STRAWBERRY FIELDS: KEEPING THE SPIRIT OF JOHN LENNON ALIVE
The purpose of the release of this DVD was to try to establish an international holiday to celebrate John and Yoko’s peace efforts throughout the years especially as a result of the peace anthems he wrote that became part of the musical soundtrack of countries facing times of unrest in struggles with other countries or even under times of internal unrest.
Time can be cruel in revising history as many critics now state that John Lennon was a hypocrite for espousing a message of peace, yet he had a mercurial personality that often did not demonstrate those elements in the way he conducted his own personal life. It is the same criticism heaped upon him for writing the Imagine no possessions line in the song Imagine despite having immense wealth in his personal possession.
I personally believe many of these critics are missing the point. An intellectual can understand the inconsistency that they may be demonstrating with some of their public comments and yet be speaking an underlying truth with the product they produce as a result. Most of us want to have financial security but not to become a prisoner to it and that can be the task of the artist to attempt to demonstrate that to the masses! John’s legacy in recent years has seemingly been relegated to the back burner of history and his perceived importance in the Beatles in the Beatles legacy to newer generations unfortunately is on a downward trend because of both historical revisionisms and the desire of many critics to elevate their own sense of self-esteem by bringing former heroes back to earth by sullying their cultural contributions..
This DVD project was an attempt several years ago by filmmaker Mark Elias to document 7 years of fan observations and comments about what John Lennon meant to those fans collected at the Strawberry Fields mosaic area in Central Park.
The DVD featured a somewhat controversial oddity. It featured a tribute song to John Lennon entitled
Crying for John Lennon – HARGO (Official Music Video) which was by an artist who calls himself, Hargo. The song by Hargo was a very nice tribute to John. However, the song was one of the last songs ever produced by the controversial but legendary producer, Phil Spector, before he was tried and convicted of the murder of Lana Clarkson and was to spend the rest of his life in prison for that crime. He passed away from Covid during his sentence. What at one time would have been an asset in promoting a product with his name attached to it was now considered a severe liability as a result of the crime.
As additional example, prior to the heinous incident I had acquired a signed and inscribed Phil Spector Imagine cd, but I was always hesitant to display it after what transpired because of Spector’s involvement in the subsequent heinous & terrible crime.
Despite Spector’s immense and notable contributions to popular music, it seems obvious that he may have suffered from severe mental illness. Spector even drew and fired a gun at a John Lennon session in LA in the early 70s while John was recording an oldies album.
The cover of the DVD:
Inside the cover of the DVD package:
More info about the purpose and the aim of the DVD:
The DVD included in the package:
The back cover of the DVD with credits provided:
A special treat that appears on YouTube:
The Beatles ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ John Sings In His Natural Voice 2026 Remix Put on YouTube by
username britt2001b
What do you think?
Does anyone else share my view that John’s status in the Beatles in the current generation has been greatly reduced and that there has been a great period of revisionism that his image has gone through in recent years a lot of which I see as being unjustifiable and not suitably supported!
Looking forward to your comments!
Be healthy and be happy!
Buzz
