tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871690118199792415.post3023186750981380340..comments2023-11-05T04:01:35.425-08:00Comments on hey dullblog: Lewisohn on Strawberry Fields, Take 1Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09054118876539799264noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871690118199792415.post-12195464087128741922013-01-24T20:19:30.167-08:002013-01-24T20:19:30.167-08:00Thanks for this, Michael. I had a hunch.Thanks for this, Michael. I had a hunch.matt mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871690118199792415.post-19146812004306221102013-01-24T19:35:38.818-08:002013-01-24T19:35:38.818-08:00Whoever wrote which bit of "Strawberry Fields...Whoever wrote which bit of "Strawberry Fields Forever," no one else has ever done a sleepy/dreamy vocal the way Lennon could -- and this song is the ultimate achievement in that direction. ("I'm Only Sleeping" and "I'm So Tired" complete the trifecta.)<br /><br />In "Revolution in the Head" Ian MacDonald does a great job of explaining how varispeeding creates the song's "swimming" sound. <br /><br />He also captures, in one paragraph, the degree to which this song was a group endeavor. In addition to Starr's drumming and McCartney's Mellotron, MacDonald says "the main features of the texture" came from "a sort of Indian zither called a svarmandal used by Harrison for the descending raga scale which pans across the stereo spectrum at the ends of the central choruses. Picking up on this Indian inflection, George Martin wove his cellos exotically around McCartney's sitar-like guitar fills in the fade, his one-note bass fanfare (probably based on scatting by Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison in the original version), emerging as the most exciting feature of a superbly climactic arrangement." <br /><br />All hands on deck!Nancy Carrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11622655838552297555noreply@blogger.com