Buried Treasure: Richie Havens, “Strawberry Fields Forever”

Updated:

January 19, 2024 11:30 am

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When I was 14 I was hypnotized by Richie Havens’ whirlwind, largely-improvised performance of “Freedom” in the Woodstock movie. I used to pop in the video cassette every week or so after school, captivated by his soulful voice, million-strum-per-hour guitar playing, and apparent lack of teeth (I’m still curious about that part).

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A few years back I was thrilled to see one of my first musical heroes get to play a nice roll in Todd Haynes’ Dylan biopic I’m Not There.

Posting about Crosby Stills and Nash’s demos today had me on the YouTube looking for videos, which lead me to Woodstock, which lead me to Richie, performing “Strawberry Fields Forever,’” which by the looks of it, was among the first songs in his legendary set. Havens opened the Woodstock festival on Friday evening, and ended up going long — some three hours — when the other performers were caught in massive traffic. The producers kept asking him to extend his set, so Havens eventually ran out of songs, and ended up improvising “Freedom” on the spot.

“Strawberry Fields” had been in the world for less than three years at that point — the Beatles released it as a single in February 1967.

Havens did the song, which featured endless overdubs, instruments, and studio trickery, justice with his mostly solo acoustic guitar performance. (He’s accompanied by the guy who as a kid I always thought was named “Guitar Mike.” That’s what Havens says at the start of “Freedom”: “guitar mic…guitar mic, please…”) It’s the antithesis of “Freedom” — it’s relaxed and pastoral instead of locomotive and impassioned.

As the camera surveys the massive crowd of placid youngsters, sitting peacefully and vibing on the music, the lyrics of “Strawberry Fields Forever” takes on a heightened meaning. Certainly the songs’ idealism, and the power of the Beatles’ music in the latter half of the ’60s was a contributing factor in what these 500,000-odd hippie kids were doing here in the first place.

Check out “Freedom” and “Strawberry Fields” below.