Non-Parrot News: Beatles Music Banned From Strawberry Fields

Beatles Sing-a-Long in Strawberry Fields, May 2009, Before Anti-Music Crackdown

UPDATE 7/2/09: There's now an online petition that you can sign to bring John Lennon's music back to Strawberry Fields. Please sign it -- it only takes a minute.

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Musicians strumming and singing classic Beatles songs from the 1960s are no longer welcome in Central Park's Strawberry Fields.

Yesterday, on Sunday, June 28th, at approximately 4:00 PM, I personally witnessed the issuance of two expensive summons to several these musicians by undercover police.

This action stopped the music -- most likely forever -- in Strawberry Fields.

The fines ($50.00 and $200.00) were for violations of the Park's "Quiet Zone" policy. Given that none of the musicians who play in Strawberry Fields are wealthy, these fines were crushing. But they did succeed in "getting the message out" that the only proper and legal way to celebrate John Lennon's life and work is through passive silence, not sympathetic musical participation.

Lennon opposed such passive silence in his lifetime, and I'm sure that he'd have been appalled by the idea that Fear, Paranoia, and Silence, not Joy, Peace, and Harmony, would now rule the atmosphere of the place whose central feature is the mosaic bearing the name of Imagine, his most iconic song.

While "pro-silence" forces have successfully silenced Beatles music in Strawberry Fields (even though it was never loud or noisome, relying on acoustic instruments and harmonic singing), they have been unable, at least so far, to completely stamp out free, live Beatles music in New York City. Fortunately, the New York City subway system (which has no "Quiet Zones") continues to host free Beatles music concerts performed by a band called The Meetles that I've mentioned on this site.

It's a real shame that the classic music of Lennon and McCartney has been forced underground, but unless the Blue Meanies that run Central Park reconsider their policy, you'll never hear "Strawberry Fields" performed in Strawberry Fields again, the only way to hear Penny Lane will be to Take The A Train, and the only thing that musicians can reasonably Imagine is ruinous fines, the confiscation of their instruments, and the Sound of Silence.

Steve Baldwin