Beatles: Strawberry Fields Forever Meaning
Song Released: 1967
Download "Strawberry Fields Forever" on MP3:
Download from Amazon MP3Download from iTunes
Download Ringtone
Strawberry Fields Forever Lyrics
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...
-
1TOP RATED
drencrom68 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. -
2TOP RATED
anonymous 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. -
3TOP RATED
anonymous 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.
-
anonymous Jun 28th 2012, 11:26 report
Lennon in this period started to write a few songs about his childhood and life on the advice of a journalist. In My Life was the first. Strawberry Field IS an orphange next to Lennon's aunt's house.
Lennon's childhood was quite traumatic and my interpretation of the song is that he used to visit Strawberry Field when he needed an escape. "Let me take you down" meaning getting down to earth, off a high horse.
"Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see" He shut his eyes to the harsh reality of his life and created his own imaginary world. "It’s getting hard to be someone but it all works out. It doesn’t matter much to me." Sometimes its hard to escape, but it doesn't matter who he is, just as long as he isn't the unwanted weird child.
"No one I think is in my tree.I mean it must be high or low. That is you can’t, you know, tune in but it’s all right. That is I think it’s not too bad." No one is in his world, his world is for him and him alone. It is unique and a special place. He doesn't mind that no one is with him. He doesn't want anyone with him.
"Always, no sometimes, think it’s me,
But you know I know when it’s a dream." Sometimes he really wants it all to be true, or gets so caught up in his imagination that he forgets reality.
The title "Strawberry Fields Forever" means never let go of your imagination, your escape. Keep it forever.
For me the music is wonderful. The kind of weird, wonderful, haunting, beautiful music that you expect in a weird wonderful place that Lennon went to when he went down to Strawberry Fields. -
anonymous Jun 27th 2011, 02:22 report
Ok to start of Strawberry Fields is in fact a real place.
John Lennon had lived there and in the song it say (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.
He was trying to say that living is easy with eyes closed because that ment you are asleep and when your sleeping you have nothing to worry about.
He also says misunderstanding all you see it's getting hard to be someone but it all works out it doesn't matter much to me.He was trying to say that he wasn't getting used to the changes that were happening and that he did not much care about the changes. -
-
anonymous Jun 8th 2011, 23:49 report
i can't determine if this has to do with John's childhood or adoloscence. But the verse 'No one I think is in my tree.
I mean it must be high or low.' relates to how he had nobody to relate to and he was either a fool or a mastermind, never himself. In a tree you overlook a place see everthing from a different perspective than everyone else. Because no one is in his tree, they all have different views. -
anonymous Jun 7th 2011, 23:04 report
I believe this song was a reply in kind to Paul's Penny Lane. As a teenager in Liverpool
when released both these songs stunned me with the pure joy and accuracy of detail to a well known place with familiar faces and the wierd world of self awareness and childhood's happy days. Even today these songs put a smile on my face at their simplicity and power to express the everyday.
Don t try to understand them too much. When the fireman rushes in it's all very strange but nothing to get hung up about! -
enlightened Apr 15th 2011, 18:13 report
this is all once again about having you back up againt a wall dreaming of the past and not wanting to see the marks you made on your arm.
-
anonymous Feb 17th 2011, 19:57 report
I think it means that if you live without paying attention, you can miss out on all the things that are going on around you.
"living is easy with eyes closed"
Things are easy if you dont take a look at whats happening. Something can walk right past you and you wouldnt even know it.
"nothing is real and nothing gets hung about"
Everything is fake, its like its a dream, an illusion. -
anonymous Feb 17th 2011, 19:57 report
I think it means that if you live without paying attention, you can miss out on all the things that are going on around you.
"living is easy with eyes closed"
Things are easy if you dont take a look at whats happening. Something can walk right past you and you wouldnt even know it.
"nothing is real and nothing gets hung about"
Everything is fake, its like its a dream, an illusion. -
anonymous Jan 31st 2011, 18:22 report
This song means different things to everyone. Obviously when John wrote it he was talking about his own childhood, and that's the one true indisputable meaning of the song but before knowing this and even after knowing this I still prefer my own personal interpretation.
I think Strawberry Fields Forever is about escaping from reality, isolating yourself from the world and existing in your own personal bubble. For me, Strawberry Fields is that place I drift off to when life is really bumming me out and the only thing that makes me feel better is plugging in my ipod and being comforted by music, and my favorite genius musicians. -
-
drencrom68 Jul 20th 2010, 02:40 report
To the several of you who wrote something to the effect of:
"It's about heroin, that's what they call the little bumps that are left after you shoot up?"
Did it ever, even for a single second, enter yer little minds, that maybe, just maybe, it started getting called that AFTER the song was released? -
anonymous Mar 15th 2010, 00:51 report
This song sings about history will always repeat itself listen and interpret closely
-
anonymous Mar 7th 2010, 01:45 report
ok this is conopletely true but y does everybody say its about the war .."strawberry feilds for ever"it would make sense y people do say these things
-
dutchman Jan 14th 2010, 19:12 report
I won't speak of the whole song but do believe the nothing is real, nothing to get hung about line is about the nature of our society. It's about the courts and how it's all De facto, fake, just like alice said in alice in wonderland to the queen of aces in her court " your all nothing but a deck of cards". All the world and governments are based on law and law is nothing but opinion of a bunch of guys in black robes. You can't be hung by a judge without any jurisdiction over you, and that takes your consent. I believe that most of this song is about the unreal side of the world that we see as real, just like the wizard behind the curtain, holding the pullies.
-
elephant1 Jan 13th 2010, 22:08 report
I think the song is simply about being dead and buried. Also the pure peace & harmony that go with being dead. Some lines in the song talk about the turmoils of existence during our lives, but in the end, who cares? This is how everyone is going to end up ( dead ). Some lines in the song might have double meanings but on the surface I think it's just about being dead.
My interpretation of the lines are as follows:
CHOURUS-Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to strawberry fields. Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about. Strawberry fields forever. ( let me take you down has two meanings. The first one is that he's saying he's going to take you to strawberry fields. The second meaning, and the one that's most significant to the song, is him saying he's going to take you down beneath the soil ( buired ). And that when you're dead nothing is real because you are in complete total nothingness so there is nothing to get upset or angry about. You are now beyond anything. And strawberry fields forever means that now you're dead this is how you are going to be forever and ever and ever. At perfect peace.
VERSE 1-Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see ( this might mean that if you're blind so you can't see anything then you won't know what is going on around you in the world so you won't feel hurt. But you are not... You can see so therefore you feel hurt and upset with what's happening in the world around you and your own life. It might also be a reference to being stupid or ignorant or handicapt in some way, or for whatever reason, and failing on a regular basis as a result.)
It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out, it doesn't matter much to me ( this means that you're life or plan's are not working out the way you'd like them. Or, for whatever reason, you're unlucky or you are just a loser. But in the end you are going to be dead anyway thus finding peace. So there is no point being upset about how bad you feel your life is. Who cares? )
VERSE 2-No one I think is in my tree, I mean it must be high or low. That is you can't you know tune in but it's all right, that is I think it's not too bad ( the tree in question is the tree that you are buried near to. And because you're dead i.e. you can't tune in, means you can't tell if anyone is in the tree i.e. climbing it. Which in turn is a reference that nobody can bother you or upset you again. So therefore being dead is 'all right'. The 'it must be high or low' part of the line just means that one of the thing you can be certain about when you're dead, apart from being in total nothingness, is that some trees are taller than others. I think that's all it means! The line 'that is I think it's not too bad' might be a reference to feeling a bit wary of death. But the meaning to the lyrics in the chorus staight after this line gives reassurance to this possible wary feeling about death. )
VERSE 3-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 ( This 3rd and final verse is the one that I've been having most difficulty trying to understand. I personally find it confusing. I think it might be about feeling unsure about something. And not properly knowing the answer. And asking yourself questions such as ''was it my fault?'', ''Am I to blame?'', ''Could I have done more?'' etc. I think the verse might be about individual doubt. Whatever it is that may be troubling your mind is making you feel sad and troubled. And the line 'but you know I know when it's a dream' may be a reference that you are troubled by your dilemma to the point you are dreaming about it in your sleep. Also the word 'dream' might be used to refer to imagining things that you think are happening or might be happening, a kind of state of paranoia. At the same time as that the sleep part of the line might also be a cheeky little reference to the fact that you are not really at peace while you are asleep because in your sleep you dream. Which is something you don't do when you are dead. ) -
anonymous Nov 7th 2009, 08:01 report
Strawberry fields forever is about a paridice,sure the named the song after a orphanage.That does not mean its about an orphanage,the song is about a place where everything is right,Nothing to get hung about means that theres no evil,Strawberry fields is like heaven.
-
anonymous Aug 4th 2009, 12:40 report
okay anybody who thinks this song is about one specific thing truly isnt a beatles fan.thats what john loved about music, letting people find their own interpretation of it. yes strawberry feilds is a real place that john hung out at. so im sure many of the references in the song talk about that. there are a few ways you could look at this song and not be wrong.it could talk about growing up, some people would say its about drugs, mainly acid,
but you could also look at it as an anti-war song, saying there are always going to be strawberry feilds, (theres always going to be war). noone i think is in my tree may be saying that noone is trying to hurt you or sneak up on you talking about the vietnamese, living is easy with eyes closed misunderstanding all you see, saying that people dont think for themselves and you should question everything you hear and see.nothing is real nothing to get hung about could be referring to being a child with nothing to worry about where you can escape the real-world and create a fantasy world. im sure that much of the song was influenced by their use of acid, but i wouldnt say thats what the song is about.you should all do acid and listen to the song and come up with your own meanings. thats how i got mine anyways. i hope this was enlightening.
make love not war. -
IamtheWalrus Aug 3rd 2009, 21:37 report
Strawberry Fields is a field where they grow strawberries. People go there for many reasons, but mainly to go get strawberries when they get ripe and yummy. Strawberries helped Mr Lennon think about many things, but mainly strawberries. That is why he wrote the song Strawberry Fields. He sings Strwaberry Fields forever because once he gets there he want to stay there forever, mainly to eat strawberries. Strawberries are another word for drugs and the little bumps on the strawberries are a metaphor for the bumps in life. The leafy part of the strawberry represents someone leaving John, probably the original drummer, Pete Best. And because strawberries grow underground, it is his way of showing how much he is like an ostrich, burying his head underground.
-
anonymous Jul 28th 2009, 23:06 report
The correct final verse is "Always, no, sometimes, think it's me But you know i know when it's a dream. I think, er, no, i mean, er, yes but its all wrong that is i think i disagree
-
anonymous Jul 13th 2009, 02:00 report
To take a passage from 'The Beatles as Musicians' by Walter Everett;
"Lennon says that the images in the poetry express his awakening as a youth to the fact that his plane of awareness seemed higher than that of those around him; when asked, he explains in his inerview with Playboy Magazine that the lyric "No one I think is in my tree" means "Nobody seems to be as hip as me, therefore I am either crazy or a genius".
The higher plane did not provide Lennon with an air of supiriority but, on the contorary, made him feel like an outsider. Lennon's identity problems- "It's getting hard to be someone"- are traced in the first verse to others misapprehensions of him: "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see".
Lennon places these childhood and adolescent memories (of time spent playing in the woods near Strawberry Field, an orphanage situated near to where he lived with his Aunt Mimi) in the context of a dream: "But you know I know when it's a dream". Because "nothing is real", the singer can be ambivalen about his anxiety and express resignation at not being understood, shrugging off his vexation; "You can't, you know, tune in but it's all right, that is I think it's not too bad": he has learned to live with his problem.
Thanks! RP
More Beatles song meanings »
Strawberry Fields Forever lyrics
Strawberry Fields Forever is considered:
Songs about Specific Places
Songs about Looking Back on Life
Songs with Surreal Themes
[ suggest ]
Submit Your Interpretation
Trending:
Beatles Song Meanings
-
Hey Jude
-
Come Together
-
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
-
I am the Walrus
-
Eleanor Rigby
-
Let It Be
-
Yellow Submarine
-
Happiness is a Warm Gun
-
A Day In The Life
-
Blackbird
-
Maxwell's Silver Hammer
-
All You Need is Love
-
Helter Skelter
-
Norwegian Wood
-
Glass Onion
-
Revolution #9
-
Revolution
-
Yesterday
-
You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
-
Across the Universe
Related Blog Posts
Just Posted
| Dust Bowl Dance | anonymous | |
| Ho Hey | anonymous | |
| Vanilla Twilight | anonymous | |
| I Hope You Think Of Me | anonymous | |
| My Sweet Lord | anonymous | |
| Nothing Left to Say | anonymous | |
| Metropolis | anonymous | |
| Demons | anonymous | |
| Lost! | anonymous | |
| Die Young | black_veil_brides_obsessed | |
| Sight of the Sun | anonymous | |
| Children Surrender | black_veil_brides_obsessed | |
| In the End | black_veil_brides_obsessed | |
| The Reason | anonymous | |
| Animals | anonymous |
10 Most popular bands this week
| 1 | Beatles |
|---|---|
| 2 | Ed Sheeran |
| 3 | Coldplay |
| 4 | Taylor Swift |
| 5 | Eminem |
| 6 | Rihanna |
| 7 | Pink |
| 8 | Linkin Park |
| 9 | Fun. |
| 10 | Imagine Dragons |
