The Beatles: Strawberry Fields Forever (Drum & Percussion Cover)

Music has been lowered and pitched down to avoid copyright. Watch for changes in volume where drums cut out
Is this the most complex Beatles recording? Well, it certainly is one of them.
Like “Penny Lane”, “Strawberry Fields Forever” was intended to be included on the Sgt. Pepper album but eventually released as a non-album single on February 13. Their last single, the double A-side “Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby” was released on August 5, 1966, as was their latest album Revolver. This song, along with “Penny Lane” brought along a new sound in The Beatles’ music and laid the groundwork for their upcoming material. John Lennon wrote the song based on memories he had as a child playing in the garden of Strawberry Field, a mansion used as a Salvation Army community home for children. On Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list in 2004, the song was ranked 76, the same placement in 2011, and number seven on the 2021 edition of the list. Definitely one of the greatest songs of all time in my opinion!
After going through multiple versions of the song, starting from a simple solo acoustic demo from John and ending to a complex psychedelic arrangement of multiple sounds, “Strawberry Fields Forever” was the most complex recording The Beatles made at the time. The first full band version of the song was recorded on November 24, 1966 and featured Lennon on his Epiphone Casino, George on lead guitar (maybe his Epiphone Casino but not sure. Go to guitar focused channels, they would know more about it then I would), Ringo on drums (his usual Ludwig Super Classic Black Oyster kit) and Paul on the Mellotron (MarkII), an instrument introduced to John and Paul by Mike Pinder who famously used the Mellotron in his group The Moody Blues from 1967-1978. After going through different changes of the song, two new versions were recorded. Take 7, a moderate tempo version with a similar musical arrangement to the first take, and take 26, a faster version with an orchestra, a percussion heavy track with reverse cymbals, and swarmandal. These alternate takes can be found on Anthology 2 and the 50th anniversary release of Sgt. Pepper.
After combining 7 and 26 into one performance, the song was done. The whole song took about 45 hours to record over five weeks. Almost four years earlier, The Beatles recorded ten songs for their debut album in 12 hours. How they went from “Please Please Me” to this in just three years is remarkable!
Let me just say that this video took what seemed forever to figure out. Before recording the main drum track, I first recorded the reversed drum parts. I listened to the finished track backwards to hear what was being played, wrote the parts on a notecard, and recorded them while playing the song backwards. You can see the notecard on the rack tom. After a little bit of editing, I got the parts in the right spots. The recording has a very high pitch cymbal which may be finger cymbals or a crash cymbal played at a faster speed. I am using a splash cymbal as it is the closest thing I have to getting that sound.
With the main drums, I started with listening to each and every fill in the song and writing them out on paper and practicing each fill until I was able to play them. I watched multiple videos of other drummers covering the song including the great batmankozyy, a legend in Beatles drum covers on KZbin and how they play the song. The hardest part was figuring out what was being played in the whole outro. This involved me listening to the song and half speed, and transcribing each measure based on what I heard. This process took nearly three hours. Once I had that written down, I then had to figure out how to play what was written down. That took a couple of days to master but I eventually got there. Most covers include both drum tracks played at once while playing 16th notes on the floor drum, which is how I used to play the song, but I decided to include two different drum tracks to get a closer sound to the recording. I also included the percussion parts including maracas and tambourine. You can see me looking at my notes in the video. It is a hard drum part and I needed a reference.
The rapid 16th notes heard in the recording are played by Paul on a timpani. As I do not have a timpani, I am using my floor tom but with cymbal mallets. It is not the exact sound but I had to use what I have. I think it sounds pretty good. There is also a snare part heard in the right headphone on beats 2 & 4 and quarter notes in the outro which I have included in the cover.
I apologize for this rather long description, but I wanted to discuss a lot of stuff. I hope you enjoy the video. If you are new here and like what you see/hear, please consider subscribing.

[@sallykohorst8803]

Yes i love the drums and to Beatles music well the best. Thank you. Miss you John.❤

[@davidmontis7259]

Thank you kindly! John is missed very much.

[@felipeoliveira.84]

This shows how this is the greatest work in the history of recorded music. No more.

[@davidmontis7259]

@@felipeoliveira.84 one of the greatest!

[@basementbeatle]

With that I can officially say: This is the best Beatles Drum channel ever!

[@davidmontis7259]

Thank you very much!

[@TwoBeats]

IT IS!

[@earldrum]

Great lesson in playing the Ringo way … overdub! Awesome backwards sounds! This is amazing David!

[@davidmontis7259]

Thank you Earl!

[@ringo.maxxx123]

Finally, You've got something new in that Masterpiece. Strawberry Fields Forever is one pf the most influentials riffs, fills, and beats drum on full self-work titles, and You did it just like Ringo played the drums as well !

[@davidmontis7259]

Thank you very much!

[@perfectpiano1871]

Jesus Christ! This is literally the most amazing end interesting drum cover I've ever seen when KZbin!

[@davidmontis7259]

Thank you very much!

[@aytuggultekin2566]

Great video. One of the best the beatles drum cover . Maybe the best.

[@davidmontis7259]

Thank you very much!

[@_mono_01]

I have a suggestion for another Beatles cover: I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry Over You. It has a SUPER underrated performance by Ringo and I think it would make a great video.

[@davidmontis7259]

I’ve thought about doing some BBC songs. Lots of great drumming on those recordings. Some other guy, gonna sit right down, Ooh! My Soul, etc. I do plan on covering some of those songs in the near future.

[@mikeevans4585]

What a treat! Catching this mere minutes after you uploaded, practically live streamed 😉 Great effects, Geoff and Sir George would be proud with these results, let alone Sir Richard... cheers!

[@davidmontis7259]

Thank you very much! They should be proud of themselves for creating masterpieces like this. Essentially doing what was thought to be impossible at the time. Sadly Geoff and George aren’t around anymore, but I hope if Ringo ever saw this he would be pleased. Glad you liked it!

[@paulwelch565]

The most complete drum cover of an interesting song

[@davidmontis7259]

@@paulwelch565 thank you very much!

[@DSKim-ej5uf]

A video that passed through a mysterious algorithm caught my eye, and I fell in love with your channel. Thanks to your video it surrounds me with beautiful and good energy. I was surprised by the excellence of your video made with passion and a lot of effort, and I was moved by your sincerity and effort while watching the video. May everything you do be fulfilled to the fullest, like the bright sun ahead. I am watching your video full of unique charm like a dream. By chance, as the algorithm introduced, when I opened the KZbin window, the first video I saw was yours. Watching your video made everything feel like a dream and happy. A video made with passion and a lot of hard work is invaluable and I am grateful to see it. I admire the emotional excellence of your videos, and sincerely support your channel, looking forward to its gradual development. Videos made with passion and a lot of hard work are invaluable and we are grateful to watch them.

[@davidmontis7259]

Thank you very much!

[@JacobKMusics]

Best Beatles drummer on KZbin! Period! Great work, David!

[@davidmontis7259]

Thank you Jacob! I hope we have the chance to work on another video again real soon!

[@gmultimedio]

Great video! Great cover! you got everything even the backwards percusion section!! Greating again from Ecuador!

[@davidmontis7259]

Thank you very much! Wanted to get everything and have something in those verses where the drums drop out.

[@sampopkin]

Well done David!

[@davidmontis7259]

Thank you very much Sam!

[@perfectpiano1871]

Do guys know each other in real life?

[@davidmontis7259]

@@perfectpiano1871 only through KZbin.

[@thunderbrd]

In my opinion, your cover is simply great and unbelievable. Well done on your performance!

[@davidmontis7259]

Thank you very much!

[@thisisfunah]

This is excellent!

[@davidmontis7259]

@@thisisfunah thank you very much!

[@osborndrums]

Been looking forward to this one because I wanted to see how you’d cover it, and you did not disappoint!

[@davidmontis7259]

I hope the wait was worth it! Thank you very much!

[@Ventilador_adoF]

Meu Deus que cover incrível! Parabéns e saudações do Brasil 🇧🇷🇧🇷

[@davidmontis7259]

Thank you very much!

[@thexdude]

You and Sam Popkin need to do a collaboration, that would be so sick

[@davidmontis7259]

We have discussed the possibility of a collaboration sometime in the future. Hopefully someday we’ll be able to work together on something. Right now you can watch the full band cover “can’t buy me love” cover on Jacob K Entertainment’s channel (a great channel by the way) which features myself, Sam, and Dom Rossi.

[@thexdude]

@@davidmontis7259 It is VERY good. I am impressed!

[@IsaacWale2004]

You should do the entire "Please Please Me" album as one video. Would be like a live performance :)

[@davidmontis7259]

Interesting idea. So would I film each song separately and then compile them all into one video, or film every song in one video?

[@cianhealy7447]

@@davidmontis7259 i think film it in one, the beatles did it in one day!! that would be really cool.

[@davidmontis7259]

@@cianhealy7447 I had a feeling it would be filmed in one video. That would be cool. The only problem I see with that would be transitioning between each song. I could find away around it if needed and could even add my own count ins before each song so the intro doesn't sound wonky. I'm all for the idea. Could be a neat summer project.

[@SayTheWord65]

Esto tiene valor historiográfico. La experimentación de los sonidos al revés es algo magnífico de ver, siempre eran sonidos abstractos para mí. Es muy interesante ver como fueron producidos. Rompiendo todos los límites

[@davidmontis7259]

Absolutely! I love when songs have backwards parts. Gives the song a new level of complexity.

[@SayTheWord65]

@@davidmontis7259 ¡Te felicito David! Hiciste un gran trabajo al descifrarlos.

[@davidmontis7259]

​@@SayTheWord65thank you very much!

[@vintagedrummer79]

Excellent work! Very accurate all around. Appreciate your attention to detail!

[@davidmontis7259]

Thank you very much!

[@TwoBeats]

You nailed it once again David!! Sounds awesome! Love how your outfit suits the song!

[@davidmontis7259]

Thank you very much!

[@ZeroCari_YT]

Podrías enseñar a tocar la de I’ve got a felling

[@davidmontis7259]

Must of missed this comment. Sorry about that. That has a great drum part. I do plan on getting to that song sometime in the future.

[@jeffkahl]

Fantastic!

[@davidmontis7259]

Thank you very much!

[@IsaacWale2004]

Great drum part

[@davidmontis7259]

One of the best! Thank you kindly!

[@afc9020]

You should do Hey Jude. It would be great!

[@davidmontis7259]

I will definitely get to that one in the near future. Those fills in the outro are fantastic!

[@aytuggultekin2566]

Haters:Ringo was/is a bad drummer. Ringo's drum cover:

[@davidmontis7259]

If only people would actually listen to Ringo’s drumming, then they would see if he really is a bad drummer.

[@IsaacWale2004]

How long did this take to make? (Record and edit)

[@davidmontis7259]

I’d say it about 2 and a half weeks. One week of recording and one week of editing. Making sure everything was synching up correctly was probably the hardest part in the editing process. The final days included me trying to get past copyright. I had to keep going back to change the song’s volume to see if it would be allowed.

[@aydanneilson-bourke7378]

Great one man! how was all the reverse stuff done?

[@davidmontis7259]

Thank you very much! I listened to the actual track reversed and wrote down the parts. I then recorded those parts onto the reversed track. When the track was then playing normally, the new recorded tracks were now reversed and I lined them up to where the fit in the song. Not a complicated process but rather time consuming.

[@mercymallari1060]

I have a Question, why did the US release of Magical Mystery Tour contained the 1967 singles, Hello Goodbye, Strawberry Fields Forever, Penny Lane, Baby You’re A Rich Man, and All You Need Is Love.

[@davidmontis7259]

Since magical mystery tour was released as an EP in the UK, Capital decided to release it as a full length LP with the non-album singles from the time on the second side since EPs were not as popular in the US.

[@mercymallari1060]

@@davidmontis7259 was it to make more money?

[@mercymallari1060]

Oh ok

[@mercymallari1060]

Was it like for Capitol to make more money or something like that?

[@davidmontis7259]

I do know the album was released in the US in late November of 67, so maybe to have a new full length Beatles album out for the Christmas holiday season. That’s my guess

[@Ethan-jw9ns]

What kit do you have?

[@davidmontis7259]

It’s the Ludwig Classic Maple Black Oyster kit.