52 minutes into the Martin Scorsese-produced Disney+ documentary movie Beatles ‘64, an extraordinary moment occurs. No historian familiar with The Beatles would have expected this moment to appear in film footage of the band’s first tour of the United States, taken by Albert and David Maysles in February 1964. It occurs during a scene in which the four Beatles are waiting in their H๏τel suite to be taken to CBS Studio 50 for their American TV debut on the Ed Sullivan Show, and John Lennon is messing around with a melodica.

The footage collated by Beatles ‘64 director David Tedeschi is synonymous with the arrival of Beatlemania to North America, following the ᴀssᴀssination of President John F. Kennedy. Indeed, these events and their significance in modern American history are the focus of Tedeschi’s movie, and The Beatles’ landmark Ed Sullivan show performance is the subject of several scenes. Yet, the tune that John Lennon is playing on his melodica feels out of step with these events, and with 1964. In fact, it’s a glimpse three years into the future, previewing one of The Beatles’ most celebrated songs of 1967.

John Lennon Appears To Play The Intro To “Strawberry Fields Forever” In Beatles ‘64

He Plays Almost The Exact Chord Pattern And Sound Of The Actual Intro On A Melodica

For around 20 seconds in the 53rd minute of Beatles ‘64, John Lennon fiddles with a descending minor-key chord pattern on a melodica, a free-reed instrument that’s similar to a harmonica except that it’s played vertically via a keyboard. This musical figure is identical to the opening notes of the introduction to Lennon’s legendary 1966 composition “Strawberry Fields Forever”, while its sound on the melodica is an accurate imitation of how the actual intro will sound when played on a mellotron in almost three years’ time.

If this scene in Beatles ‘64 really does capture the beginning of Lennon’s writing process for “Strawberry Fields Forever”, even in embryonic form, then it’s of major importance to the history of The Beatles. It suggests that Lennon was already dreaming up one of the most acclaimed and influential songs The Beatles ever recorded years before its actual release, and before the psychedelic rock genre that it epitomized was even an underground phenomenon.

It’s extraordinary to imagine that moments before the biggest live performance of his career, in which he’d be playing early Beatles songs shown in the documentary like “She Loves You” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand”, 23-year-old John Lennon was absent-mindedly starting one of his greatest compositions. Lennon’s musical genius is beyond doubt, but this moment in Beatles ‘64 may require the timeline of his musical development to be revised.

The Beatles Released “Strawberry Fields Forever” 3 Years After Their 1st US Tour

But Apparently, Lennon Was Already Coming Up With Ideas For The Song In 1964

The Beatles released “Strawberry Fields Forever” as a single on February 13, 1967, exactly three years after the week of their debut performances on the Ed Sullivan Show, during their first-ever US tour. It’s generally believed that John Lennon began composing the song in September 1966, during a break from shooting the movie How I Won the War in southern Spain. However, the Maysles brothers’ documentary footage in Beatles ‘64 suggests a different story.

Indeed, Lennon couldn’t have written a song that sounded like the final version of “Strawberry Fields Forever” in early 1964, because neither his nor anyone else’s music had developed in that direction at such an early stage in the history of rock music. “Strawberry Fields Forever” is one of The Beatles’ most ambitious and experimental pop masterpieces. It allegedly influenced the decision of Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys’ musical prodigy, to abandon his SMiLE project, because he felt he couldn’t top the song.

Still, it’s highly plausible that Lennon did come up with at least part of the musical idea for the composition as early as February 1964, and the idea resurfaced during a writing session two and a half years later. The tune he’s playing on the melodica in Beatles ‘64 hasn’t gone unnoticed by many Beatles fans, and it’s only logical to conclude that it’s one and the same as what would later become one of the most important introductions to a pop song ever recorded.