"Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" (Lennon – March 2, 1967)
Sgt. Pepper's… – Side 1, Track 3 (3:28)
From Wikipedia, Rolling Stone, About.com, and Google –
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a song written primarily by John Lennon and credited to Lennon/McCartney, for The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. This album became the biggest selling album of the 1960s and remains today the biggest selling studio album in countries as far apart as the UK and India.
Lennon's son, Julian, inspired the song with a nursery school drawing he called "Lucy — in the sky with diamonds". Shortly after the song's release, speculation arose that the first letter of each of the title's nouns intentionally spelled LSD. Although Lennon denied this, the BBC banned the song.
In a 2004 interview, Paul McCartney admitted that the song is obviously about LSD, stating, "A song like 'Got to Get You Into My Life,' that's directly about pot, although everyone missed it at the time." "Day Tripper," he says, "that's one about acid. 'Lucy in the Sky,' that's pretty obvious. There's others that make subtle hints about drugs, but, you know, it's easy to overestimate the influence of drugs on the Beatles' music."
History –
The "Lucy" in the title of this song refers to Lucy O'Donnell, a student at Heath House Infants' School in Weybridge, Suffolk, Britain, who was a classmate of John's then-four-year-old, Julian. When he returned from school one day in February 1967, Julian showed his father a picture he'd drawn his classmate, with sparkling eyes, flying in the sky. "That's Lucy in the sky with diamonds," he declared, and John was immediately inspired.
John drew from his usual inspirations in completing the imaginative lyrics of this, one of the Beatles' most famous psychedelic songs. He himself cited the "Wool And Water" chapter of Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass (And What Alice Found There) as one, not so much for its actual images as for its sudden changes in scenery (although there is a line about river banks "frowning over their heads"). The popular British TV sketch comedy series The Goon Show featured a joke about "plasticine ties." Paul McCartney has claimed a few phrases he contributed to the songwriting process, including "cellophane flowers" and "newspaper taxis." John later explained that the "girl with kaleidoscope eyes" referred to his ideal mate, which would later turn out to be Yoko Ono.
Structurally, the song is as complex as the lyrics. It changes its home key three times between the verse, bridge, and chorus (G, Bb, and A), and also features Paul singing a third higher than the double-tracked John vocal on the choruses.
The recording itself, however, was a simple affair. On February 28th, 1967, the band rehearsed for eight hours, working out arrangements. The next day, they laid down Paul's organ (with a bell stop that made it sound like a harpsichord or a celesta; it opens the song), as well as John's piano, George's acoustic, and Ringo's drums, along with John's guide vocal (later wiped). After the sixth, keeper take, George added a tambura, an Indian instrument whose droning sound helped ease the transition between chorus and verse. The day after that, on March 2nd, lead and backing vocals were laid down, then George's electric lead (with slide) and Paul's bass.
Arrangement –
Much of the song is in simple triple metre (3/4 time), but the chorus is in 4/4 time. The song modulates between musical keys, using the key of A major for verses, B♭ major for the pre-chorus, and G major for the chorus. It is sung by Lennon over an increasingly complicated underlying arrangement which features a tamboura, played by George Harrison, and a counter melody on Lowrey organ played by McCartney and taped with a special organ stop sounding "not unlike a celeste".
Session tapes from the initial 1 March 1967 recording of this song reveal that Lennon originally sang the line "Cellophane flowers of yellow and green" as a broken phrase, but McCartney suggested that he sing it more fluidly to improve the song.
Title and lyrics –
Julian's drawing - Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Lennon's inspiration for the song came when his son, Julian, showed him a nursery school drawing he called "Lucy - in the sky with diamonds", depicting his classmate, Lucy O'Donnell. Julian said, "I don't know why I called it that or why it stood out from all my other drawings, but I obviously had an affection for Lucy at that age. I used to show dad everything I'd built or painted at school, and this one sparked off the idea..." Lucy Vodden (née) O'Donnell, in a BBC radio interview in 2007, said, "I remember Julian and I both doing pictures on a double-sided easel, throwing paint at each other, much to the horror of the classroom attendant... Julian had painted a picture and on that particular day his father turned up with the chauffeur to pick him up from school." Lennon was surprised at the idea that the song title was a hidden reference to LSD.
“It was purely unconscious that it came out to be LSD. Until someone pointed it out, I never even thought of it. I mean, who would ever bother to look at initials of a title? It's not an acid song. The imagery was Alice in the boat.
Claus Vodden died of the immune system disease lupus in 2009.
Takes: 8
Personnel –
John Lennon – lead vocals, piano (1905 Steinway Vertegrand "Mrs. Mills")
Paul McCartney – harmony vocals, bass guitar (1964 Rickenbacker 400IS), organ (1965 Lowrey Heritage DSO-1)
George Harrison – rhythm guitars (1962 Gibson J-160E (acoustic), 1961 Sonic Blue Fender Stratocaster), tamboura
Ringo Starr – drums (Ludwig), maracas
1982 – US single release: "Beatles Movie Medley"/"I'm Happy Just to Dance With You".
From Wikipedia, Rolling Stone, About.com, and Google –
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a song written primarily by John Lennon and credited to Lennon/McCartney, for The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. This album became the biggest selling album of the 1960s and remains today the biggest selling studio album in countries as far apart as the UK and India.
Lennon's son, Julian, inspired the song with a nursery school drawing he called "Lucy — in the sky with diamonds". Shortly after the song's release, speculation arose that the first letter of each of the title's nouns intentionally spelled LSD. Although Lennon denied this, the BBC banned the song.
In a 2004 interview, Paul McCartney admitted that the song is obviously about LSD, stating, "A song like 'Got to Get You Into My Life,' that's directly about pot, although everyone missed it at the time." "Day Tripper," he says, "that's one about acid. 'Lucy in the Sky,' that's pretty obvious. There's others that make subtle hints about drugs, but, you know, it's easy to overestimate the influence of drugs on the Beatles' music."
History –
The "Lucy" in the title of this song refers to Lucy O'Donnell, a student at Heath House Infants' School in Weybridge, Suffolk, Britain, who was a classmate of John's then-four-year-old, Julian. When he returned from school one day in February 1967, Julian showed his father a picture he'd drawn his classmate, with sparkling eyes, flying in the sky. "That's Lucy in the sky with diamonds," he declared, and John was immediately inspired.
John drew from his usual inspirations in completing the imaginative lyrics of this, one of the Beatles' most famous psychedelic songs. He himself cited the "Wool And Water" chapter of Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass (And What Alice Found There) as one, not so much for its actual images as for its sudden changes in scenery (although there is a line about river banks "frowning over their heads"). The popular British TV sketch comedy series The Goon Show featured a joke about "plasticine ties." Paul McCartney has claimed a few phrases he contributed to the songwriting process, including "cellophane flowers" and "newspaper taxis." John later explained that the "girl with kaleidoscope eyes" referred to his ideal mate, which would later turn out to be Yoko Ono.
Structurally, the song is as complex as the lyrics. It changes its home key three times between the verse, bridge, and chorus (G, Bb, and A), and also features Paul singing a third higher than the double-tracked John vocal on the choruses.
The recording itself, however, was a simple affair. On February 28th, 1967, the band rehearsed for eight hours, working out arrangements. The next day, they laid down Paul's organ (with a bell stop that made it sound like a harpsichord or a celesta; it opens the song), as well as John's piano, George's acoustic, and Ringo's drums, along with John's guide vocal (later wiped). After the sixth, keeper take, George added a tambura, an Indian instrument whose droning sound helped ease the transition between chorus and verse. The day after that, on March 2nd, lead and backing vocals were laid down, then George's electric lead (with slide) and Paul's bass.
Arrangement –
Much of the song is in simple triple metre (3/4 time), but the chorus is in 4/4 time. The song modulates between musical keys, using the key of A major for verses, B♭ major for the pre-chorus, and G major for the chorus. It is sung by Lennon over an increasingly complicated underlying arrangement which features a tamboura, played by George Harrison, and a counter melody on Lowrey organ played by McCartney and taped with a special organ stop sounding "not unlike a celeste".
Session tapes from the initial 1 March 1967 recording of this song reveal that Lennon originally sang the line "Cellophane flowers of yellow and green" as a broken phrase, but McCartney suggested that he sing it more fluidly to improve the song.
Title and lyrics –
Julian's drawing - Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Lennon's inspiration for the song came when his son, Julian, showed him a nursery school drawing he called "Lucy - in the sky with diamonds", depicting his classmate, Lucy O'Donnell. Julian said, "I don't know why I called it that or why it stood out from all my other drawings, but I obviously had an affection for Lucy at that age. I used to show dad everything I'd built or painted at school, and this one sparked off the idea..." Lucy Vodden (née) O'Donnell, in a BBC radio interview in 2007, said, "I remember Julian and I both doing pictures on a double-sided easel, throwing paint at each other, much to the horror of the classroom attendant... Julian had painted a picture and on that particular day his father turned up with the chauffeur to pick him up from school." Lennon was surprised at the idea that the song title was a hidden reference to LSD.
“It was purely unconscious that it came out to be LSD. Until someone pointed it out, I never even thought of it. I mean, who would ever bother to look at initials of a title? It's not an acid song. The imagery was Alice in the boat.
Claus Vodden died of the immune system disease lupus in 2009.
Takes: 8
Personnel –
John Lennon – lead vocals, piano (1905 Steinway Vertegrand "Mrs. Mills")
George Harrison – rhythm guitars (1962 Gibson J-160E (acoustic), 1961 Sonic Blue Fender Stratocaster), tamboura
Ringo Starr – drums (Ludwig), maracas
Reviews –
Rolling Stone magazine described the song as "Lennon's lavish daydream" and music critic Richie Unterberger said "'Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds' was one of the best songs on The Beatles' famous Sgt. Pepper album, and one of the classic songs of psychedelia as a whole. There are few other songs that so successfully evoke a dream world, in both the sonic textures and words." In a review for the BBC, Chris Jones described the song as "nursery rhyme surrealism" that contributed to Sgt. Pepper's "revolutionary ... sonic carpet that enveloped the ears and sent the listener spinning into other realms."
In later interviews, Lennon expressed disappointment with The Beatles' arrangement of the recording, complaining that inadequate time was taken to fully develop his initial idea for the song. He also said that he had not sung it very well. "I was so nervous I couldn't sing," he told the journalist Ray Connolly, "but I like the lyrics."
Legacy –
The song has the distinction of being the first Beatles recording to be referenced by the group themselves: the second verse of Lennon's "I Am the Walrus", released on Magical Mystery Tour at the end of 1967, contains the lyric "see how they fly, like Lucy in the sky, see how they run...".
In November 1967 John Fred and his Playboy Band released a parody/tribute song called "Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)" which topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart for two weeks and reached the number one spot in a number of other countries around the world.
Pink Floyd name check "Lucy in the sky" on "Let There Be More Light", the opening song on A Saucerful Of Secrets (1968). The lyrics are by Roger Waters.Played by the Grateful Dead from 1993, and subsequently played by "The Dead".
A 3.2 million year-old, 40% complete fossil skeleton of an Australopithecus afarensis specimen discovered in 1974 was named "Lucy" because The Beatles' song was being played loudly and repeatedly on a tape recorder in the camp. The phrase "Lucy in the skies" became "Lucy in disguise" to the anthropologists, because they initially did not understand the impact of their discovery.
The White dwarf star BPM 37093, which contains a core of crystallized carbon roughly 4000 km in diameter, is informally named "Lucy" as a tribute to The Beatles' song.
One of the main characters of Hiro Mashima's manga Fairy Tail, Lucy Heartfilia, takes her name from the song.
Jim Carrey's character in the film Mr. Popper's Penguins uses the first two lines of the song as a sales pitch to describe the establishment that his company plans on building, to take the place of an old restaurant.
In Runaways, Karolina Dean temporarily used Lucy in the Sky as her alias and later on, Xavin tells her that he told the band at their wedding to play "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" because it reminded him of her.
In the American TV series Fringe, the character Peter Bishop uses the line "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" in episode 4 of season 1, "The Arrival".
In the 2001 film I Am Sam, Sam (Sean Penn) names his daughter (Dakota Fanning) "Lucy Diamond Dawson" after the song. Beatles song covers and references to the Beatles are prominent throughout the film.
In Angela Robinson's short movie D.E.B.S., one of the main characters is named Lucy in the Sky. In the feature movie D.E.B.S. based on the short, that character is named Lucy Diamond.
The song "La Fee Verte" by British rock band Kasabian contains the lyric "I see Lucy in the sky, Telling me I'm high."
Pittsburgh rapper Mac Miller samples the opening chords of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" in the outro to the song Desperado off of his 2012 mixtape Macadelic.
Trivia –
One of the more persistent rumors in Beatles history is the one surrounding this song; namely, that it was a thinly-veiled ode to the wonders of LSD (since Lucy, Sky, and Diamonds together make up the initials). However, though the imagery was certainly inspired by the band's recent experiments with the drug, John continued to insist on the "Julian's painting" origin story for the rest of his life.
Though he loved the song, Lennon was quite vocal in later years of both his lead vocal (which required some coaching from Paul) and especially the rushed nature of the production. Lennon went on to claim that friend Elton John's hit 1974 cover was the way the song ought to have sounded; Lennon himself plays "reggae guitars" in a section of the hit, under the pseudonym "Dr. Winston O'Boogie."
Although Julian Lennon more or less lost touch with Lucy after attending their primary school, only meeting her once in the intervening years, he did send a note of congratulations to her when she married her childhood sweetheart Russ Vodden in 1996. In 2009, Julian learned Lucy had fallen terminally ill with lupus, and began to send her flowers, notes, and gift cards for her latest passion, gardening. After her death in late September of that year, Julian wrote a tribute song for her entitled simply "Lucy." It was released in December 2009.
William Shatner's inexplicable rendition of "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds," done as a spoken-word piece with psychedelic orchestration and available on his 1968 album The Transformed Man, is widely considered one of the worst songs of all time.
A three-million-year-old skeleton discovered in 1974, then the earliest specimen of human life, was named "Lucy" after the song, which had been played often in the base camp.
Today in Beatles History (From The Beatles Internet Album) March 22 –
1963 – 11.03am. John Dennis Profumo stands up in the British Parliament to lie about his relationship with Christine Keller.
– UK LP release: Please Please Me (mono version).
– UK single release: "Misery", with Kenny Lynch. First cover of a Beatles song.
– Performance at EMI House, Manchester Square, London. Presentation of silver disc for LP Please Please Me.
– Photographer present: Dezo Hoffmann.
– Performance at the Gaumont, Doncaster.
1964 – Private launch party for 'In His Own Write' at 30 Bedfore Square, offices of publisher Jonathan Cope. John attends.
– U.S. LP release: The Early Beatles.
1967 – Studio 2. 7.00pm-2.15am. Recording: "Within You Without You" (overdub onto take 1, tape reduction take 1 into take 2). Mono mixing: "Within You Without You" (remix 1, from take 2). Producer: George Martin; Engineer: Geoff Emerick; 2nd Engineer: Richard Lush.
– Studio 1 (control room only). 11.00pm-12.30am. Tape operator Graham Kirkby oversees the playback of "Sgt Pepper's" titles finished to date, for any Beatle interested.
1969 – Yellow Submarine LP, 10th week in the Top 30 (Billboard).
– "Unfinished Music Number 1---Two Virgins" number 124, its highest position (Billboard).
1971 – U.S. single release: "Power To The People"/"Touch Me".
1971 – U.S. single release: "Power To The People"/"Touch Me".
1982 – US single release: "Beatles Movie Medley"/"I'm Happy Just to Dance With You".
– U.S. LP release: Reel Music.
1993 – Paul's concert in Paramatta, Sydney (The New World Tour).
1993 – Paul's concert in Paramatta, Sydney (The New World Tour).
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