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The slang expression Strawberry Fields designates LSD—i.e., lysergic acid diethylamide, an extremely powerful synthetic hallucinogen. Strawberry Fields is also used of other drugs.
This slang expression alludes to Strawberry Fields Forever (1967), a song by the Beatles 1, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon-McCartney.
1 The Beatles were a pop and rock group from Liverpool, consisting of George Harrison (1943-2001), John Lennon (1940-1980), Paul McCartney (born 1942) and Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey – born 1940).
The following two texts mention the relation between drugs and some of the Beatles’ songs:
1-: From Rock That Loves To Turn You On, by David Sjostedt, published in The Patriot Ledger (Quincy, Massachusetts, USA) of Tuesday 18th February 1969 [page 30, columns 1, 2 & 3]:
The Beatles […] refined the drug song, establishing two definite categories. Continuing the innovations that would make them the greatest musical influences of the decade, the Beatles used their unshakable reputation to make more overt references to particular drugs. Their “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” is one of the earliest fairly obvious references to LSD in popular music, even if it isn’t totally successful in its attempt to evoke the mood of the “acid trip” (and even if John Lennon claims that the song has nothing to do with acid). Another of their early double-entendre mentions of drugs was “Yellow Submarine,” British slang for nembutal, a barbiturate.
Of more lasting importance was their further development of the “trip-song,” the composition intended to recreate a “high.” “Strawberry Fields” remains one of the better examples of “head music,” while their “Sgt. Pepper” and “Magical Mystery Tour” albums pioneered the cohesive, single-themed trip LP.
2-: From Drug Use and Pop Lyrics, a very curious article by Jay Zuckerman, published in The Daily Register (Red Bank, New Jersey, USA) of Friday 16th January 1970 [Enjoyment: Your Weekend Magazine, page 7, column 4]:
Immediately after the release of Sergeant Pepper, people were taking the cut “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and saying it was about LSD.
In a 1967 interview, Paul McCartney (if in fact it was the real Paul) said the title came from a drawing by John’s son who had a friend named Lucy. He added they did the whole thing in an Alice in Wonderland vein.
But, of course, everybody knows, “For the Benefit of Mr. Kite,” “The Fool on the Hill,” “Something,” and all those other songs say to today’s youth “Turn on. I want to turn you on.” Not all references are clear and direct, like Strawberry Fields is about mescaline, “When I’m Sixty-four” deals with a guy who shoots 64 bags of heroin a day, “Eleanor Rigby” tells of a fair maid who gets busted for being a heroin pusher (picking up rice) and is killed by the police because she is their supplier and they don’t want to get found out.
These are, in chronological order, the earliest occurrences that I have found of the slang expression Strawberry Fields designating LSD and other drugs:
1-: From ‘Pot’ Smokers Tell Of Marijuana Joys, Easy Access Here, by Ed Martley, Journal staff writer, published in the Rapid City Journal (Rapid City, South Dakota, USA) of Wednesday 13th November 1968 [page 7, column 5]—this article, about the “hallucinogenic drugs […] circulating among the teenage set” of Rapid City, was based on an interview of two local boys:
Mescaline, the hallucinogenic chemical found in the peyote cactus, is usually in large capsules, (horse caps) and LSD, usually called “acid,” is also in capsules. And there is THC, which is a synthetic marijuana taken in capsule form. The user gets quite a wallop from it.
[…]
LSD is often mixed with other drugs for added kicks. One such mixture is referred to as Strawberry Fields. There are also White Lightning and Blue Cheer. Blue Cheer caps include an amphetamine.
2-: From Attention Parents, by Wayne Rickert, published in the Livingston County Press (Howell, Michigan, USA) of Wednesday 5th March 1969 [page 2, column 1]—here, the expression seems to designate marijuana:
During the past two years The Beatles have popularized many songs which have been interpreted by young people as dealing with drugs.
For example, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” is advertised on posters with the letters LSD underlined.
“Yellow Submarine” has been called by National Review “a beautiful children’s song”. Those who are a little more hip know that in drug terminology a “Yellow Jacket” is a submarine-shaped barbiturate seconal or “Downer” (a downer submerges you). “Norwegian Wood” (British teenagers term for marijuana). “Straberry [sic] Fields Forever” (marijuana is often planted in strawberry fields, in order to avoid detection, because the plants are similar in appearance.)
3-: From an account of the 11th annual Rochester Festival of Religious Arts, held in the Central Presbyterian Church at 50 Plymouth Ave. N., Rochester, New York—account by Shirley Williams, published in The Times-Union (Rochester, New York, USA) of Wednesday 30th April 1969 [page 3F, column 1]—here, however, although the expression strawberry fields does seem to refer to some drug, the specific substance is not mentioned:
FORTY-FIVE MINUTES before Ginsberg 2 arrived, the hall was half-filled with a young crowd—derrieres upholstered in Mac’s Navy surplus, Rapunsel tresses, goatees, bells on their bell bottons [sic], forsythia in their hair—a rear guard of flower children whose Haight-Ashbury mecca 3 has dissipated like a vision of strawberry fields.
2 The guest of this festival was the U.S. poet Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997):
3 A district of San Francisco, California, Haight-Ashbury was one of the main centres of the counterculture of the 1960s.
4-: From an account of the raid that a drug squad conducted on Saturday 17th May 1969 on a university hotel in Brighton—account published in the Evening Argus (Brighton, Sussex, England) of Tuesday 17th June 1969 [page 14, column 5]:
When Crallan came to the room the police thought he was under the influence of drugs. He agreed with them and said he was “on an LSD trip.”
In his room they found cannabis and also three pills wrapped in silver paper. Crallan said: “Those are Purple Haze and Strawberry Fields.” They turned out to be LSD.
5-: From Drugs: The dirtiest racket in existence, by Peter Targett, published in the Evening Post (Chatham, Kent, England) of Tuesday 10th February 1970 [page 5, column 6]:
Powerful legislation is essential to bring the drug-pusher to court and strong penalties to deter others are inevitable if this diabolical social evil is to be controlled.
Yet the answer is not to be found in repression alone. Human compassion, understanding of why some people are attracted to drugs, rehabilitation and sympathy—these are the directions of progress.
Yet how often we are unable to help because of our own ignorance. Do you know the facts about drugs? What is a “hard” or a “soft” drug? How should addicts be treated? What is the cause of drug addiction?
What effects do different drugs have? Just what is a “Strawberry Field,” a “goofball,” a “French Blue,” or an “acidhead?”
6-: From Glossary Of Drugs, by Selby McCash, published in The Macon Telegraph (Macon, Georgia, USA) of Saturday 4th April 1970 [page 3A, column 6]:
LSD—Lysergic acid diethylamide, a powerful man-made chemical […].
[…]
The slang names are acid, strawberry fields and others.
7-: From Drug Pushers In Area Net Huge Profits, by Anne Kovalenko, published in the Sunday Call-Chronicle (Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA) of Sunday 20th September 1970 [page B7, column 4]:
LSD, known locally as the 25th Formula, brown spots, (paper tabs) or strawberry fields (a flat pink pill) sells for $5 or $6 a pill or tab.
8-: From an account of the arrest of a youth, published in the Evening Chronicle (Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northumberland, England) of Monday 16th November 1970 [page 7, column 6]:
Edward Wake (17), a salesman, of Westerham Close, Sunderland, admitted possessing LSD tablets and cannabis resin. […]
[…]
As Wake was being escorted to the office he threw away a handkerchief which was wrapped round a small wallet containing a number of tablets in silver paper.
He told police the 21 tablets, which he referred to as “Strawberry Fields,” contained LSD.
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