Fab Four’s Strawberry split is a hit
QUESTION Was The Beatles’ Strawberry Fields Forever two songs spliced together?
STRAWBERRY Fields Forever did combine two versions of the same song by splitting studio tapes.
The creation of what has been top of many ‘greatest single of all time’ polls was a work of innovatory genius.
The story begins in Almeria, Spain, in autumn 1966 when John Lennon was filming How I Won The War. With his then wife Cynthia and co-star Michael Crawford, he was staying at the Santa Isabel villa.
Its wrought-iron gates and lush vegetation reminded Lennon of playing, as a boy, in the garden of Strawberry Field, a Salvation Army children’s home in Liverpool. He made at least half-a-dozen demos of the song at Santa Isabel using, appropriately, a Spanish guitar and recording on a portable tape player. When Lennon returned from the six-week shoot, he continued to develop his ideas in his home studio at Kenwood House in Weybridge, Surrey. The only way he had of building up layers of sound was a live overdub technique. He would play a recorded segment on one tape machine and then add another layer by playing live, recording both parts on a second machine.
The analogue nature of the recording led to every dub degenerating the overall sound.
Lennon’s frustration with the laborious process is evident on the nine takes referred to as the Kenwood Demos.
Strawberry Fields Forever was then recorded at Studio Two, Abbey Road. Take One started on November 24, 1966. The song was built up in layers culminating in Take Seven on November 29, 1966, when the other Beatles thought it was complete.
However, Lennon wasn’t happy — he wanted a heavier sound. The Beatles re-recorded the song from scratch.
This second version was completed with Take 26 on December 21. John realised he wanted the beginning of the first and the end of the second — and left this to producer George Martin to bring about. This was a seemingly outrageous request as the two versions contained different tempos and keys.
It was then that one of the miracles of pop music occurred.
Martin, assisted by studio engineer Geoff Emerick, took the first 60 seconds of the first lighter version, slowed down the more intense Take 26 and speeded up a new mix of Take Seven to cut a master. Almost a month after The Beatles started Strawberry Fields Forever, it was finished.
It is possible to hear some of those earlier takes on the 2017 issue of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band — 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition.
Graham Calkin, Basildon, Essex.
QUESTION
Does baby hair contain gold?
AN ADULT human body naturally contains 2mg of gold, worth about 7 cent, but a baby’s hair has more than this. Gold is the least reactive metal, so does not oxidise in the natural environment. It is found as nanoparticles in seawater and soil. Animals and plants absorb some, which passes up the food chain to us. Our bodies regulate the concentrations of biologically active metals such as zinc and copper, removing any surplus via the skin and hair.
Though harmless, gold is naturally excreted in the same manner. Breast-fed babies have twice as much gold in their hair as adults, with the surplus derived from the mother’s milk.
Kathy Stewart, Chester, Cheshire.
QUESTION Why is Pope’s Head Alley in the City of London so called?
POPE’S Head Alley was named after a pub. In the days when most people were illiterate, businesses had to use ways of identifying themselves that didn’t rely on the written word.
A red-and-white striped pole is still used to indicate a barber’s. It represents the bandages used to dress wounds by barber-surgeons. Apothecaries placed jars of herbs, roots and syrups in their windows while artisans hung symbols of their trade, such as a hammer or pair of tongs for a blacksmith, outside their premises.
Inns and taverns displayed the widest range of signs and symbols. In some cases, they were physical objects, such as a wheatsheaf or plough, but in others they were painted wooden boards displaying a picture or coat of arms, as they still do today.
The Pope’s Head pub almost certainly had a sign depicting the painted head of a pontiff, probably in formal regalia to make sure he wasn’t mistaken for a lesser cleric. The tavern pre-dates Henry VIII and it is believed the name changed to The Bishop’s Head during his reign when the Church of England separated from Rome.
The name subsequently changed back again. The tavern stood at one end of an alley to which it gave its name. At one time the alley was lined with small printing businesses and shops.
After the tavern was destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666, the alley was rebuilt, though it may not be on its original site. A comparison of pre and post-fire maps shows Pope’s Head Alley in an area previously occupied by buildings. It originally started opposite Post Office Court but is now sited a few yards east.
Robert Sutherland, Northampton.
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