Beatles-New York Feb 1964 Unbelievable!

[tuskedbeast]

It's absolutely possible that that little moment on the Melodica was a riff that John had under his fingers for gods knows how long, and recycled for SFF. He definitely used years-old riffs in his songwriting. He was also a pretty limited keyboardist, which you'd imagine increases the possibility.

And that "iPod" was a transistor radio with a single earphone.

[speedave00]

O wow that was "strawberry Fields" he was playing right there........Obviesly everyone has already said that, but that was badass!!!

[ocean96113]

This just gave me the chills

[spirtw72]

John once said that if you gave him any instrument to play he could bring out some kind of interesting sound from it. I paraphrase. But it's definitely clear he's puffing out the germ of SFF. It's a fascinating insight into the creative process, that a sequence of sounds could be stored in the mind like that for years. Another similar phenomenon exists between the melodies of Paul's Dance Tonight and John's Dear Yoko. Makes me wonder who had the melody first? Did it date back to the '60s?

[tuskedbeast]

@spirtw72 Yup. Another example is "Child of Nature" circa the White Album becoming "Jealous Guy".

[physicalgraffiti714]

Ringo at 00:33 hahaha

[tatelabianca]

really great footage here! ace post. thanks!

[kennymelodica]

Hooray for the Beatles (and for Melodica!!)

[r0b3rt0nr8x]

John and Paul would write stuff or make melodies but would often use it later or fill it in a song. its possible john had this melody but didnt used it until SF. Paul had "when im 64" since he was 16 or something

[BritsRComing]

Is Paul on a Cell Phone towards the end?

[llamawalrus]

@BritsRComing Sure, Paul was using the iPhone he just bought on his last time travel...

I've seen this with better definition, and they all had radios with little headphones, that was the "joke" George was making, pretending to be deaf... and Paul was rehearsing some speech while listening to the radio. Anyway, this was just before The Ed Sullivan Show, and they were VERY nervous, so they would do some things that didn't make so much sense.

[BritsRComing]

@llamawalrus LOL.....

Thanks for the info.

[jammmon]

0:44 whats that between george and paul?

then John ignores Paul

[nakabar]

Or, maybe you're all right. He played this stuff, had it in his mind, then totally forgot about it and thought it up from scratch again when writing Strawberry FIelds. You people are obviously not musicians.

[nakabar]

All you uppity pricks who know everything need to get a grip on yourselves. Yeah, you're right, "Strawberry Fields" didn't yet exist at this time. It's called songwriting process. People don't just sit down and write full songs from start to finish in a hour, you know. Do you realize the stupidity of saying that this has nothing to do with Strawberry Fields? Apparently not. He liked the chord progression, and later put it as part of a song. Common fucking sense, people.

[pinchold]

@nakabar you're wrong actually. people do write songs in one go - sometimes in ten minutes from start to finish

[bigbadbeesa]

@nakabar well said!

[newmoonamazing22]

i also love how at 1:28 one of the beatles comes out of the bathroom and runs out

[newmoonamazing22]

i like how paul comes in then the guy says were late and he runs away at 0:27. i think he ran to get his coat because everyone else had their coats.

[cecopiteco]

it's called melodica.. used in dub ska and things

[costatropicalgranada]

Is that a mobile phone?

[hippieringo24]

Awww ringos ringing, so adorable!!

[bigbadbeesa]

of course he wasnt thinking of strawberry fields ...it wasnt writen yet!!!



[florallyouneedislove]

i meant: he wasn't thinking about strawberry fields exactly

[florallyouneedislove]

i think that it's true that he wasn't thinking about strawberry fields, but what is true is that sounds very similar to that future song!! so you're right in some way, and i agree with frankdyna (sorry for my english, i speak spanish in fact XD)

[Cozycriter]

I don't think John had "SF" in mind. I think he was just goofing around with the instrument. I hear a resemblance to the opening notes of "SF", but that could be said for anything. Just messing around with chord changes it's easy to misinterpret them and assume he was trying to write "SF" when all he was doing was messing around with chord changes. ;-) Cool video, though.

[beatlesrule001]

Off to be watched by 73 million American viewers!

[MsMadiMonster]

HOLY CRAP that does sound like strawberry fields. but, like others said, he wasn't thinking about it then, just playin around(;

i love how at 0:27, Paul's casually walking in, then turns around and sprints out. i love him<3

George at 1:06<333 "We're going..."

[marvy1118]

What's even more astounding is that only three years separate this footage from Strawberry Fields Forever. Talk about a quantum leap.

[frankdyna]

he wasnt thinking strawberry fields but that little chord change he was playing of course stuck and became the germ to SFF

[TennisNick]

@frankdyna the transition from Major - Major 7th - Dominant 7th has been around much longer than Strawberry Fields has. The description has the first part right, John was just mucking about.

[bigbadbeesa]

@TennisNick so has a major chord?....get a life

[maunten66]

" el conjunto mas fantastico del mundo " LOS BEATLES . arriba y abajo del escenario. no han sido igualados hasta hoy.

[queenieepstein]

fingos lips got real thin haha

[TheJohn4ever]

poor paulie! xD <3

[SFChicoDan]

Your cinema techniques creating a newsreel example of that time period were excellent. Every actor providing convincing roles and mannerisms were spot on. How come you don't give yourselves any acknowledgment... beatlesaus.

[rissyjava]

What's the song in 1:26? Not the beatles' song, sounds like Sinatra.

[labitajojo]

I noticed that too, it's indeed on the Firt US Visit. But I don't think it is especially Strawberry Fields. In fact, what he's doing here is quite evident: he takes a major chord (based on 3 notes) and he just makes the "dominant" note (A if it's an A major, B if it's a B major, etc) go a semi-tone downer every time. It's a thing that is very frequent in fact (hence the verse of Something for example). But yeah I'd noticed the resemblance too :)

[winstonoboogie74]

he was just trying to make something out of that instrument, but no way that he was thinking about Strawberry Fields at that stage .... no way.

[LeoLovesNature]

it sounds like the beggining of strawberry fields, like it or not, john lennon was an amazing musician and he just used to play the pop rock at early years just for marketing matters.

[cealend]

may be he was cuz as we all remember that his dad left him and his mom was killed by hit n car accident know strawberry fields as remember was salvation amry department as in huge fields as he was young always in an out of school but never or less he was in care of his aunty mimi so as his sisters as well

maybe he was thinking of it as start anything was posible with john ..cuz not long after help was recoreded and after was it an penny lane ..

[shetownguitarist]

amazing

[Sizzletube]

what an amazing video , it just shows how thay wrote there music, 5 *****

who would have thought strawberry feilds was in johns mind all thoes years befor it was recorded and released

love is all

trevor sizzle

[mojoscary]

i noticed that years ago whan i saw this on the Beatles First US Visit video!!