Strawberry Fields Forever

This past weekend I went strawberry picking, a task with which I obtained a sore back and five pounds of strawberries. As I stood in my kitchen next to a cauldron of boiling strawberries, waiting for them to turn into jam while my fresh baked cobbler cooled, I couldn't help but notice that "Strawberry Fields Forever" kept playing on repeat in my head. I began to think about my relationship to the Beatles and how often in my day I reference or am influenced by the band's music.
Every time I enter a Target store now, "Hello, Goodbye" plays quietly in the recesses of my mind. A government overthrown? "You say you want a revolution, well, you know...". Once in a while I refer to my yellow Chevy as my yellow submarine in which I sail the seas. I do not have any close friends named Michelle, but if I did I would sing to her "Michelle, my belle..." and she would probably look at me funny because it seems as though no one my age gets any of my references and, well, they should. The Beatles affect them more than they know. Their music is on our commercials, being remade on our radios, in the background of movies, and referred to in pop culture and books. It's amazing to think that a single band could have so much influence on society almost half a century after first hitting the top of the pop charts.
As I stood there watching my strawberries slowly turning over and thickening, I decided that maybe a little Beatles appreciation was in order, whipped out my Magical Mystery Tour LP, and cranked up the volume on my ancient record player, the sound carrying out of my room and engulfing the rest of my house as I sang along... "Strawberry fields forever!"
~LeejaKelly~