Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
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| "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" | ||||||||||
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| Song by The Beatles | ||||||||||
| Album | Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | |||||||||
| Released | 1 June 1967 | |||||||||
| Recorded | Abbey Road Studios 1 March 1967 |
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| Genre | Psychedelic rock | |||||||||
| Length | 3:28 | |||||||||
| Label | Parlophone R6022 | |||||||||
| Writer | Lennon/McCartney | |||||||||
| Producer | George Martin | |||||||||
| Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band track listing | ||||||||||
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Side one
Side two |
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| Yellow Submarine Songtrack track listing | ||||||||||
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| "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" | |||||
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| File:Lucy in the Sky Elton John.jpg | |||||
| Single by Elton John | |||||
| B-side | "One Day (At a Time)" | ||||
| Released | 18 November 1974 | ||||
| Genre | Psychedelic rock, Rock | ||||
| Length | 6:16 | ||||
| Label | MCA (US/Canada) DJM Records |
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| Writer(s) | Lennon/McCartney | ||||
| Elton John singles chronology | |||||
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"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a song by English rock band The Beatles, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney for the group's 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Inspiration for the song came from a drawing by John Lennon's son, Julian, which Julian called "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". The song also sparked controversy when released, including being banned by the BBC because of the supposed reference to the drug LSD,[1] with the letters of the title spelling Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Lennon would later deny the reference during an interview with Rolling Stone.
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[edit] Arrangement
The song has a complex arrangement typical of later Lennon-McCartney compositions; much of the song is in compound duple metre (6/8 time), except the chorus, where it switches to 4/4 time. The song also shifts between musical keys, using the key of A major for the verse, B♭ major for the pre-chorus or bridge section, and G major for the chorus [2]. It consists of a very simple melody (reminiscent of a nursery song), 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 Paul McCartney being taped with a special organ stop to give it a sound like a celeste.[3]
In later interviews, Lennon expressed disappointment with the Beatles' arrangement of the recording, complaining that adequate time was not taken to fully develop his initial idea for the song. He attributed this outcome to his extensive use of LSD at the time, which made him unusually passive and pliant in the studio.[citation needed]
[edit] Lyrics and title
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. [4]
[edit] Julian's drawing
According to the Beatles, one day in 1966 Lennon's son, Julian, came home from nursery school with a drawing he said was of his classmate, a girl named Lucy, whom Julian drew with diamond-shaped eyes. Showing the artwork to his father, young Julian described the picture as "Lucy — in the sky with diamonds."[5] Julian later 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 for a song about 'Lucy in the sky with diamonds'."[6]
His son's artwork appears to have inspired Lennon to draw heavily on his own childhood affection for Lewis Carroll's "Wool and Water" chapter from Through the Looking-Glass. At least one lyric was influenced by both Carroll and skits on a popular British radio comedy programme (The Goon Show) making references to "plasticine ties", which showed up in the song as "Plasticine porters with looking glass ties". A parody of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", recited by the Mad Hatter, appears in Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Carroll's work has also been cited as having influenced Lennon's "I Am the Walrus" which refers to a character from Through the Looking-Glass and his two books, In His Own Write and A Spaniard in the Works.
The original painting was for a time in the hands of Julian's mother Cynthia. As of June 2009, the whereabouts of the painting are unknown.[7]
[edit] Who is Lucy?
The Lucy referred to in the song was a classmate of Julian's at Heath House School named Lucy O'Donnell, born in Weybridge in 1963.[8] Her married name is Lucy Vodden.[5]
In 2009, Julian Lennon learned that Vodden, who lives in Surrey, England, suffers from a terminal case of lupus. Lennon sent her flowers with a personally written card.[1] After learning that O'Donnell was taking solace from gardening and looking at plants, Lennon sent her gift vouchers for a garden centre. O'Donnell, who saw Lennon in the intervening years one time at a concert of his, reacted by saying, "It was lovely of Julian."[7][5]
[edit] The fossil Lucy
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.[9]
[edit] Personnel
Part 1:
- John Lennon – vocal, acoustic guitar
- Paul McCartney – Mellotron, bass
- George Harrison – electric slide guitar
- Ringo Starr – drums
Part 2:
- John Lennon – vocal, acoustic guitar, bongos, Mellotron
- Paul McCartney – Mellotron, bass, electric guitar, timpani, bongos
- George Harrison – electric slide guitar, svarmandal, timpani, maracas
- Ringo Starr – drums, percussion
- Mal Evans – tambourine
- Neil Aspinall – guiro
- Terry Doran – maracas
- Tony Fisher – trumpet
- Greg Bowen – trumpet
- Derek Watkins – trumpet
- Stanley Roderick – trumpet
- John Hall – cello
- Derek Simpson – cello
- Norman Jones – cello
- Personnel per Ian MacDonald[10]
[edit] Elton John version
In 1974, Elton John released a cover version as a single. Recorded at the Caribou Ranch, it featured background vocals and guitar by John Lennon under the pseudonym Dr. Winston O'Boogie. The single topped the Billboard pop charts for two weeks in January 1975 and also appeared on the 1976 musical documentary, All This and World War II.
The B-Side of the single was also a John Lennon composition, "One Day (At at Time)," a song from Lennon's 1973 album Mind Games. As with the A-Side, Lennon appears on the B-Side, playing guitar.
During their collaboration, Elton John appeared on John Lennon's song "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night". Lennon promised to appear live with John at Madison Square Garden if "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night]" became a number 1 single.[11] It did, and on Thanksgiving Night, 28 November 1974, Lennon kept his promise. They performed "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night", and "I Saw Her Standing There". The Lennon-sung "I Saw Her Standing There" (credited to The Elton John Band featuring John Lennon) was originally released in 1975 on the B-Side of Elton John's "Philadelphia Freedom" single. In 1981, all three live songs were issued on "28 November 1974," an Elton John E.P. In 1990, the three songs were made available on the Lennon box set. In 1996, they were also included on the remastered edition of Elton John's Here and There album.
Elton John once said, "[Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds] is a song that I never do in a set at a concert simply because it reminds me too much of John Lennon. This is the same with Empty Garden". Today, John does occasionally perform it. The single was later released on the 1996 re-release of Elton John's album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy.
| Preceded by "Angie Baby" by Helen Reddy |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single (Elton John version) 4 January 1975 |
Succeeded by "Mandy" by Barry Manilow |
[edit] Other cover versions
- In 1968, William Shatner on The Transformed Man.
- In 1988, The Christians on the charity compilation album Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father.
- In 2005, Katie Melua on Piece by Piece.
- In 2006, Puffy AmiYumi on the Hataraku Otoko single for the anime series Hataraki Man.
- In 2007, Bono and The Edge performed the song on the Across the Universe soundtrack.
- In 1992, Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids parodied the song as Luci in the Sky with Demons on the cassette tape The Family Jams.
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Katz, Gregory (2009-06-12). "Real 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' gravely ill". Associated Press. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gdGEEEGffIx73nK_7uxNa7FvlYoQD98P69IG0. Retrieved on 2009-06-14.
- ^ The Beatles - Complete Scores (1993), pp. 646-650.
- ^ Lewisohn (1998), pp. 100-101.
- ^ Lewisohn (1998), p. 100.
- ^ a b c Kral, Georgia (2009-06-09). "Julian Lennon Aids Real-Life 'Lucy'". Spinner.com. http://www.spinner.com/2009/06/09/julian-lennon-aids-real-life-lucy/?icid=main. Retrieved on 2009-06-10.
- ^ BBC Radio 2, Sounds of the 60s, 2 February 2008
- ^ a b "Julian Lennon comforts ailing Lucy in the sky". The Times. 2007-06-07. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article6446014.ece.
- ^ "Housewife Lucy, formerly in the sky with diamonds". http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21831399-2703,00.html. Retrieved on 2007-10-02.
- ^ Johnson (1981), p. 22.
- ^ MacDonald (2005), p. 212.
- ^ Sheff (2000), p. 31.
[edit] References
- Johanson, Donald Carl; Maitland Edey (1981). Lucy, the Beginnings of Humankind. St Albans: Granada. ISBN 0-586-08437-1.
- Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation (1993). The Beatles - Complete Scores. Milwaukee: Hal Leanord. pp. 212. ISBN 0-7935-1832-6.
- Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions. New York: Harmony Books. ISBN 0-517-57066-1.
- MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (Second Revised Edition ed.). London: Pimlico (Rand). ISBN 1-844-13828-3.
- The Beatles (2000). The Beatles Anthology. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. ISBN 0-8118-2684-8.
- 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.
- Pang, May (1983). Loving John. Warner Books (Paperback). ISBN 978-0446379168.
- Paul McCartney's BBC Interview
[edit] See also
Lucy (Australopithecus) fossil
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