounds "Nothing is real and nothing to get hung up about" with reference to strawberry fields--almost as if he's defining strawberry fields by what's between the two references to them. Strawberry fields is a state of mind where nothing's real and nothing really matters (nothing to get hung (up) about, where people don't really understand what they see (so they might as well not see anything--living with their eyes closed), and again "it doesn't matter much." Let's just float off into a numbing fantasyland--Strawberry Fields. It's like the holes that fill the Albert Hall--the empty people. But the Beatles hope we'll see through this: they'd love to turn us on.

    
    
    
    

21.  

    anonymous

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    Dec 20th 2006, 09:35 report

    
    

    To me, Strawberry Fields Forever is an articulation of the existential dilemma. That dilemma concerns finding answers for questions relating to one's existence such as who am I? why am I here? how do I make sense of everything outside of me? The hesitation expressed in the lyrics represents the dilemma Lennon experienced in not knowing the answers to questions such as these. Very likely also the realisation that he never would know such answers with any degree of certainty. That dilemma can produce frustration, even despair. Lennon endeavours to be 'cool' in his response to the dilemma, hence: "it doesn't matter much to me", "that is I think it's not too bad" & "that is I think I disagree". Put another way, Lennon is expressing his resignation as to the existence and continuation of the uncertain resolution of the existential dilemma. The 'Strawberry Fields forever' refrain reflects nostalgia for his childhood ignorance of such dilemma and a wish to return to that situation ["let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to ... "], as well as something concrete with which to link his abstracted personal monologue.

    
    
    
    

22.  

    674_098

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    Feb 21st 2007, 15:36 report

    
    

    I think the term strawberry fields is about heroine, they are talking about life changing and how it isn't as simple as used to be and the Beatles were druggies no matter how much you don't want to admit it and when drug addicts have problems they turn to it and when they are high they felt the way they used to or that their problems are gone.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
    
    
    
    

23.  

    anonymous

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    Feb 25th 2007, 02:35 report

    
    

    ok, I didn't read all the interpretations, but I actually visited liverpool two summers ago. Strawberry fields is actually an orphanage close to where one of the beatles lived (I think John, but I'm not sure). I actually saw it and have pictures in front of its gates. Like Penny Lane, the sign is painted on a brick fence because people were stealing them.