Song by Song: "Strawberry Fields Forever" Quiz

Answer: A children's home

Strawberry Field, owned by the Salvation Army and located in the Woolton suburb of Liverpool, was a children's home between 1936 and 2005. John Lennon grew up nearby the children's home and played on the grounds during his childhood. In 2019, the property was opened to public visitors and sported a shop, cafe, and special education training center. Lennon co-wrote the song with Paul McCartney.

Answer: Swarmandal

Also known as a sumeandal, the swarmandal is a plucked box zither instrument frequently used in Northern India in concerts. This Indian harp takes its name from from the words mandala (meaning circle) and svara (meaning notes). The instrument was played by George Harrison.

Answer: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

The group, however, was pressured by its management to release the song as a single instead. It was released on February 13, 1967, months before the "Sgt. Pepper's" album. The song was produced by George Martin and is said to belong to the psychedelic and progressive rock/pop genres.

Answer: güiro

Aspinall was an old school friend of McCartney and Harrison and also a music industry executive. The güiro, which is used commonly in Cuba and Puerto Rico, is made up of an open hollow gourd with parallel notches cut into one side. A stick is then rubbed along the notches to make sound.

Answer: eyes closed

"Living is easy with eyes closed
Misunderstanding all you see..."

The song peaked at number one on the Australian Top 40, the Belgian Singles Chart, the Dutch Top 40, and the Norwegian Singles Chart. In the UK, it peaked at number two on the Record Retailer Chart.

Answer: tree

"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."

John Lennon sang vocals on this song while McCartney played bass guitar, piano, and bongos. George Harrison played slide guitar. Mal Evans, a roadie and personal assistant of the Beatles, played tambourine on the song.

Answer: real

"Let me take you down
'Cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields
Nothing is real
And nothing to get hung about
Strawberry Fields forever."

Peter Gabriel recorded a cover of this song for a musical documentary. Los Fabulosos Cadillacs did a ska/reggae version of the song featuring Debbie Harry.

Answer: Candy Flip

Candy Flip, from Stoke-on-Trent, were an indie dance music group that were part of the early 1990s Madchester scene. Their cover of "Strawberry Fields Forever" peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart and at number seven in Ireland. It was released on Candy Flip's album "Madstock" with "Can You Feel the Love" on the B-side.

Answer: Mellotron

"Strawberry Fields" made use of numerous instruments, including a cello and trumpet arrangement by producer George Martin. The song employed maracas, tambourine, timpani, slide guitar, bongos, piano, bass guitar, and tack piano as well. Paul McCartney played the Mellotron in the take 7 portion of the recording.

The Mellotron was first developed in Birmingham in 1963. The instrument uses keys to push a magnetic tape against a a tape transport and pull it across a playback head. The instrument ceased to be produced in 1986, the last model being the M400 introduced in 1970, but in 2007, an M4000 was produced due to a resurgence in popularity of the instrument in the 1990s.

Answer: Todd Rundgren

"Faithful" was Rundgren's seventh album and contained the singles "Good Vibrations" and "Love of the Common Man." The album reached number 54 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart. Ben Harper also did a cover of the song which was used in the film "I Am Sam" in 2001.