anonymous December 17th, 2005 02:08AM  
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?"

CroftD1 March 14th, 2006 02:40PM  
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'.

Hess21 March 18th, 2006 12:44PM  
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.

anonymous April 8th, 2006 12:31PM  
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.

anonymous November 16th, 2006 02:35PM  
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.

anonymous November 18th, 2006 06:53AM  
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 December 20th, 2006 09:35AM  
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.

anonymous July 10th, 2008 04:54PM  
You are all idiots Jk but nobody really even knows what this song was except John and None of us are Jonh but get this if you want a really good scoop on it go read "all I want is the truth" By Elizabeth Partridge it totally explains John Lennon like nothing else. Oh and Strawberry fields means that John song things as fake or to real Do you have a place you go to hang and see the real picture? that's how Strawberry Feilds was for John a place to hide and see the real picture or at least a better one. There is so much more to say but I don't want to type P.s. I'm 12 and John Lennon expert

mgc October 19th, 2008 08:33PM  
Living is easy with eyes closed (people will try to ignore things theyd rather not see)
Misunderstanding all you see (and therefor don't believe the evidence)

It's getting hard to be someone (of the power of the opposition)
but it all works out

It doesn't matter much to me (I say we carry on anyway)

No one I think is in my tree (yet nobody sees things the way I do)
I mean it must be high or low (maybe I see a lot or not)

That is you know you can't tune it (u can't make people see what they don't want to see )
but It's all right

That is I think it's not too bad

Always no sometimes think it's me (sometimes I think I must be crazy to see what I see)
But you know I know when it's a dream (but you know I'm not insane)

I think a "No" will mean a "Yes" (everything seems a lie)
but it's all wrong (and criminal)

that is I think I disagree (but you've got to be careful)
strawberry fields forever (I long for happier times)

anonymous June 2nd, 2009 04:38PM  
It's really hard to explain to you all what all of this means. The Beatles are trying to teach you things through there music that you really have to look for, they put all there energies into the music they make. "nothing is real" this is true. nothing is real it is just created through your ego, nothing is real you make what you want you hear what you want to hear. "living is easy with eyes closed" life is a dream, everything is a dream nothing is real. once you realize this you may further learn other things the beatles are trying to teach us. "Misunderstanding all you see" like I said everything is a dream and most people don't understand this like the beatles did they had everything figured out. Through acid/mushrooms and marijuana this helps them be closer to god helping them understand more. almost all of there songs have references to these things and they are all true. The beatles are just trying to teach us through their words and energies

anonymous June 13th, 2009 03:46PM  
basically i feel this song is just about accepting that not everything has to be understood. if we worry about understanding, we will be unhappy and life wont be easy. but with eyes closed, you are happy, meaning that in actuality things arent as complicated as they seem. they will still work out somehow whether you do anything or not. the second verse refers to identity understanding. to me 'high or low' means that there are times when you understand yourself but there are times when you dont.but it's okay not to understand because you are still you, a 'big picture' in that sense. when you dont understand yourself and see yourself superficially, it will still be okay

m320753 June 23rd, 2009 03:03PM  
well i knew him vaugly just a how you doing type of hello and small chit chat nothing serious but i think he had a vague knowledge of what his future held, not so much his doing but yoko lecturing conversations after she sold her soul on some carribean island.for fame and fortune. that really pissed a lot of people off, but anyway strawberry fields was a bit of daydreaming which he did quite often, all of us do day dream about the same thing over and over. it puts you or at least me in a little better place where we can check out of the real time world for a few minutes whenever we want( living is easy with eyes closed. then he argues with himself about what's wrong or right). this could be right or it could be wrong bu hey it's only my interpretation; i could be wrong

anonymous July 13th, 2009 02:00AM  
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

anonymous July 28th, 2009 11:06PM  
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 November 7th, 2009 08:01AM  
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.

elephant1 January 13th, 2010 10:08PM  
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. )

dutchman January 14th, 2010 07:12PM  
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.

anonymous March 7th, 2010 01:45AM  
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

anonymous March 15th, 2010 12:51AM  
This song sings about history will always repeat itself listen and interpret closely

drencrom68 July 20th, 2010 02:40AM  
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?