Beatles: Strawberry Fields Forever Meaning

Song Released: 1967

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...

1. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Jul 16th 2008 !⃝

   Hey I think these are all really good theories. I really don't know what I think it means. but it's probably a combination of everyone's theories. but mine that I have a strong feeling about is that this song is not about drugs. I know that's there's a lot of evidence that makes it sound like drugs, but I don't think it is.
2. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Jul 10th 2008 !⃝

   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
3. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Jul 8th 2008 !⃝

   Song is about acid(Mesk), Its when your tripping on acid, if you ever tripped before you will fully understand this song.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
4. YahhTrick.

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Jun 19th 2008 !⃝

   I think it could mean he's kind of living a selfish life, and thinks he's going to hell. Like "Strawberry fields" meaning the fire, and "forever" referring to the after life being eternal.
   
   I don't know, its just an idea. I'm 14 years old, and just thought it was a good interpretation. But I think a lot of your ideas makes a lot more since, lol.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
5. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   May 20th 2008 !⃝

   If you listen really closely at the very end John says "I burried paul" very softly, though John said later that he says cranberry sause.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
6. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   May 9th 2008 !⃝

   I think John was different I think he was troubled, living with eyes closed is much easier than open, strawberry fields being a place to get away to fit perfect in this song, it related to him as a kid and adult, either way this song along with many other of johns songs has many interpretations he was a double meaning writer and that what makes him and all his songs awesome.
7. H9304

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   May 4th 2008 !⃝

   I think its incredibly naive to say this song is about nothing, or just a song to listen to when you're stoned. John Lennon lived in a world that was always surrounded by war, and his experiences showed through his music. As a lot of his songs were, these lyrics are criticizing society, and how people are blind to reality. They also show Johns confusion and frustration, as he tries to deal with people who don't understand his insistence for peace. Also, I think he's wishing for a world that's a mirror of his childhood, where hatred doesn't exist.
8. dreadpirate

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Apr 26th 2008 !⃝

   Wikipedia has some great info on this song. For one thing: Lennon said 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,'"[8]
   To explain the "tune in part:
   The earliest demo version of the song has a single verse with no refrain:
   "No one is on my wavelength, I mean, it's either too high or too low; That is you can't you know tune in but it's all right, I mean it's not too bad."
   In later demo versions Lennon altered this verse to make it more obscure
   According to Simon Freeman of Times Online, "The words 'nothing to get hung about' were inspired by Aunt Mimi's strictures not to play in the grounds. It has gone down in Beatles mythology that the young Lennon would reply: 'They can't hang you for it'."[9]
   
   Other than that... I believe this song is very much about John wishing for the naivete of childhood when life was easy - and sort of trying to reason with himself that the things he worries about now are not that important anyway. You see the reasoning with himself in the last verse. I agree with the people who said it is an existentialist struggle but then again it may just be simpler than that. It may just be about fitting in, being understood, and longing for a time when these things came much more easily. *shrug*
9. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Apr 24th 2008 !⃝

   Not to be rude, but in response to the post two up from this one... Since when have music videos really ever had anything to do with a song? Heh.
   
   They are pretty much thought up by an art director, usually with minimal input from the band, even back then.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
10. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Apr 9th 2008 !⃝

    I may be completely wrong, because believe me I'm no Beatles EXPERT. However, I've listened to this song over and over and over again. I've read all the other interpretations and somewhat agree with some of them. But every time I listen to it, I can't help but think how I just feel like I'm in a better place when I hear it. Maybe John Lennon really wanted to make other people happy, and to do that he thought about what made him happy. I read that Strawberry Fields was a place where he would go when he was young. He says, "Let me take you down, cause I'm going to... Strawberry Fields. Where nothing is real." Maybe he's just referring to his 'happy place'. The place where you can go for a little while and everything can be perfect but when you get back to the real world the happy place is pretty much non-existent. Like I said, it's just my opinion and it could be completely wrong. So, please, no slamming, okay?
11. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Mar 17th 2008 !⃝

    Listen to this. They say, let me take you to the strawberry fields were nothing is real. These are times were acid was new and the shit. if you see music video its so random and trippy. Basically it means drop acid not bombs hahaha.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
12. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Feb 22nd 2008 !⃝

    This song is probably just describing an acid trip one of the guys had while taking LSD (Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds!!)

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
13. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Feb 15th 2008 !⃝

    Don't be closed minded, there isn't just one meaning to any song that's what makes it great, you can relate it to whatever you are going through in your personal life.
    So don't tell someone they are wrong and don't claim to be right.
    
    love
14. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Dec 18th 2007 !⃝

    Hi! This is my own interpretation of the song. I think this one makes sense. Let me know if you agree with my interpretation. Thanks! - Celine V.
    
    "Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields.
    Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about.
    Strawberry Fields forever."
    - Come with me, I'm going to my happy place/state (this probably means being high). Don't worry, it's just a fantasy. It's nothing too offensive or harmful. I simply love this place. I wanna be there forever.
    
    "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."
    - It's easier to live without judgements and social demands because we tend to misinterpret what others say about is or how others say we should live our lives. From pressure of the social world, it's difficult to be someone who is acceptable/well-loved, but somehow, despite imperfections, you are accepted/loved anyway. You get tired of living up to their demands, so you give up and think that it doesn't really matter much, even if it does.
    
    "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."
    - I don't know anyone who has understood exactly how I feel/think. I try hard to relate with others, but I still can't. But it's ok, coz I don't think there's anything wrong with being different.
    
    "Always no sometimes think it's me, but you know I know when it's a dream.
    I think I know I mean "Yes," but it's all wrong.
    That is I think I disagree."
    - I am still confused as to who I really am, whether my actions and thoughts come from me or from society's demands. But I'm fully aware that sometimes I do things triggered by the ideal me. But there are situations when I still get confused, despite being aware of what the ideal me would do, coz of social influence.
    
    - All this confusion and being different is tiring, so come on and be free with me in my happy place/state - Strawberry Fields Forever!
15. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Dec 17th 2007 !⃝

    I listen to this song when I was high. it was pretty powerful. it was a bad trip though so I interpreted it as going to hell. strawberry fields-red. their are some low sound effects so it sounded somewhat demonic. now that I'm sober I see that it doesn't sound this way, it was just my state of mind at the time...

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway

Latest Articles

• 
  A new era for Millennial favorite, Linkin Park
• 
  Anime to watch for the soundtracks… and other reasons you’re undateable
• 
  Dolly, we need you
• 
  The Stranger Things Effect: How new media is drawing Gen Z and Alpha's attention to aging media
• 
  The most underrated soundtrack of the early 2000s
• 
  Buy the Soundtrack, Skip the Movie: Brainscan (1994)