The Nowhere Man and Mother Nature’s Son: Coleridge/Lennon-Wordsworth/McCartney and the Productivity of Resentment

Abstract

On February 13, 1967, the Beatles released one of their finest and most influential records, “Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever.” A glimpse of the new direction the group was taking in their Sgt. Pepper’s sessions, “Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever” was also something of an anomaly both for the Beatles and the pop music industry at the time. Contrary to marketing practices dating back to the 1930s, the new single had no A side—that is, it was understood that neither song was to receive the prestige and publicity push normally given to a new song. Previously, the A side of a single was reserved for songs that all four Beatles agreed possessed extraordinary commercial appeal; the B side was filler. Record sleeves of prior singles had identified the A side graphically by setting that song’s title in larger type. But on the cover of “Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever” both titles appeared in identical type style and size. The single was to be considered a double A record.

The difference between a bad artist and a good one is: the bad artist seems to copy a great deal. The good artist really does copy a great deal.

—William Blake, “Annotations to the Discourses of Sir Joshua Reynolds,” in Adams, 449