is the song lucy in the sky with diamonds by the beatles really based on LSD use?

Question

the lyrics just sound like lennon was trippin when he wrote them

anyways the song is awesome

Answer 1

That's what they say

Answer 2

NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!

It is not about LSD. As has been said and as I will reiterate, the song was John Lennon's musical version of Alice in Wonderland. His son, Julian, did a water color painting of a school friend. I've seen this painting. Google it, you'll find it. The problem with this rumor is, it wasn't John Lennon who came up with the title. John asked Julian, "What's that then?" Julian, who was very young at the time, and who has even been quoted as saying this himself, answered his dad and said, "It's Lucy in the sky with diamonds." Now kill this myth. Not too mention, if you were grammatically correct, you'd capitalize the "In" as well so it would be LISD.

See the link below to see the painting itself.

Answer 3

Having lived through this period, it was a time when a lot of experimentation with drugs occurred. It was also a common practice for people who were into drugs to describe any song that was popular, and without a clear meaning, to be a song influenced by drug use. It helped rationalize their use. The record labels saw these songs rise in popularity and suddenly there were lots of songs with less than clear meanings. However, this particular song came out before that started happening. I am sure it then became lore that it was influenced by drug use, but in reality, if you do a bit of research, you can find the real story in the publications of the time.

Answer 4

John Lennon always denied it and said that it was a picture his son Julian brought home from school. he asked him what it was and he replied "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds". However it would be quite a big coincidence and the song practically describes every trip I ever took - how did he know?!

Answer 5

From what I understand it isn't. I believe John asked his son Julian what he'd just drawn, and the boy replied 'That's Lucy in the sky, with diamonds.' Something like that. I'm sure the group's experimenting with drugs helped to shape the song a little, though.

Answer 6

Pop culture myth as far as I ever read or heard about.

I'm not sure if anyone who was ever with the band has ever confirmed any of the rumors.

The Beatles have more myths, rumors, and stories surrounding them than all the other rock bands since have combined.

The Beatles were well known pranksters and loved to feed public hysteria with false clues and cryptic hints.

Answer 7

Vagina in the sky with diamonds? No, it's a song based on a childs painting, and I can assure you the child wasn't drawing vaginas.

Answer 8

No, it is based on John Lennon's son Julian's pre-school friend Lucy. The lyrics may have been acid induced, but the title was not.

Answer 9

read the lyrics and you guess

Picture yourself in a boat on a river
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes

Cellophane flowers of yellow and green
Towering over your head
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes
and she's gone

Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds, ah

Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain
Where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies
Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers
that grow so incredibly high

Newspaper taxies appear on the shores
Waiting to take you away
Climb in the back with your head in the clouds
and you're gone

Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds, ah

Picture yourself on a train in a station
With plasticine porters with looking glass ties
Suddenly someone is there at the turnstile
The girl with kaleidoscope eyes

Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds, ah
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds, ah

Answer 10

yup. Lucy Sky Diamonds

Answer 11

The things people have said regarding Julian Lennon saying it was Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds in his drawing are correct. John did *credit* Julian with saying this.

This was, however, a period where John was being investigated by the CIA and they were looking for reasons to deport him, ruin his good name.

Most experts will tell you that though it cannot be proven, that was very likely a response John gave for the public record in order to keep himself from inviting further trouble.

All you need to do is listen to the song, and know the mind state and effects and John's use of symbolism to know that the song was most definitely actually about LSD.

This is further confirmed by the following things in the movie Yello Submarine, which the Beatles didn't write, but strongly endorsed;

The movie Yellow Submarine was entirely a movie shaped in the same way the song L in the S with D was; Direct intent to convey a hidden and powerful message which was that things were not right in the world, and that one of the answers to many of the worlds problems could be found within our own mind, if we would only be brave enough to unlock such information through the use of psychedelics. Secondarily, the movie had intent to show the power of music and its importance, and specifically the Beatles influence in helping bring about change to the world with their own promotion of the chemical and its effects on their music.

Here is an ultra bried synopsis of the hidden conveyances in Yellow Submarine.

Pepperland (Everyday Life/People/Earth, unknowing of oppresion or violence) is a Utopia.

Then the Meanies (Government/Powers That Be) take over and crush free thought and spirit, creating modern day (1969-1970).

Help is sent, and help is found in the Beatles, who are from another plane of consciousness in the movie and unfamiliar with Pepperland.

On their journey back, they meet Jeremy Hillary Boob PH.D. He is a genius, with degrees in everything, but yet seems to be clueless. Jeremy is the sum of all Earth's technology, and knowledge and advancement, and represents any given person and what they know and are good at, as well as the scientific community collectively.

Jeremy, in passing, makes the comment that "while he is composing it, he is also reviewing it" with regard to something he is working on. This is the most incredible and subtle line in the entire movie, IMO. It shows that we, as humans, think we know it all, and we use our own techniques to proove our own theories right. We never receive any sort of validation or spirituality or intelligence from anywhere but ourselves, because there is nowhere else to get this information.

They visit the foothills of the headlands. The headlands are covered in some sort of "powder." (said to be Pepper, but its obviously an implication of the heads being under the influence of some sort of powder that comes from where they need to be.... Gee, is that LSD?)

They ask the headlands how to get where they need to go. The response is that inside the minds of the Headlands, a circle of arrows moves around within the heads, implying the way to get where we need to go is no further then in our own minds.

At this point in the movie, its suddenly time to play Lucy in the Sky, to make it PERFECTLY clear that it was LSD they were referring to.

They get back, crush oppression, music, art and "Yes" rules all, the meanies gain understanding through enlightenment because of acceptance, (John's character has a brief period of explaining how the 4th dimension and time are a physical dimension with which souls are still and as time moves around us this is how we go about our lives, using Einstein's theory of relativity to explain this, then the rest of the gang are like "blah blah blah" so he stops... However this quick drop is meant to show that a better understanding of ourselves and our souls and our lives have an element of destiny to them)

In the end, its made clear that above all else is LOVE, and that there is absolutely nothing Love cannot crush, nothing it can't repair. But the people of the planet may never realize it collectively until we start syaing Yes, and allowing ourselves to receive the "outside" help provided by the psychedelic experience to learn these things about ourselves. Love conquers all.


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So, I know this was a bit of a tangent, but hopefully some people would have taken the time to read it and maybe learn about the underlying reasoning behind the movie, and the Beatles endorsement of it, and love of it, was enough to support further that Lucy in the Sky was THE song about LSD, and even used in this movie at the right time to show such.

Hope this makes a bit of sense.

Enjoy.