Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

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This article is about The Beatles' song. For the graphic character "Lucy in the Sky", see Karolina Dean.
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
Song
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
Song
B-side"One Day (At a Time)"

"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney [1] for the Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.[2]

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[3]. Though Lennon denied and mocked the idea of a hidden LSD reference, the BBC banned the song.

Arrangement

Much of the song is in simple triple metre (3/4 time), but chorus, where 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.[4] Its 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 like a celeste.[5]

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.[6]

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..."[7] [8] [9] Lucy Vodden née O'Donnell died of an immune system disease in 2009.[10]

Lennon was surprised at the idea that the song title was a hidden reference to LSD.[3]

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"[11] 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."[12] 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."[13]

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."[14]

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.[15]

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.[16]

Personnel

Personnel per Ian MacDonald[17]

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 a 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.[18] 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 EP. 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".

It was a part of Elton John's repertoire up and until 1976. One notable one-off performance by Elton John took place on October 9, 1988, John Lennon's birthday. It also received a handful of performances in 1998, but has not been played live by Elton John since. The single was later released on the 1995 re-release of his album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy and appears on various compilations.

Preceded by Billboard Hot 100 number one single (Elton John version)
4 January 1975 		Succeeded by

Notes

  1. ^ Miles 1997, pp. 312.
  2. ^ allmusic.com 2010.
  3. ^ a b Sheff 2000, p. 182.
  4. ^ Hal Leonard 1993, pp. 646–650.
  5. ^ Lewisohn 1998, pp. 100–101.
  6. ^ Lewisohn 1998, p. 100.
  7. ^ The Guardian 2009.
  8. ^ Kral 2009.
  9. ^ BBC Radio 2, Sounds of the 60s, 2 February 2008
  10. ^ 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' dies - CNN.com
  11. ^ Rolling Stone 2003.
  12. ^ Unterberger 2009.
  13. ^ Jones 2007.
  14. ^ songfacts.com.
  15. ^ Johanson & Edey 1981, p. 22.
  16. ^ Aguilar, David. "This Valentine's Day, Give The Woman Who Has Everything The Galaxy's Largest Diamond", Retrieved on 2010-04-29.
  17. ^ MacDonald 2005, p. 240.
  18. ^ Sheff 2000, p. 31.

References

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