55 hours of studio time for 'Strawberry Fields Forever'.

About 55 hours. That was an absurd amount of time for a single song in 1966 — most albums were recorded in a day or two.

The Beatles spent the better part of two months in the studio, recording dozens of takes. The final version is literally two different recordings spliced together (different keys, different tempos) because John couldn’t decide which one he liked better. George Martin slowed one down and sped the other up to make them match. That’s why it sounds slightly woozy.

For context, the entire Please Please Me album was recorded in under 13 hours. “Strawberry Fields” took more than four times that on its own. It was a turning point — studio-as-instrument started here.