MSUM Lecture Features Beatles Expert
Walter Everett, author of The Beatles as Musicians, will present a free, public lecture on “Creation and Development of Strawberry Fields Forever” Sunday, May 3 at 5 p.m. in the Roland Dille Center for the Arts Gaede Stage.
Written by John Lennon and formally credited to the Lennon/McCartney songwriting team, “Strawberry Fields Forever” was recorded at the end of 1966 and was named after a Salvation Army house in Beaconsfield Road, Woolton, Liverpool, England, where Lennon played as a child. The song reached number eight in the U.S., with numerous critics describing it as one of the group’s best recordings.
Everett’s books on the Beatles present a comprehensive study of every aspect of the Fab Four’s musical life—composition, performance, recording and reception histories—from its beginnings in 1956 through 1965 (The Beatles as Musicians: The Quarry Men through Rubber Soul) and their transcendent late period, 1966-1970 (The Beatles As Musicians: Revolver through the Anthology).
Everett is a professor and chair of music theory at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance. He is currently writing a book on rock music, a project underwritten by a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities.