Strawberry Fields Forever

Composition[edit]

"Strawberry Fields Forever" was originally written on acoustic guitar in the key of C major. The recorded version is not in standard pitch, due to manipulation of the tape speed, and the key is approximately B♭ major.^[33] Among musicologists, Walter Everett describes it as "midway between" A and B♭ over the opening minute and subsequently "closer to B♭",^[34] while Dominic Pedler says that some consider it to be closer to A major.^[35]


The song begins with a flute-like introduction played on Mellotron,^[15] and involves a I–ii–I–♭VII–IV progression (in Roman numeral analysis).^[36] The vocals enter with the chorus instead of a verse.^[37] In Pedler's description, it has "non-diatonic chords and secondary dominants" combining with "chromatic melodic tension intensified through outrageous harmonisation and root movement".^[38] The phrase "to Strawberry" begins with a slightly dissonant G melody note against a prevailing F minor key, then uses the semitone dissonance B♭ and B notes (the natural and sharpened 11th degrees against the Fm chord) until the consonant F note is reached on "Fields". The same series of mostly dissonant melody notes covers the phrase "nothing is real" against the prevailing G7 chord (F♯7 in the key of A).^[38]


A half-bar complicates the metre of the choruses, as does the fact that the vocals begin in the middle of the first bar. The first verse follows the chorus and is eight bars long. The verse starts with an F major chord, which progresses to G minor, the submediant, serving as a deceptive cadence. According to musicologist Alan Pollack, the deceptive cadence is encountered in the verse, as the leading-tone never resolves into a I chord directly as expected.^[33] Instead, the leading note, harmonised as part of the dominant chord, resolves to the prevailing tonic (B♭) at the end of the verse, after tonicising the subdominant (IV) E♭ chord, on "disagree".^[35] On the released recording, the second and third verses are introduced by a descending, raga-esque melody played on an Indian board-mounted zither, known as a swarmandal.^[39]


In the middle of the second chorus, brass is introduced, emphasising an ominous quality in the lyrics.^[37] After three verses and four choruses, the line "Strawberry Fields Forever" is repeated three times, and the song fades out, with interplay between electric guitar, cello and swarmandal. The song fades back in after a few seconds for what Everett terms a "free-form coda".^[40] This avant-garde-style section features the Mellotron playing in a haunting tone – one achieved by recording the instrument's "Swinging Flutes" setting in reverse^[41] – scattered drumming, discordant brass, and murmuring, after which the song fades for a second time.^[37][33]