Take 7 is one of two takes of “Strawberry Fields Forever” that were spliced together to create the official version of the song. Take 7 is the shy, melancholy opening to the song, featuring the iconic mellotron intro, and a melodic electric guitar accompanying the vocals. The other take is the more absurd and outgoing Take 26, featuring a full orchestra, backwards drum fills, and a much faster tempo. Most of the original song is made up of Take 26, meaning that the average listener only hears a small part of Take 7.

The entirety of Take 7 was released by the Beatles in 2017 as a part of the Sgt. Pepper’s 50th anniversary album. Now people can hear this version in its full glory. This take starts as you might remember, with the mellotron opening the track, and leading into John Lennon’s beautiful and calming vocals. “Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see. It’s getting hard to be someone but it’s alright, it doesn’t matter much to me.” This set of lyrics is where things start to get personal, and they should sound familiar. They come just before the songs drops into full on psychedelia, but as you listen, your expectations are subverted. Instead of the drop you’re used to, the song leads right into “No one I think is in my tree.” It’s a sincere line, where Lennon admits his own pride, he sees himself as above the people around him. It’s not something he wants to admit, and it’s a sad thing to hear. Take 7 conveys John’s emotion so perfectly.

The instrumentation is so soft and gentle in Take 7, it’s not something you’re able to experience in the original song. The mellotron continues to play the melody, and the electric guitar echoes along behind it. All of this is backed by Ringo’s truly outstanding drumming, which humbly keeps the beat and flows with the other instruments, without taking over the song. The song continues with a few more verses, a chorus or two, and an erie ringing in the background from time to time.

Take 7 is much shorter than the original song, over a whole minute shorter. It’s not an event, it’s a moment. A moment that is also a crucial turning point in a broken man’s life. John admits his folly and wants to start over. He wants to be better. He wants forgiveness. The songs comes to a close with 30 seconds of melodic guitar playing. It’s like discovering a whole new song. This short, 30 second coda is a bright, optimistic song. The mellotron from the old song is still there, but now, the guitar plays the melody, and the mellotron accompanies it, not the other way around. John’s new life won’t be perfect, there will be many hardships. The sad mellotron will come back from time to time, but John doesn’t care, he’s chosen not to listen to the mellotron. He’s too busy listening to the sweet and happy sound of the electric guitar, as the song fades out into silence.