Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney [2] for The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.[3]
| "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Song by The Beatles | ||||
| from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" | ||||
| Released | 1 June 1967 | |||
| Recorded | 1 March 1967, EMI Studios, London | |||
| Genre | Psychedelic rock[1] | |||
| Length | 3:28 | |||
| Label | Parlophone R6022 | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Lennon/McCartney | |||
| Producer(s) | George Martin | |||
| Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band track listing | ||||
| ||||
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, people realized that the first letter of each of the title's nouns spelled LSD[4]. Though Lennon denied and mocked the idea of a hidden LSD reference, the BBC banned the song.
Later, other artists made a cover version of the song. One of them was Elton John, whose 1974 recording was at the top of the Billboards chart for two weeks.
Title and lyrics
Julian's drawing
According to the Beatles, Lennon's son, Julian Lennon showed his father 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..."[5] [6] [7] Lucy Vodden née O'Donnell died of an immune system disease in 2009.[8]
Lennon was surprised at the idea that the song title was a hidden reference to LSD.[4]
| “ | 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. | ” |
Reviews and legacy
Rolling Stone magazine described the song as "Lennon's lavish daydream"[9] 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."[10] 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."[11]
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 felt he didn't think that he sang it very well. "I was so nervous I couldn't sing," he told the journalist Ray Connolly, "but I like the lyrics."[12]
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.[13]
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.[14]
Personnel
- John Lennon – double-tracked vocal, lead guitar
- Paul McCartney – harmony vocal, Lowrey organ, bass
- George Harrison – harmony vocal, lead guitar, acoustic guitar, tambura
- Ringo Starr – drums, maracas
- Personnel per Ian MacDonald[15]
Notes
- ↑ Unterberger, Richie (2009). "Review of 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds'". AllMusic. Retrieved 19 November 2009.
- ↑ Miles 1997, pp. 312.
- ↑ allmusic.com 2010.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Sheff 2000, p. 182.
- ↑ The Guardian 2009.
- ↑ Kral 2009.
- ↑ BBC Radio 2, Sounds of the 60s, 2 February 2008
- ↑ 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' dies - CNN.com
- ↑ Rolling Stone 2003.
- ↑ Unterberger 2009.
- ↑ Jones 2007.
- ↑ songfacts.com.
- ↑ Johanson & Edey 1981, p. 22.
- ↑ Aguilar, David. "This Valentine's Day, Give The Woman Who Has Everything The Galaxy's Largest Diamond", Retrieved on 2010-04-29.
- ↑ MacDonald 2005, p. 240.
Other websites
- "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". Allmusic. January 2010.
- The Beatles - Complete Scores. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation. 1993. ISBN 0-7935-1832-6.
- "Beatles song 'inspiration' dies". BBC News. 28 September 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8278785.stm.
- The Beatles' Lucy in the Sky dies, aged 46. London. 28 September 2009. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/sep/28/beatles-lucy-in-sky-dies. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
- The Beatles (2000). The Beatles Anthology. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. ISBN 0-8118-2684-8.
- Brooks, Richard (7 June 2009). Julian Lennon comforts ailing Lucy in the sky. London. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article6446014.ece.
- Hoyle, Ben (28 September 2009). Real-life 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' dies at 46. London. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/beatles/article6852494.ece.
- Johanson, Donald Carl; Edey, Maitland (1981). Lucy, the Beginnings of Humankind. St Albans: Granada. ISBN 0-586-08437-1.
- Jones, Chris (2007). "Review of The Beatles Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 19 November 2009.
- Shriver, Jerry (23 November 2009). "Julian Lennon, Decade Later, Back in Music Biz With 'Lucy'". USA Today. https://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2009-11-23-julian-lennon_N.htm. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
- Kral, Georgia (9 June 2009). "Julian Lennon Aids Real-Life 'Lucy'". Spinner. Archived from the original on 30 June 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
- Kung, Michelle (28 September 2009). Lucy Vodden, of "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" Song Fame, Dies. http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2009/09/28/lucy-vodden-of-beatles-song-fame-dies/.
- Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions. New York: Harmony Books. ISBN 0-517-57066-1.
- "Lucy In The Sky with Diamonds Songfacts".
- MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (Second Revised ed.). London: Pimlico (Rand). ISBN 1-844-13828-3.
- Miles, Barry (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. New York: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 0-8050-5249-6.
- Sheff, David (2000). All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-25464-4.
- Sherwin, Adam (1 June 2007). Housewife Lucy, formerly in the sky with diamonds. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21831399-2703,00.html. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
- "Sir Paul Reveals Beatles' Drug Use". BBC News. 2 June 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3769511.stm.