Grapthar's Daily Hive Music Feature: The Beatles - 'Strawberry Fields Forever (Demo Sequence)'

from The Beatles, so I figured I'd go with something a little more unique than one of their finished album tracks, which I'll get into below. As per each of these posts, I gotta start with a bio, which always feels strange when it comes to this band as they're so well known, but the posts don't seem right without a little background. The Beatles were formed in 1960 in Liverpool, England, and after a few early line-up changes, the line-up of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr came together, along with producer George Martin who played an integral part in arrangement, production and songwriting. The band began in the world of pop rock, though they always wrote their own music, and as they grew up, their music evolved, eventually resulting in some of the most groundbreaking songs of all time, helping to make rock and roll a real art form, and not just a teenage fad.

these guys, as there are literally albums and albums of classics, but I figured I'd try and go for something a little more interesting than just a song from an album or single. In 1996 Apple Records released a 3 part Anthology series, which included tons of demos, live recordings, studio outtakes, and unreleased material. Anthology 2 starts off around the Help! era, continuing through Rubber Soul, Sargent Pepper's, Magical Mystery Tour and Let It Be. I chose this demo of 'Strawberry Fields Forever', which was apparently the original version that John had written, with just an acoustic guitar and a single vocal part. This eventually evolved into the full song, but the most interesting part is how the chord progression evolved. In the song, there is a descending line cliche that uses a major IV, to a IVmaj7, to a IVdom7 (in Amajor, so all D major chords) but in this original version, that descending line, in Cmajor here, moves from G, to Bmin, to Dmin, with the line cliche on top dropping from G, to F# to F. It's SUCH a simple little thing, but that Bmin to Dmin move, implying we're in Gmajor, sounds SO cool when the tune resolves to the actual key.