La Santa Cecilia just gave “Strawberry Fields Forever” a whole new meaning.
The Grammy-winning band covered John Lennon’s iconic tune, changing the rhythms to match their more uptempo sound, and released a video that illustrates the song’s connection with migrant workers in the United States.
The video, released Monday, moves backwards from using strawberries to decorate a cake to the worker picking the fruit in the fields, then comes full circle at the migrant’s home.
During an interview at the Grammy Museum this summer, the Mexican-American group spoke about the moment they felt a connection to the Beatles iconic song.
“One day we started leaving L.A. to play in Bakersfield and we saw the fruit fields and the strawberry fields and listening to the song on my iPod,” lead singer Marisol Hernández said. “I thought, man, it connected. Seeing all these migrant workers, working for hours strawberry fields forever and it was just like, ‘woah!,’ when you just connect a lyric.”
“It’s a trip that a song that was made by these four Brits turned into something that I feel connected to with migrant workers and the beauty of their work,” Hernández continued. “I guess it’s a way for us to acknowledge their work, and for people to just kind of remember where all our amazing fruit comes from. It’s so easy to just grab at grocery stores but it comes from somewhere else and it’s always think it’s nice to acknowledge the people behind-the-scenes.”
In a press release announcing the video’s debut, there’s mention of John Lennon’s own fight against deportation in 1972. It turns out President Nixon was not a fan of the former Beatle and his wife who frequented anti-Vietnam War rallies in New York, according to the Los Angeles Times.
La Santa Cecilia has made a name for themselves in music, but also activism. The group’s lyrics are often filled with messages concerning the plight and life of immigrants living in the United States.
Earlier this year, the group won the Grammy for best Latin rock or alternative recording for “El Hielo” (“The ICE”) and then dedicated their win to “the more than 11 million undocumented people that live and work really hard in this country, and that still need to lead a more dignified life.”
Check out the video of La Santa Cecilia’s “Strawberry Fields Forever” above.
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