Look, people. The Beatles were heavy drug users, theres no question about that. And, they wrote several songs about drugs, like Happiness Is A Warm Gun, Tommorrow Never Knows, and Rain just to name a few. So , just to set the record straight, I'm not some Beatles purist who claims The Beatles never took drugs or any of that bull. However, with that being said, "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" is most certainly not a drug song. Now let me explain:
Julian Lennon, John Lennon's son, came home from school one day and showed his father a picture he drew of a girl in his class named Lucy. According to John, it was literally a picture of a girl, supposedly named Lucy, who was in the clothing of an angel, with bright colors for eyes (hence the "kaleidoscope eyes part). She was in the sky, surrounded by diamond shaped stars. When John asked Julian what the picture was, Julian said, "It's Lucy in the Sky, and with diamonds." John Lennon, being so inspired by his sons beautiful picture and imagination, got the idea for a song that would later become "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds".
Now, I'm sure all of you have heard that story. Now, where did the supposedly "LSD inspired lyrics" that had nothing to do with the picture come from? At this time, John Lennon was extremely interested in the writings of Lewis Carrol, who was a renowned poet and short story writer. He wrote mostly tales for children, such as Alice in Wonderland. If any of you are familiar with Carroll's works, you can see a great resemblance between his writings and this song. Lennon was inspired by him, and used his style of writing (vivid imagery) as the basis for some of his songs. That's where the trippy lyrics come from.
As a matter of fact, no one really considered "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" to be a drug song until Paul McCartney suggested it given the acronym "LSD". Then it became the accepted view of the song.
So, hopefully this has shed some light on the real meaning of this song. |
