michonnegrimes:

Paul wasn’t planning to write about Liverpool – until he heard “Strawberry Fields” and it lit up his competitive edge. These memories were something he and his dearest friend still shared – Paul remembered Strawberry Field, and he knew John well enough to know what it meant to him. But he also knew what Penny Lane meant to John – that was the street where he lived with his mother, Julia, before she left him. Strawberry Field was down the road from his Auntie’s house; the place he’d go to contemplate his exile from the home he’d known on Penny Lane. These twin songs went together as a concept single. “Strawberry Fields” and “Penny Lane” are their most famous combo, linked together forever though it’s been decades since they’ve existed in that form. They play off each other as a John/Paul dialogue. While Paul does his people-watching on Penny Lane, John is a mile away, hiding in the tall grass of Strawberry Field. – Rob Sheffield, Dreaming the Beatles