A classic rock star once said The Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields Forever” includes a morbid message about Paul McCartney. That’s not true. John Lennon revealed what he actually said in “Strawberry Fields Forever.”
A rock star said he thought The Beatles’ ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ was about a death
Wayne Coyne is the frontman of the psychedelic rock group The Flaming Lips. The Flaming Lips are deeply indebted to 1960s music, so it’s no surprise Coyne is a huge Beatles fan. During a 2014 interview with Newsweek, Coyne named “Strawberry Fields Forever” one of his favorite songs by the Fab Four.
“I remember my brothers and their friends listening to that and hearing the end of that, where John Lennon says, ‘I buried Paul,’” he said. “Everybody was thinking that Paul McCartney was dead. All that mythology and all that stuff that was made up then. I was 8 or 9 years old, and I f****** totally believed it and was like, ‘This is great! John Lennon’s singing about Paul, but Paul’s dead and there’s another Paul taking his place!’”
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John Lennon shut down part of the most famous Beatles conspiracy theory
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The book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono features an interview from 1980. In it, John claimed he did not say “I buried Paul.” Instead, he was saying “cranberry sauce.” John revealed he had no intention to promote false information about Paul with “Strawberry Fields Forever.”
replaced by a body double remains one of the most famous music conspiracy theories of all time. To this day, some fans insist that The Beatles’ lyrics, films, and album art include clues about his death and replacement. For example, some believe that the “Billy Shears” character from “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and “With a Little Help from My Friends” is the name of Paul’s replacement. Many people claim the cover of Abbey Road depicts an allegorical funeral procession.
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This theory is a double-edged sword. On one level, no one is helped by conspiratorial thinking. On another level, the “Paul is dead” theory adds to The Beatles’ legendary, almost folkloric quality. For some fans, the “Paul is dead” theory is just a bit of unserious fun.
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The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne discussed the importance of ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’
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In the Newsweek interview, Coyne discussed the impact “Strawberry Fields Forever” had on him. It extended beyond any kooky theories. “Back then you didn’t really think about, ‘Well, this is on this record and this is on this record,’” he said. “It wasn’t until I got a little bit older that I was like, ‘Oh, that’s an album that has these songs, and that’s another album that has these songs.’ All that is all jumbled together. But I think ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ is the starting point of where it really had the biggest impact on me.”
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While The Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields Forever” doesn’t have any secret clues, the tune still influenced Coyne.
