John Lennon’s Widow May Sue Kelloggs Over ‘Strawberry Fields’
The widow of John Lennon, Yoko Ono, may take legal action against a new breakfast cereal called “Strawberry Fields,” which she believes is too close in name to Lennon’s famous Beatles song, “Strawberry Fields Forever.” Ono has no appetite for the product marketed by Kashi, an organic-food company owned by Kelloggs, and has asked her lawyers to look into the matter.
In a bit of breakfast cereal irony, Lennon once admitted he wrote the song “Good Morning, Good Morning” on the Beatle’s Sgt. Pepper album after hearing the phrase on a TV commercial for Kelloggs’ brand of corn flakes.
“Strawberry Fields Forever” was inspired by a Salvation Army orphanage in Liverpool, England, known as Strawberry Field. It was a large Victorian building located on Beaconsfield Road, in the community of Woolton, about a five minute walk from Lennon’s home on Menlove Avenue. Young John used to play in the trees there and attended events with his Aunt Mimi.
There were two different versions of “Strawberry Fields Forever,” recorded in entirely different tempos and keys. Beatles’ producer George Martin edited both together, adjusted tape speeds and came up with the final version, which appeared on the Beatles 1967 album, Magical Mystery Tour, and on two-sided hit single, with the song “Penny Lane” on the other side.
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