Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to...

 ...STRAWBERRY FIELDS!

"Strawberry Fields" is a memorial to John Lennon (1940–1980), located in Central Park in New York City. It is named after “Strawberry Fields Forever,” the song Lennon wrote and recorded with The Beatles in 1967.

During a visit in early June, I experienced something unexpected.

Although I arrived relatively early (before 8 a.m.), there were already two men playing Beatles songs — a guitarist and a singer. A third man, who seemed to be more than just a listener, was sitting next to them.

After they played "Girl", which I partly sang along to, the singer asked whether anyone in the (still rather small) crowd had a song request. I asked for "Day Tripper" and sang the famous guitar riff that opens the song: daaa-da-da-da-da-daaa-da-daa-da-da-da.

When the song was over, the "third man" looked at me and said, "You sing better than some of the people who have made a career in music." I smiled and thought to myself, "Back in Austria, no one had ever said anything like that to me."

For me, the Beatles are the most important band in the history of modern music. No other group has brought so many fresh and original ideas to popular music, and “Strawberry Fields Forever” may be their most groundbreaking recording.

Just listen to the flute-like Mellotron at the beginning of the song and remember that it was a brand-new instrument at the time (introduced in the early 1960s). It can best be described as a predecessor of the modern sampler.

Watch the official video of "Strawberry Fields Forever" here.

The 34-foot-wide mosaic was inspired by ancient Greco-Roman mosaics and crafted by artisans in Naples