"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a song by the English rock band
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
from their 1967 album ''
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released on 26May 1967, ''Sgt. Pepper'' is regarded by musicologists as an early concept album that advanced the roles of sound compos ...
''. It was written primarily by
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
and credited to the
Lennon–McCartney
Lennon–McCartney was the songwriting partnership between English musicians John Lennon (1940–1980) and Paul McCartney (born 1942) of the Beatles. It is the best-known and most successful musical collaboration ever by records sold, with the ...
songwriting partnership. Lennon's son
Julian inspired the song with a
nursery school
A preschool, also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, or play school or creche, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education at primary school ...
drawing that he called "Lucy – in the sky with diamonds". Shortly before the album's release, speculation arose that the first letter of each of the nouns in the title intentionally spelled "LSD", the initialism commonly used for the hallucinogenic drug
lysergic acid diethylamide
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...
. Lennon repeatedly denied that he had intended it as a drug song,
and attributed the song's fantastical imagery to his reading of
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ...
's ''
Alice in Wonderland
''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creature ...
'' books.
The Beatles recorded "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" in March 1967. Adding to the song's ethereal qualities, the musical arrangement includes a
Lowrey organ
The Lowrey organ is an Electric organ#Home organs (1940s–), electronic organ named for its developer, Frederick C. Lowrey (1871–1955), a Chicago-based business magnate, industrialist and entrepreneur. Lowrey's first commercially successf ...
part heavily treated with studio effects, and a
drone
Drone most commonly refers to:
* Drone (bee), a male bee, from an unfertilized egg
* Unmanned aerial vehicle
* Unmanned surface vehicle, watercraft
* Unmanned underwater vehicle or underwater drone
Drone, drones or The Drones may also refer to:
...
provided by an Indian
tambura. The song has been recognised as a key work in the
psychedelic
Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science o ...
genre. Among its many cover versions, a 1974 recording by
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...
– with a guest appearance by Lennon – was a number 1 hit in the US and Canada.
Background and inspiration
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
said that his inspiration for the song came when his three-year-old son
Julian showed him a nursery school drawing that he called "Lucy – in the Sky with Diamonds",
depicting his classmate Lucy O'Donnell. Julian later recalled: "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."
Ringo Starr
Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...
witnessed the moment and said that Julian first uttered the song's title on returning home from nursery school.
Lennon later said, "I thought that's beautiful. I immediately wrote a song about it."
According to Lennon, the lyrics were largely derived from the literary style of
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ...
's novel ''
Alice in Wonderland
''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creature ...
''.
Lennon had read and admired Carroll's works, and the title of Julian's drawing reminded him of the "Which Dreamed It?" chapter of ''
Through the Looking Glass'', in which Alice floats in a "boat beneath a sunny sky". Lennon recalled in a 1980 interview:
It was Alice in the boat. She is buying an egg and it turns into Humpty-Dumpty. The woman serving in the shop turns into a sheep and the next minute they are rowing in a rowing boat somewhere and I was visualizing that.
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. On ...
remembered of the song's composition, "We did the whole thing like an ''Alice in Wonderland'' idea, being in a boat on the river ... Every so often it broke off and you saw Lucy in the sky with diamonds all over the sky. This Lucy was God, the Big Figure, the White Rabbit."
He later recalled helping Lennon finish the song at Lennon's
Kenwood home, specifically claiming he contributed the "newspaper taxis" and "cellophane flowers" lyrics.
Lennon's 1968 interview with ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its cov ...
'' magazine confirmed McCartney's contribution.
Lucy O'Donnell Vodden, who was married to Ross Vodden and lived in Surbiton, Surrey, died 28 September 2009 of complications of lupus. Julian had been informed of her illness and renewed their friendship before her death.
Composition
Most of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is in
simple triple metre ( time), but the
chorus
Chorus may refer to:
Music
* Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse
* Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound
* Chorus form, song in which all vers ...
is in time. In the song, the structure modulates between
musical keys, using the key of
A major
A major (or the key of A) is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative minor is F-sharp minor and its parallel minor is A minor. The key of A major is the only k ...
for verses,
B-flat major for the pre-chorus, and
G major
G major (or the key of G) is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative minor is E minor and its parallel minor is G minor.
The G major scale is:
Notable comp ...
for the chorus. It is sung by Lennon over an increasingly complicated underlying arrangement which features a
tambura, played by
George Harrison
George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian ...
; lead electric guitar put through a
Leslie speaker
The Leslie speaker is a combined amplifier and loudspeaker that projects the signal from an electric or electronic instrument and modifies the sound by rotating a baffle chamber ("drum") in front of the loudspeakers. A similar effect is provided ...
, played by Harrison; and a
counter melody on
Lowrey organ
The Lowrey organ is an Electric organ#Home organs (1940s–), electronic organ named for its developer, Frederick C. Lowrey (1871–1955), a Chicago-based business magnate, industrialist and entrepreneur. Lowrey's first commercially successf ...
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 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.
Recording
The recording of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" began with rehearsals in Studio 2 at
Abbey Road
''Abbey Road'' is the eleventh studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It is the last album the group started recording, although ''Let It Be'' was the last album completed before the band's break-up in April 1970. It was mostly r ...
on 28 February 1967. The instrumental backing was finished the following evening. On the first take, track one of the four-track tape contained acoustic guitar and piano, track two McCartney's Lowrey organ, track three
Ringo Starr
Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...
's drums, and track four a guide vocal by Lennon during the verses. Take eight replaced the guide vocal with Harrison's tambura. The four tracks of this take were then mixed together and recorded on the first track of a second four-track tape. On 2 March, Lennon's double-tracked vocals, accompanied by McCartney on the choruses, were recorded to tracks two and three. McCartney's bass and Harrison's lead guitar occupied track four. The lead guitar part varies between sections of the song: over the bridges, Harrison duplicates Lennon's melody and intonation in the style of a
sarangi
The sārangī is a bowed, short-necked string instrument played in traditional music from South Asia – Punjabi folk music, Rajasthani folk music, and Boro folk music (there known as the ''serja'') – in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. It i ...
accompanying an Indian
khyal
Khyal or Khayal (ख़याल / خیال) is a major form of Hindustani classical music in the Indian subcontinent. Its name comes from a Persian/Arabic word meaning "imagination". Khyal is associated with romantic poetry, and allows the perfo ...
vocalist; over the choruses, he plays an ascending
riff
A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or accompanim ...
on his
Fender Stratocaster
The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed from 1952 into 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuously ...
(mirrored by McCartney's bass), with heavy Leslie treatment given to the part. Eleven mono mixes of the song were made at the 2 March session, but they were rejected in favour of the final mono mix created on 3 March. A stereo mix was made on 7 April.
Outtakes from the recording sessions have been officially released. The Beatles' ''
Anthology 2
''Anthology 2'' is a compilation album by the Beatles, released on 18 March 1996 by Apple Records as part of ''The Beatles Anthology'' series. It features rarities, outtakes and live performances from the 1965 sessions for ''Help!'' to the sess ...
'', released in 1996, contained a composite remix, with ingredients from takes six, seven and eight, while the first take of the song was featured on the two-disc and six-disc versions of the 50th-anniversary edition of ''Sgt. Pepper'' in 2017. The six-disc collection also included take five and the last of the eleven mono mixes made on 2 March 1967.
LSD rumours
Rumours of the connection between the title of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and the initialism "
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...
" began circulating shortly after the release of the ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' LP in June 1967.
McCartney gave two interviews in June admitting to having taken the drug.
Lennon later said he was surprised at the idea the title was a hidden reference to LSD, countering that the song "wasn't about that at all,"
and 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."
McCartney confirmed Lennon's claim on several occasions.
In 1968 he said:
When you write a song and you mean it one way, and someone comes up and says something about it that you didn't think of – you can't deny it. Like "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," people came up and said, cunningly, "Right, I get it. L-S-D," and it was when ewsapers were talking about LSD, but we never thought about it.
In a 2004 interview with ''Uncut'' magazine, McCartney confirmed it was "pretty obvious" drugs did influence some of the group's compositions at that time, including "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", though he tempered this statement by adding, "
's easy to overestimate the influence of drugs on the Beatles' music."
Claims have circulated that the
BBC banned the song at the time of its release in 1967 for its alleged references to drugs.
Among other sources, the claim has been recited in ''The Routledge Concise History of Twentieth-Century British Literature''.
This claim has been disputed by authors
Alan Clayson
Alan Clayson (born 3 May 1951, Dover, Kent) is an English singer-songwriter, author and music journalist. He gained popularity in the late 1970s as leader of the band Clayson and the Argonauts. In addition to contributing to publications such as ' ...
and
Spencer Leigh, who wrote in ''The Walrus Was Ringo: 101 Beatles Myths Debunked'' that the BBC never officially banned the song, despite the corporation's doubts about the subject matter.
''The Oxford Handbook of Music Censorship'' consulted with the BBC's surviving internal correspondence and memos from 1967, and mentioned no ban on any ''Sgt. Pepper'' song aside from the one on "A Day in the Life", stating the BBC banned "this one track
Day in the Lifefrom the album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''".
A 2014 documentary film produced and broadcast by BBC television entitled ''Britain's Most Dangerous Songs: Listen to the Banned'' also claimed that the BBC never banned the song:
The song was played at least once on BBC Radio at the time of the ''Sgt. Pepper'' album's release, on 20 May 1967 broadcast of ''Where It's At'' hosted by
Kenny Everett
Kenny Everett (born Maurice James Christopher Cole; 25 December 1944 – 4 April 1995) was an English comedian, radio disc jockey and television presenter. After spells on pirate radio and Radio Luxembourg in the mid-1960s, he was one of the fi ...
and
Chris Denning.
The song was also played as part of the 1972 BBC Radio documentary ''The Beatles Story'', hosted by Brian Matthew.
Reception
Upon the release of the ''Sgt. Pepper'' album, ''
Disc and Music Echo
''Disc'' was a weekly British popular music magazine, published between 1958 and 1975, when it was incorporated into ''Record Mirror''. It was also known for periods as ''Disc Weekly '' (1964–1966) and ''Disc and Music Echo '' (1966–1972).
...
'' magazine wrote that "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" was "easily remembered", that the song spotlighted John Lennon's "peculiarly insinuating" vocals, and that it "jumps along on a crashing clavicord-type sound."
Richard Goldstein wrote in a review for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' that the song was "an engaging curio, nothing more."
Ernie Santosuosso wrote in a review for ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'' that the song's imagery was "wild".
Discussing the impact of the ''Sgt. Pepper'' album, author
Nicholas Schaffner cited the song as an example of how the Beatles successfully captured the way "young people were trying to transcend, transform, or escape from straight society" in 1967. He said that just as Harrison's "
Within You Without You" represented the exoticism of
Herman Hesse
Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include '' Demian'', '' Steppenwolf'', '' Siddhartha'', and '' The Glass Bead Game'', each of which explores an individual ...
's ''
Siddartha'', "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" was a "miniature pop version" of
Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works '' The Hobbit'' and '' The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawl ...
's ''
The Lord of the Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's bo ...
'' in terms of conveying the sense of wonder the book evoked. According to musicologist
Walter Everett, the song's lyrics inspired "derivative texts" throughout the late 1960s, namely
John Fred & His Playboy Band's "
Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)",
the Lemon Pipers' "
Jelly Jungle (of Orange Marmalade)",
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...
's "
Let There Be More Light", and
the Scaffold
The Scaffold were a comedy, poetry and music trio from Liverpool, England, consisting of musical performer Mike McGear (real name Peter Michael McCartney, the brother of Paul McCartney), poet Roger McGough and comic entertainer John Gorman. ...
's "Jelly Covered Cloud".
''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its cov ...
'' magazine described "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" as "Lennon's lavish daydream." In their respective reviews for
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
,
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, oc ...
identifies it as "one of the touchstones of British
psychedelia
Psychedelia refers to the psychedelic subculture of the 1960s and the psychedelic experience. This includes psychedelic art, psychedelic music and style of dress during that era. This was primarily generated by people who used psychedelic dru ...
," while
Richie Unterberger
Richie Unterberger (born January 19, 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing.
Life and writing
Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' ...
views it as "one of the best songs on the Beatles' famous ''Sgt. Pepper'' album, and one of the classic songs of psychedelia as a whole." Unterberger adds: "There are few other songs that so successfully evoke a dream world, in both the sonic textures and words." In his book on the history of
ambient music
Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes tone and atmosphere over traditional musical structure or rhythm. It may lack net composition, beat, or structured melody.The Ambient Century by Mark Prendergast, Bloomsbury, London, 2003. It ...
, Mark Prendergast highlights the track as one of the album's "three outstanding cuts", along with "
A Day in the Life" and "Within You Without You". He describes it as "incredible" and "a gossamer-like evocation of childlike psychedelia." For
BBC Culture
BBC Online, formerly known as BBCi, is the BBC's online service. It is a large network of websites including such high-profile sites as BBC News and Sport, the on-demand video and radio services branded BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, the childre ...
,
Greg Kot
Greg Kot (born March 3, 1957) is an American music journalist and author. From 1990 until 2020, Kot was the rock music critic at the ''Chicago Tribune'', where he covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and busines ...
called the song an "
acid-rock fantasia" and a high point of the album.
In a review for the BBC Music website, Chris Jones described the track 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." Writing for ''
Paste'' in 2015, Hilary Saunders called the song "a perfectly indulgent introduction to
psych-rock." In 2013,
Dave Swanson of ''
Ultimate Classic Rock
Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wit ...
'' ranked "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" fourth on his list of the "Top 10 Beatles Psychedelic Songs" saying that, despite Lennon's insistence about the inspiration for its title, the track is "Three-and-a-half minutes of pure lysergic bliss, full of picturesque and surreal lyrics set to one of the Beatles' most trippy songs."
Harrison later identified "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" as one of the few songs he liked from ''Sgt. Pepper'' and expressed satisfaction with his Indian music-inspired contributions. For his part, 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 he had not sung it very well. "I was so nervous I couldn't sing," he told journalist
Ray Connolly, "but I like the lyrics." According to author
Ian MacDonald
Ian MacCormick (known by the pseudonym Ian MacDonald; 3 October 1948 – 20 August 2003) was a British music critic and author, best known for both ''Revolution in the Head'', his critical history of the Beatles which borrowed techniques from ...
, in a scenario similar to Lennon's disappointment with "
Strawberry Fields Forever
"Strawberry Fields Forever" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was released on 13 February 1967 as a double A-side single with " Penny Lane". It represented a departu ...
", Lennon most likely rued the loss of "sentimental gentleness" he had envisaged for the piece, and, overly passive to his songwriting partner's suggestions, allowed the arrangement to become dominated by McCartney's "glittering countermelody". MacDonald views the bridge portions as the "most effective" sections, through their subtle use of harmonised drone and "featherweight bass", and bemoans the reversion to "clodhopping ... three-chord 4/4 rock" over the choruses. He concludes by saying that the track "succeed
more as a glamorous production (voice and guitar through the Leslie cabinet; echo and varispeed on everything) than as an integrated song."
Personnel
According to authors Kevin Ryan and
Brian Kehew, and John Winn:
The Beatles
*
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
–
double-tracked lead vocals,
maraca
A maraca (), sometimes called shaker or chac-chac, is a Rattle (percussion instrument), rattle which appears in many genres of List of Caribbean music genres, Caribbean and Latin music. It is shaken by a handle and usually played as part of a p ...
s, guitar
*
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. On ...
– harmony vocals,
Lowrey organ
The Lowrey organ is an Electric organ#Home organs (1940s–), electronic organ named for its developer, Frederick C. Lowrey (1871–1955), a Chicago-based business magnate, industrialist and entrepreneur. Lowrey's first commercially successf ...
, bass
*
George Harrison
George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian ...
– acoustic guitar,
tambura, lead guitar
*
Ringo Starr
Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...
– drums
Additional musician
*
George Martin
Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the Be ...
– piano
Certifications
Legacy
Lennon mentioned "Lucy in the Sky" in the Beatles' song "
I Am the Walrus
"I Am the Walrus" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1967 television film ''Magical Mystery Tour''. Written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney, it was released as the B-side to the single " Hello, Goodbye ...
".
A
3.2-million-year-old, 40% complete fossil skeleton of an ''
Australopithecus afarensis
''Australopithecus afarensis'' is an extinct species of australopithecine which lived from about 3.9–2.9 million years ago (mya) in the Pliocene of East Africa. The first fossils were discovered in the 1930s, but major fossil finds would not ta ...
'' specimen, discovered in 1974 by
Donald Johanson
Donald Carl Johanson (born June 28, 1943) is an American paleoanthropologist. He is known for discovering, with Yves Coppens and Maurice Taieb, the fossil of a female hominin australopithecine known as " Lucy" in the Afar Triangle region of H ...
,
Yves Coppens,
Maurice Taieb
Maurice Taieb (22 July 1935 – 23 July 2021) was a French geologist and paleoanthropologist. He discovered the Hadar formation, recognized its potential importance to paleoanthropology and founded the International Afar Research Expedition (IAR ...
and
Tom Gray
Tom or TOM may refer to:
* Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name)
Characters
* Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head''
* Tom Beck, a character ...
, 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 sky" became "Lucy in disguise" to the anthropologists, because they initially did not understand the impact of their discovery. The NASA mission
Lucy has, in turn, been named after the fossil. It is due to arrive at its first target, asteroid
52246 Donaldjohanson, in April 2025.
In 2009 Julian with James Scott Cook and
Todd Meagher released "
Lucy", a song that is a quasi-follow-up to
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
song. The cover of the EP showed four-year-old Julian's original drawing, that now is owned by
David Gilmour
David Jon Gilmour ( ; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined as guitarist and co-lead vocalist in 1967, shortly before the departure of founding member Syd Barrett. ...
from
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...
.
Lennon's original handwritten lyrics sold at auction in 2011 for $230,000.
Elton John version
In 1974, English musician
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...
released a cover version as a single. Recorded at the
Caribou Ranch
Caribou Ranch was a recording studio built by producer James William Guercio in 1972 in a converted barn on ranch property in the Rocky Mountains near Nederland, Colorado, on the road that leads to the ghost town of Caribou. The studio was in ope ...
, it featured backing vocals and guitar by
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
under the pseudonym Dr. Winston O'Boogie (Winston being Lennon's
middle name). The single topped the US ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
''
pop chart
A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include rec ...
for two weeks in January 1975 as well as the Canadian
''RPM'' national singles chart for four weeks spanning January and February. The
B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...
of the single was also a John Lennon composition, "One Day (At a Time)", from Lennon's 1973 album ''
Mind Games
Playing mind games (also power games or head games) is the largely conscious struggle for psychological one-upmanship, often employing passive–aggressive behavior to specifically demoralize or dis-empower the thinking subject, making the a ...
''.
Development and release
In the US it was certified Gold on 29 January 1975 by the
RIAA
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...
.
During their collaboration, Elton John appeared on John Lennon's song "
Whatever Gets You Thru the Night". Lennon promised to appear live with Elton at
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylv ...
if "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night" became a number-one single. 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
"I Saw Her Standing There" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon. It is the opening track on the band's 1963 debut UK album ''Please Please Me'' and their debut US album '' Introducing... The B ...
" (which was written primarily by
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. On ...
). It is one of two songs written by Lennon–McCartney to reach number one in the US by an artist other than the Beatles.
[Songs written by John Lennon](_blank)
, ''MusicVF''.com. Retrieved 26 July 2016. The other is "
A World Without Love
"A World Without Love" is a song recorded by the British duo Peter and Gordon and released as their first single in February 1964. It was included on the duo's debut album in the UK, and in the US on an album of the same name. The song was wri ...
" recorded by
Peter and Gordon
Peter and Gordon were a British pop duo, composed of Peter Asher (b. 1944) and Gordon Waller (1945–2009), who achieved international fame in 1964 with their first single, the million-selling single " A World Without Love". The duo had severa ...
in 1964.
In introducing "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds",
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...
said he believed it to be "one of the best songs ever written." 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 stated that "'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 his standard repertoire from 1974 until 1976, and sporadically until 1998. It also appeared in the 1976 musical documentary ''
All This and World War II
''All This and World War II'' is a 1976 musical documentary directed by Susan Winslow. It juxtaposes Beatles songs covered by a variety of musicians with World War II newsreel footage and 20th Century Fox films, in a manner meant by the filmmak ...
''.
Personnel
*
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...
– lead and backing vocals, piano,
mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. ...
,
harpsichord
A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...
*
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
(as Dr. Winston O'Boogie) – backing vocals, guitars
*
Davey Johnstone
David William Logan Johnstone (born 6 May 1951) is a British rock guitarist and vocalist, best known for his long-time collaboration with Elton John as a member of the Elton John Band.
Career
Johnstone's first work was with Noel Murphy in ...
– backing vocals, electric guitar,
sitar
The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in ...
*
Dee Murray
Dee Murray (born David Murray Oates; 3 April 1946 – 15 January 1992) was an English bass guitarist. He was best known for his long-time collaboration with Elton John as a member of the Elton John Band.
Biography
Murray was born in Gillingham ...
– bass guitar, backing vocals
*
Nigel Olsson
Nigel Olsson (born 10 February 1949) is an English rock drummer and singer best known for his long-time affiliation with Elton John. A dynamic drummer and backing vocalist, Olsson helped establish the Elton John sound as a member of the Elton J ...
– drums, backing vocals
*
Ray Cooper
Raymond Cooper (born 19 September 1947) is an English musician who has worked as a session and road-tour percussionist. During his career, Cooper has worked and toured with numerous musically diverse bands and artists including Elton John (as ...
– tambourine,
tubular bells
Tubular bells (also known as chimes) are musical instruments in the percussion family. Their sound resembles that of church bells, carillon, or a bell tower; the original tubular bells were made to duplicate the sound of church bells within ...
,
gong
A gongFrom Indonesian and ms, gong; jv, ꦒꦺꦴꦁ ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ja, , dora; km, គង ; th, ฆ้อง ; vi, cồng chiêng; as, কাঁহ is a percussion instrument originating in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Gongs ...
,
maraca
A maraca (), sometimes called shaker or chac-chac, is a Rattle (percussion instrument), rattle which appears in many genres of List of Caribbean music genres, Caribbean and Latin music. It is shaken by a handle and usually played as part of a p ...
s,
mark tree,
congas
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
The Flaming Lips version
A cover version by
the Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips are an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The band currently consists of Wayne Coyne (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Steven Drozd (guitars, keyboards, bass, drums, vocals), Derek Brown (keybo ...
was included on their album ''
With a Little Help from My Fwends'', released on
Warner Bros. The song, featuring vocals from
Miley Cyrus
Miley Ray Cyrus ( ; born Destiny Hope Cyrus on November 23, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her distinctive raspy voice, her music spans across varied styles and genres, including pop, country, rock, hip ho ...
and
Moby
Richard Melville Hall (born September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, singer, producer, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "among the ...
, was released as official single on 18 May 2014.
All proceeds from record sales go to the Bella Foundation, an organisation in
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, an ...
that helps provide veterinary care to needy pet owners.
References
Notes
Bibliography
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External links
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{{authority control
1967 songs
1974 singles
Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles
British psychedelic rock songs
Cashbox number-one singles
Censorship of music
DJM Records singles
Elton John songs
Lysergic acid diethylamide
MCA Records singles
Mondegreens
Music based on Alice in Wonderland
Parlophone singles
RPM Top Singles number-one singles
Song recordings produced by George Martin
Song recordings produced by Gus Dudgeon
Songs published by Northern Songs
Songs written by Lennon–McCartney
The Beatles songs
The Flaming Lips songs
Warner Records singles