Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a song written by John Lennon (although credited to Lennon/McCartney) and recorded by The Beatles for their 1967 album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

The song has a complex arrangement, typical of Lennon's later compositions. Most of the song is in 3/4 time, except for the chorus, where it changes to 4/4 time. It consists of a very simple melody (reminiscent of a children's song) sung by Lennon over an increasingly complicated instrumental arrangement containing a tanpura, played by George Harrison, and a Lowrey organ, played by Paul McCartney, whose sound was altered by Lennon and the Producer George Martin.

The song's lyrics include image-laden verses that reflect a psychedelic voyage describing a boat trip through a fantastical country of "cellophane flowers" (cellophane flowers), "taxis of newsprint” (newspaper taxis) and “marshmallow pies” (marshmallow pies); alternating with the chorus that simply repeats the title of the song.

McCartney said that "The song, as you can imagine, is about a hallucination". The Beatles, however, have consistently maintained that the fact that the title's initials form the word LSD (Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds), name of the hallucinogenic substance, is purely coincidental, as the title was taken from a drawing by John's son, Julian Lennon and the lyrics were inspired by the literary work Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Julian's drawing

According to The Beatles, one day in 1967, John Lennon's son Julian came home from school with a drawing he said was of his classmate, a four-year-old girl named Lucy. When he showed the drawing to his father, little Julian described it as " Lucy-in the sky with diamonds ".

Julian recalls, "I don't know why I called it that or why it was separate from my other drawings, but obviously at that age I was fond of Lucy. He used to teach dad everything he did at school and from this came the idea of making a song about "Lucy in the sky with diamonds" ".

Julian's drawing seemed to have inspired Lennon to compulsively draw about his childhood, specifically about "Wool and Water", chapter of Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll. The lyrics were influenced by Carroll and a parody on a popular British show called The Goon Show where they referenced "plasticine ties", which appeared in the song as "Plasticine porters with looking glass ties». Carroll's works have also been cited as an influence on Lennon's three books: In His Own Write, A Spaniard in the Works and Skywriting by Word of Mouth .

Inspiration

The Lucy in the song refers to Lucy O'Donnell, born in Weybridge in 1963 (the same year as John's son), who sat next to Julian at Heath House School'. She and Julian have met on occasion in recent years and Lucy occasionally appears on a Sgt. Pepper's. She also appears in the book A Hard Days Write. Lucy lived in Surbiton, Surrey; she and she ran an agency caring for children who need special care, until she fell ill with arthropathic psoriasis and lupus, she died on September 22, 2009, at age 46.

Drug reference and song title

Although Lennon and the Beatles have always been candid about their drug use, for decades they denied that "Lucy in the sky with diamonds" It had something to do with LSD. In a 2004 interview, Paul McCartney spoke openly about his drug-using period, revealing that songs like "Day Tripper" were a hit. and "Got To Get You Into My Life" were written about LSD and marijuana.When asked about "Lucy in the sky with diamonds," he commented that Julian's drawing had inspired the song, but that it was "pretty obvious." 3. 4; that the song was about a hallucination.

In a 1971 interview Lennon recalled hearing how the initials of the title clearly formed LSD, and checking to see if the same was true of other Beatles compositions, they found that the songs "spelled nothing ». In 1980 he confirmed that the images were taken from Alice in Wonderland.

In The Beatles Anthology (2000), Ringo Starr claimed that he was present when Julian showed John that "crazy drawing". Paul references the time he and John used to spend in John's music room exchanging lyric suggestions, saying "We didn't realize the initials LSD until it was questioned afterwards, and at that point no one believed us."

Although the Beatles said they did not name the song after LSD, the song was devised and recorded at a time when they were frequently experimenting with LSD and creating much music under its influence.

"Lucy" it is also the street name for LSD, although the term was inspired by the song's title and not the other way around.

Credits

• John Lennon: Main Voice, Maracas.
• Paul McCartney: organ (Lowery DSO Heritage Deluxe), low (Rickenbacker 4001s), vocal harmony.
• George Harrison: Electric guitar (Fender Stratocaster), tanpura.
• Ringo Starr: battery (Ludwig Super Classic).
• George Martin (producer): piano (Hamburg Steinway Baby Grand).

Versions

• In January 1968, John Fred and the Playboy Band stopped the song with his Simple "Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)", which sounds intentionally like "Lucy in the sky with diamonds." Surprisingly, your Simple He moved the Beatles' "Hello Goodbye" from the lists of successes.

• The song has since been versioned by many artists (as has been done with dozens of Beatles songs). A version of actor William Shatner included in his album "The Transformed Man", was not successful at the time, although it became well known decades later on the Internet. According to sources, in some votes the version of Shatner is considered one of the worst recordings in the history of pop music; although this fame may have helped his musical career.

• The most successful version was recorded in 1974 by Elton John, who appeared in the 1976 musical documentary All This and World War II, with choirs and guitar of John Lennon (under the pseudonym of "Dr. Winston O'Boogie"). The song was released as simple and reached number 1 of the lists for two weeks in January 1975.

• A very different version was that of pianist John Bayless, a tiny Bach style.

• The Japanese singer Hyde (vocalist of the band L'Arc~en~Ciel) made a version of this song, being a B face of his simple Horizon.

• In 1985 Argentine singer Miguel Mateos launched a cover called Lucy on Earth with Amantes, a song that was based on Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, although the Spanish lyrics are a social criticism, the name was intentionally launched as a tribute.
• In 1996 the Mexican-American singer Betsy Pecanins made a cover of this song, which was included in the album Just beatles.
• In 2014, the song was used as the main theme for the Brazilian soap opera Empire, which was recorded by the Anglo-Brazilian singer Dan Torres.

• In 2014, the American band The Flaming Lips published along with Miley Cyrus a version of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".

• In 2018, the group Rufus T. Firefly versioned "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", included in their album Loto, for the anniversary of the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Elton John's version

In 1974, English musician Elton John released a version as a single. Recorded at Caribou Ranch, it featured background vocals and guitar by John Lennon under the pseudonym Dr. Winston O'Boogie (

Winston is Lennon's middle name). The single topped the US Billboard Pop Charts for two weeks in January 1975, as well as Canada's RPM National Singles Chart for four weeks, between January and February. The B-side of the single was also a John Lennon composition, "One Day (At a Time)", from Lennon's 1973 album Mind Games.

Development and release

In the United States it was certified Gold on January 29, 1975 by the RIAA. During their collaboration, Elton John was featured on John Lennon's song "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night". Lennon promised to appear live with Elton at Madison Square Garden if "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night" became a number one single. He did, and on Thanksgiving night, November 28, 1974, Lennon kept his promise. They performed "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "Whatever Gets You through the Night" and "I Saw Her Standing There" (which was primarily written by Paul McCartney). It is one of two songs written by Lennon-McCartney to reach number one in the US by an artist other than The Beatles. The other is "A World Without Love" recorded by Peter and Gordon in 1964.

Introducing "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," Elton John said he thought it was "one of the greatest songs ever written. The song "I Saw Her Standing There" sung by Lennon (credited to Elton's band with John Lennon) was originally released in 1975 on the B-side of the "Philadelphia Freedom" by Elton John. In 1981, the three live songs were released on November 28, 1974, an Elton John EP. In 1990, all three songs were made available on Lennon's box set. In 1996, they were also included on the remastered edition of Elton John's Here and There album. Elton John once said that he & # 34; & # 39; Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds & # 39; it's a song he never does in concert simply because it reminds him too much of Lennon. The same goes for 'Empty Garden'". It was part of his standard repertoire from 1974 to 1976, and sporadically until 1998. It was also featured in the 1976 music documentary All This and World War II.

In popular culture

• The song inspired the name of an important anthropological discovery: the first remains of Australopithecus afarensis. On November 30, 1974, Donald Johanson and Tom Gray discovered the skeleton of a female hominid of 3.18 million years old in Ethiopia. They called it "Lucy" because the researchers heard "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" on a cassette tape the night of the discovery.
• In 1988 Frank Zappa changed the lyrics of the song to satisfy the sexual scandal in which Jimmy Swaggart was involved. This version was called "Louisiana Hooker with Herpes". Due to legal reasons the song is not available in the official Zappa catalogue.

• On 13 February 2004, Harvard University astronomers announced the discovery of BMP 37093, a celestial body that appears to be a carbon star. Carbon is the element of the diamonds, so they called it "Lucy"; probably in reference to Arthur C's science fiction novel. Clarke, 2061: Odyssey Three (987), where it is speculated that the core of Jupiter could be a diamond of the size of the Earth, formed by carbon sediments of the outer layers. In the novel, when a diamond piece of the size of a mountain appears on the moon of Jupiter, Europe; Clarke's characters use the "Lucy" code to communicate the discovery.

• In an episode of The Simpsons, the dentist gives Lisa nitrous oxide and hallucinates in a scene inspired by the Beatles animation film, Yellow Submarine. Lisa finds the four beatles on her yellow submarine and George Harrison says, "Look, it's Lisa in the sky!"Look. it's Lisa in the sky"), followed by Lennon lamenting "...but without diamonds"...no diamonds though").

• Katie Melua played the song at the Sharon Osbourne Show in the UK.

• The song plays an important role in the film "I am Sam", starring Sean Penn, in which he calls his daughter (Dakota Fanning) "Lucy Diamond" for the song.

• In Runaways, comic by the American publisher Marvel, the character Karolima Dean takes as code name (or key) Lucy in the sky. Its powers of alien origin produce a psychedelic stela.

• The Clash's "Julie's In The Drug Squad" also refers to Lucy in the sky.

• The comic Diego Capusotto (Peter) broadcasts a radio program called "Lucy in the sky with Capusottos", referring to the song.

• In the song Lilly town played by the French singer Alizée there is a mention of lucy -"Un ciel si bleu qu'on peut y voir Lucy"-

• In the Warning band the song (inspiration) describes a street full of hippies and lucy looking into the sky with flowers and LSD in the hair.

• It appears in the final credits of the musical film Across The Universe, in a version sung by Bono.

• Gustavo Cerati, on his album "Natural force" includes the song entitled "I've seen Lucy" making a clear reference to the Beatles song.

• The American band My Chemical Romance has quoted "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" as a strong influence for his song "S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W", 2010.

• The second episode of Glee's fifth season is called Tina in the Sky with Diamonds, a clear reference to the song.

• The author of the famous Fairy Tail manga series, Hiro Mashima, inspired this song to name one of his main characters (Lucy Heartfilia).

• In the second album of Pink Floyd A Saucerful of Secrets on the track Let There Be More Light retakes the character of "Lucy" with the phrase:Memories move away like a sinuous torrent, like Lucy in the sky.

• The song Diamonds by Rihanna, included in the seventh studio album of the singer Unapologetic (2012) contains the verse "we are beautiful like diamonds in the sky..."in reference to the title of The Beatles' song and a reference to ecstasy.

• A Show More has a name for an episode called Rigby in the sky with Burrito

• In I am the walrus, also of The Beatles, there is a reference to this topic (...See how they fly like Lucy in the Sky, see how they run...)