THE BEATLES - "Strawberry Fields Forever"

The Beatles
"Strawberry Fields Forever"
Single / A-side: "Penny Lane"
Released: 13 February 1967 (US), 17 February 1967 (UK)
Album: Magical Mistery Tour (Released: 27 November 1967 <US LP>)
Writer: John Lennon
Label: Capitol (US), Parlophone (UK)
"Strawberry Fields Forever" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. The song was written by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership. The song was the first track recorded during the sessions for the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), and was intended for inclusion on the album. Instead, with the group under record-company pressure to release a single, it was issued in February 1967 as a double A-side with "Penny Lane".

The Beatle's single: "Strawberry Fields Forever" (US, 1967)

The Beatles - "Strawberry Fields Forever" (45 rpm Vinyl)

Numerous music critics consider it to be one of the group's best and most adventurous recordings. Among the breakthroughs it established in studio techniques of the time, for a single release, the track incorporates reverse-recorded instrumentation and tape loops, and was created from the editing together of two separate versions of the song – each one entirely different in tempo, mood and musical key. The song was later included on the US Magical Mystery Tour LP (although not on the British double EP package of the same name). 

 The song was the opening track of the compilation album 1967–1970, released in 1973, and also appears on the Imagine soundtrack issued in 1988. In 1996, three previously unreleased versions of the song were included on the Anthology 2 album: Lennon's original home demo, an altered version of the first studio take, and the complete take seven, of which only the first minute was heard in the master version. In 2006, a newly mixed version of the song was included on the album Love. This version builds from an acoustic demo (which was run at the actual recorded speed) and incorporates elements of "Hello, Goodbye", "In My Life", "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", "Penny Lane" and "Piggies".

 "Strawberry Fields Forever" is one of the defining works of the psychedelic rock genre and has been covered by many artists. The Beatles made a promotional film clip for the song that is similarly recognised for its influence in the medium of music video. The Strawberry Fields memorial in New York's Central Park is named after the song.

The Beatles' single: "Strawberry Fields Forever", 1967

The Beatles - "Strawberry Fields Forever" (2009 remastered)

Strawberry Field was the name of a Salvation Army children's home just around the corner from Lennon's childhood home in Woolton, a suburb of Liverpool. Lennon and his childhood friends Pete Shotton, Nigel Walley, and Ivan Vaughan used to play in the wooded garden behind the home. One of Lennon's childhood treats was the garden party held each summer in Calderstones Park, near the home, where a Salvation Army band played. Lennon's aunt Mimi Smith recalled: "As soon as we could hear the Salvation Army band starting, John would jump up and down shouting, 'Mimi, come on. We're going to be late.'"

Lennon's "Strawberry Fields Forever" and McCartney's "Penny Lane" shared the theme of nostalgia for their early years in Liverpool. Although both referred to actual locations, the two songs also had strong surrealistic and psychedelic overtones. Producer George Martin said that when he first heard "Strawberry Fields Forever", he thought it conjured up a "hazy, impressionistic dreamworld".

The period of the song's writing was one of change and dislocation for Lennon. The Beatles had just retired from touring after one of the most difficult periods of their career, including the "more popular than Jesus" controversy and the band's unintentional snubbing of Philippines First Lady Imelda Marcos. Lennon talked about the song in 1980: "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'" and explaining that the song was "psycho-analysis set to music". 

A distorted voice at the end sounds like "I buried Paul," which fueled rumors that Paul McCartney was dead. The voice is actually Lennon saying, "Cranberry sauce." Over the end credits of the Simpsons episode "D'oh-in In The Wind," you can hear Homer saying "I buried Flanders" in reference to this. 

The Beatles, "Strawberry Fields Forever" session, 1967
Among initial reviews of the single, the NME‍ '​s Derek Johnson confessed to being both fascinated and confused by "Strawberry Fields Forever", writing: "Certainly the most unusual and way-out single The Beatles have yet produced – both in lyrical content and scoring. Quite honestly, I don't really know what to make of it." Time magazine hailed the song as "the latest sample of the Beatles' astonishing inventiveness".

"Strawberry Fields Forever" has continued to receive acclaim from music critics. Richie Unterberger of AllMusic describes the song as "one of The Beatles' peak achievements and one of the finest Lennon-McCartney songs". Ian MacDonald wrote in Revolution in the Head that it "shows expression of a high order … few if any [contemporary composers] are capable of displaying feeling and fantasy so direct, spontaneous, and original.". In 2004, this song was ranked number 76 on Rolling Stone‍ '​s list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". In 2010, Rolling Stone placed it at number three on the 100 Greatest Beatles Songs. The song was ranked as the second-best Beatles' song by Mojo, after "A Day in the Life". The song is ranked as the 8th greatest of all time by Acclaimed Music. XFM radio placed the song 73rd in their list of the 100 Best British Songs and 176th in their Top 1000 Songs of All Time list.

The Beatles' single: "Strawberry Fields Forever", 1967

The Beatles - "Strawberry Fields Forever" (Promtional film, 1967)

The promotional film for "Strawberry Fields Forever" was an early example of what later became known as a music video. It was filmed on 30 and 31 January 1967 at Knole Park in Sevenoaks, Kent. The clip was directed by Peter Goldmann, a Swedish television director who had been recommended to the Beatles by their mutual friend Klaus Voormann. One of the band's assistants, Tony Bramwell, served as producer. Bramwell recalls that, inspired by Voormann's comment on hearing "Strawberry Fields Forever" – that "the whole thing sounded like it was played on a strange instrument" – he spent two days dressing up a large tree in the park to resemble "a piano and harp combined, with strings". Writing for Mojo magazine in 2007, John Harris remarked that Bramwell's set design reflected the "collision of serenity and almost gothic eeriness" behind the finished song. The film featured reverse film effects, stop motion animation, jump-cuts from daytime to night-time, and the Beatles playing and later pouring paint over the upright piano. During the same visit to Knole Park, the band shot part of the promotional film for "Penny Lane".


The promotional films for "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" were selected by New York's MoMA as two of the most influential music videos of the late 1960s. Both were originally broadcast in the US on 25 February 1967, on the variety show The Hollywood Palace, with actor Van Johnson as host. The Ed Sullivan Show and other variety shows soon dropped their time constraints to allow for psychedelic music performances.

Line-up / Musicians:
John Lennon – double-tracked vocal, acoustic guitar, piano, bongos
Paul McCartney – Mellotron, bass, timpani
George Harrison – electric guitar, electric slide guitar, maraca, swarmandal
Ringo Starr – drums, backward cymbals
with:
George Martin – cello and trumpet arrangement
Geoff Emerick – engineer
Mal Evans – tambourine
Neil Aspinall – guiro
Terry Doran – maracas
Tony Fisher – trumpet
Greg Bowen – trumpet
Derek Watkins – trumpet
Stanley Roderick – trumpet
John Hall – cello
Derek Simpson – cello
Norman Jones – cello
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DAVID BOWIE - "Life on Mars?"

David Bowie
"Life on Mars?"
Single / B-side: "The Man Who Sold The World"
Released: 22 June 1973
Album: Hunky Dory (Released: 17 December 1971)
Writer: David Bowie
Label: RCA
"Life on Mars?" is a song by David Bowie first released in 1971 on the album Hunky Dory and also released as a single. The song—which BBC Radio 2 later called "a cross between a Broadway musical and a Salvador Dalí painting" —featured guest piano work by keyboardist Rick Wakeman. When released as a single in 1973, it reached #3 in the UK and stayed on the chart for thirteen weeks. The song re-entered the UK charts at #55 over 30 years later, largely because of its use in the original British television series Life on Mars. Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph ranked it as #1 in his 100 Greatest Songs of All Time list.

Bowie's single: "Life on Mars?" 1971

David Bowie - "Life on Mars" (album Hunky Dory) 
Neil also commented on the song: "A quite gloriously strange anthem, where the combination of stirring, yearning melody and vivid, poetic imagery manage a trick very particular to the art of the song: to be at once completely impenetrable and yet resonant with personal meaning. You want to raise your voice and sing along, yet Bowie’s abstract cut-up lyrics force you to invest the song with something of yourself just to make sense of the experience. And, like all great songs, it's got a lovely tune."

In 1968 Bowie wrote the lyrics "Even a Fool Learns to Love", set to the music of a 1967 French song "Comme d'habitude", composed by Claude François and Jacques Revaux. Bowie's version was never released, but Paul Anka bought the rights to the original French version, and rewrote it into "My Way," made famous by Frank Sinatra in a 1969 recording on his album of the same name. The success of the Anka version prompted Bowie to write "Life on Mars?" as a parody of Sinatra's recording. 


David Bowie - Life on Mars (music video)

Bowie's Life on Mars? fashion

In notes for a Bowie compilation CD that accompanied a June 2008 issue of The Mail on Sunday, Bowie described how he wrote the song: "Workspace was a big empty room with a chaise longue; a bargain-price art nouveau screen ('William Morris,' so I told anyone who asked); a huge overflowing freestanding ashtray and a grand piano. Little else. I started working it out on the piano and had the whole lyric and melody finished by late afternoon.

Bowie noted that Wakeman "embellished the piano part" of his original melody and guitarist Mick Ronson "created one of his first and best string parts" for the song. The liner notes for Hunky Dory indicate that the song was 'inspired by Frankie'.
One reviewer suggested the song was written after "a brief and painful affair" with actress Hermione Farthingale. While on tour in 1990, Bowie introduced the song by saying "You fall in love, you write a love song. This is a love song."
David Bowie's album: Hunky Dory (1971)
BBC Radio has described "Life on Mars?" as having "one of the strangest lyrics ever" consisting of a "slew of surreal images" like a Salvador Dalí painting. The line "Look at those cavemen go" is a reference to the song "Alley Oop", a one-off hit in 1960 for American doo-wop band The Hollywood Argyles.

David Bowie - Life on Mars (music video)

Bowie's Life on Mars make-up
Mick Rock filmed and directed a promotional video backstage at Earls Court on 12 May 1973 to accompany the release of the song as a single. It features a heavily made-up Bowie performing the song solo against a white backdrop, in a turquoise "ice-blue" suit designed by Freddi Buretti. It was Bowie's fourth music video.

Line-up / Musicians:
David Bowie: vocals
Mick Ronson: electric guitars, Mellotron (for recorder sound), string arrangement
Trevor Bolder: bass guitar
Mick Woodmansey: drums
Rick Wakeman: piano

Link / Review:
americansongwriter: David Bowie - Life On Mars?
ultimateclassicrock: Top 10 David Bowie Songs

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THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE - "The Wind Cries Mary"

The Jimi Hendrix Experience
"The Wind Cries Mary"
Single / B-side: "Highway Chile" (UK); "Purple Haze" (US)
Released: 5 May 1967 (UK), June 1967 (US)
Album: Are You Experienced (Released: 12 May 1967)
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Track

 "The Wind Cries Mary" is a rock ballad written by Jimi Hendrix and released by the Jimi Hendrix Experience as the band's third single on May 5, 1967. It reached no. 6 in the UK Charts. Today, it is number 379 on Rolling Stone‍ '​s list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. It has been covered by musicians such as Jamie Cullum, John Mayer, Xavier Rudd, Richie Sambora, Sting, Popa Chubby, Pat Boone and Caron Wheeler.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience's UK single: "The Wind Cries Mary" (1967)



In the United States, the song was first released as the b-side to the "Purple Haze" single in June 1967 and later appeared on the August 1967 American version of the album Are You Experienced, where three tracks were deleted from the British LP version to make way for the band's three singles that had been issued in the United Kingdom.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience's US single: "The Wind Cries Mary" (1967)

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - "The Wind Cries Mary" 
(Behind the Scenes)

The song was recorded at the end of the "Fire" sessions. It is said to have been inspired when Hendrix and his then girlfriend, Kathy Etchingham, had an argument over her cooking; after she stormed out of their apartment; Hendrix wrote "The Wind Cries Mary", as Mary was Etchingham's middle name. 

Kathy Mary recalled, "We'd had a row over food. Jimi didn't like lumpy mashed potato. There were thrown plates and I ran off. When I came back the next day, he'd written that song about me. It's incredibly flattering." (Source Q magazine February 2013). 

 Another possible inspiration could be the poem "To Mary" by the English poet John Clare. Kathy Etchingham has said that many of the Dylanesque lyrics describe the test card that appeared at the end of BBC television transmissions at that time. However, this is probably a mistake on her part as that particular testcard was not first broadcast until July 1967, while the song had been written long before that. 

 Billy Cox, who was the bassist for the Band of Gypsys and long-time friend of Hendrix has cited Curtis Mayfield's influence on the song: "'The Wind Cries Mary' was a riff that was influenced by Curtis Mayfield, who was a big influence for Jimi."

A lot of people assumed this was about marijuana, which is also known as "Mary Jane."
The Jimi Hendrix Experience's single: "The Wind Cries Mary"

Jimi Hendrix Experience - "The Wind Cries Mary" (Stockholm, 1967)

This song begins with a distinctive and recognizable introduction, in which three chromatically ascending 'five' chords are played in second inversion. A 'five' chord consists of two notes (first or "root," and fifth) instead of three (root, third and fifth). The missing middle note gives the chord a more 'open' or 'bare' sound. A second inversion "flips" the notes in the chord, so that the fifth, not the root, is the lowest sounding note. This makes it more difficult for the listener to immediately identify what key the song is being played in. In addition, a syncopated rhythm makes it difficult for the listener to identify the "down beats" of the song. This combination of musical elements creates a unique and disorienting experience when the song is heard for the first time.
Jimi Hendrix Experience - "The Wind Cries Mary" (music video)

Jimi Hendrix art (photo courtesy of lmoptics.2ap.pl)

The song was in included in Guitar Hero World Tour along with a live version of Purple Haze. It was also included as a downloadable track for the Rock Band series. "The Wind Cries Mary" and "Highway Chile" were re-released in 1983, on The Singles Album compilation.

Line-up / Musicians:
Jimi Hendrix — vocals, guitars
Noel Redding — bass
Mitch Mitchell — drums

Link / Review:
wikipedia: The Wind Cries Mary
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GRAND FUNK RAILROAD - "I'm Your Captain (Closer to Home)"

Grand Funk Railroad
"I'm Your Captain (Closer to Home)"
Single / B-side: "Aimless Lady"
Released: July 1970
Album: Closer to Home (Released: 15 June 1970)
Writer: Mark Farner
Label: Capitol
"I'm Your Captain (Closer to Home)" is an 1970 song written by American musician Mark Farner and recorded by Grand Funk Railroad as the closing track to their album Closer to Home. Ten minutes in duration, it is the band's longest studio recording. One of the group's best-known songs, it is composed as two distinct but closely related movements. Its title has been rendered in various ways across many different Grand Funk albums, including "I'm Your Captain", "I'm Your Captain/Closer to Home", "Closer to Home/I'm Your Captain", "Closer to Home (I'm Your Captain)", and "Closer to Home". The song has been included on many Grand Funk live albums and compilations since it first appeared, including 1971'sMark, Don and Mel: 1969–71, 1975's Caught in the Act, 1991's Capitol Collectors Series, 1997's Bosnia, Thirty Years of Funk: 1969–1999, 2002's Classic Masters, a bonus track on the 2002 CD reissue of 1971's E Pluribus Funk, the archivalLive: The 1971 Tour, and 2006's Greatest Hits.
Grand Funk Railroad's single: "I'm Your Captain (Closer to Home)"

Grand Funk Railroad - "I.m Your Captain" (from the album Closer to Home)

Released as a single with the title "Closer To Home", it was modestly successful in early fall 1970, reaching number 22 on the U.S. pop singles chart as the group's first top 40 hit single. It was far more successful on progressive rock radiostations, such as those in New York, where its length and epic feel were an asset and where it became a mainstay that appealed to a broad spectrum of rock fans outside Grand Funk's immediate listener base. Its airplay helped the album reach the Top 10 of the U.S. albums chart within a month of its release.

Decades later, "I'm Your Captain" remains a staple of many classic rock radio stations. It is considered to be the standout track on the Closer to Home album and by both Farner and others to be his best work as a songwriter. And with its melodic strengths and dramatic feel it is often considered one of the best rock songs of all time; in 1988, the listeners of legendary New York rock station WNEW-FM ranked it the 71st best song of all time, while twenty years later in 2008, New York classic rock station Q104.3's listeners still ranked it the 112th best song of all time.
Grand Funk Railroad's album: Closer to Home, 1970

Grand Funk Railroad - "I'm Your Captain"/"Closer to Home"

The song conveys the pleas of a captain on a troubled sea voyage and facing a mutiny from his crew. Its use of an orchestra during the long repeated refrains of the closing movement served to differentiate it from much of Grand Funk's work. Several interpretations of the song have been given; most revolve around the Vietnam War, and "I'm Your Captain" is popular among veterans of that conflict. The record was a modest hit single when first released, but achieved greater airplay on progressive rock radio stations. It has become a classic rock staple and has appeared on several audience-selected lists as one of the best rock songs of all time.

About the song, Farner explained to Nightwatcher's House of Rock: "I had gone to bed and prayed. Our mother had taught us kids to pray the 'Now I lay me down to sleep,' so I finished that part of the prayer, and put a P.S. at the end of it, and I asked the Creator to give me a song which would reach and touch the hearts of people that he wanted to touch. With love, because I just felt the love. I just felt for my good friends, my high school buddies who had died in Vietnam. I saw their parents, and I saw their families, and I think that's what inspired it.
It came in the middle of night to me as words, and I didn't even realize it was a song, because I write words all the time. In fact, my wife has a file that she has where she's picked up napkins and notes here and there that have all these words that come out. At least we have a place to start putting them together, like a puzzle. But I grabbed those words in the morning, because I was playing my guitar in the kitchen of the farm. I was sipping on my coffee, had my feet kicked up in the chair, and I had my flattop guitar. As I was strumming the intro chords to 'I'm Your Captain,' I went, 'Hey man, maybe this is a song.' So I went and got the words, and started constructing the song out of it. I took it to rehearsal that day and the guys said, 'Man, this song's a hit.' And, lo and behold they were right."
Grand Funk Railroad - "I'm Your Captain <Closer to Home>" (Shea Stadium, 1971)

Grand Funk Railroad perfomance (Hyde Park 1971)
Grand Funk Railroad were consistently despised by the rock critic establishment, and "I'm Your Captain" got some of the same treatment. In the 1979 Rolling Stone Record Guide, critic Dave Marsh relented only slightly by writing, "Wretched was the word to describe Grand Funk's music. Although the group occasionally achieve an interesting song—'I'm Your Captain' was about the best of the early ones ..."

Line-up / Musicians:
Mark Farner — guitar, keyboards, vocals
Mel Schacher — bass guitar
Don Brewer — drums/vocals

Link / Review:
ultimateclassicrock: Top 10 Grand Funk Railroad Songs
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