Strawberry Fields in the Desert

In Autumn 1966, following The Beatles’ retirement from touring amidst global controversy, John Lennon found a new part to play, as an actor in Richard Lester’s film How I Won the War. This took him to Almería, in south-eastern Spain, where he wrote and recorded the first demos of the legendary song “Strawberry Fields Forever”. But how would this Spanish location help shape a song named after a children’s home in Liverpool? How would the man who claimed the Beatles were “more popular than Jesus” respond to the ongoing press backlash? How would he handle himself in a cast of established actors? Why did he help a local teacher with song lyrics? And why did he start wearing those trademark specs?Strawberry Fields in the Desert unfurls a colourful tapestry of lesser-known details from Lennon’s six-week sojourn in the Spanish sun. It depicts and draws upon a wide range of vivid real-life eyewitnesses, from members of his legendary inner circle to a team of now all-but forgotten locals, all of whom long remembered this momentous time in the Beatle’s life that sowed the seeds of his lifelong pacifism. These witness testimonies are adapted from those shared with author J. Adolfo Iglesias and strikingly imagined by illustrator Rafa Amat: a unique view through a narrow window into musical myth. The book also includes an illustrated essay by author J. Adolfo Iglesias, featuring previously unpublished photographs of John Lennon. [This publication has not been prepared, approved, authorized or licensed by the John Lennon estate or any related entity.]