The Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever" originally had a country influence. Paul McCartney said the tune has a special connection to "Penny Lane."
The Beatles‘ “Strawberry Fields Forever” is John Lennon’s masterpiece. The Beatle had a hard time remembering the sequence of events that led him to write it. Fascinatingly, Paul McCartney said the tune came out of his rivalry with John — and that it had a special connection to “Penny Lane.”
The book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono features an interview from 1980. In it, John said he wrote The Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields Forever” while he was filming the comedy film How I Won the War. The film was directed by Richard Lester, who also helmed A Hard Day’s Night and Help!, as well as Superman II and Superman III starring Christopher Reeve. Despite John and Lester’s involvement, How I Won the War is not one of The Beatles’ films.
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com