Beatles: Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds Meaning

Song Released: 1967

Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds Lyrics

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...

1. 1TOP RATED

   #1 top rated interpretation:
   GreatestBandEver

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   Jan 10th 2013 !⃝

   The Beatles were masters at writing songs with multiple meanings. It may have started from a picture but they didn't miss the fact that Lucy, Sky, and Diamonds was also LSD. Now for almost 50 years the controversy goes on and so does the song. Same thing with Hey Jude and many of their songs. May have started one way but they certianly weren't opposed to people believing it had some other meaning... I think they were amused by everything that fans came up with... all part of their genius.

2. 2TOP RATED

   #2 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Oct 7th 2009 !⃝

   There’s a fusion of horizons between artist and song and so the themes of whether this is a song induced by a picture or drugs are both fine IMHO. Consider this:
   
   Each verse starts with an innocent, single line that could be appealing to a kid. Even the newspaper taxis appearing on the shore could refer to a paper boats. As the lines descend into cartoonish absurdity, it still works as a child’s imaginary float through a fantastical journey.
   
   From the LSD perspective, each verse also starts normal but rapidly unwinds into a bizarre development that is structurally very similar to the effects of LSD. For those “not experienced”, the effects of LSD induce hallucinations of five senses (not just visual). The effects seem to come in waves (a verse?), intensifying over time to a “peek”.
   
   As in the song, you can find yourself in a normal environment that through sensory alteration lead to an imagination that warps into events like those in the song. To appreciate this, consider Kant’s notion that all we know is learned through the five senses and then consider all your senses being off kilter (yes, smell, touch, taste …). Time drags and your eyes dilate so they are large to the appearance … but oh the colors those black marbles see: closing your eyes while under the influence is very much like watching a kaleidoscope. These hallucinations are not voluntary and so much of the song’s imagery, while interesting, is not necessarily indicative of a good time (to be fair). The trip can be horrifying.
   
   If we accept the drug thread but also that the song was written about/for a child, then we reach interesting ground. This is a song that opens the door to a world visible to the child and the LSD user, i.e. It is a song of both innocence and experience. It is an interesting achievement to speak to two separate audiences that come to the same venue (the song) from two completely different backgrounds. NOTE: kids - don't try this at home without supervision from mommy & daddy, "Lucy" is not a bridge for the innocence Holden Caulfield saw in children but could not find in adults.
   
   Considering the song from Lennon’s perspective, “Lucy” could be construed as anti-establishment, knocking “squares” that could not "see" (fathom) rocking horse people outside of fairy tales. If Lennon was called on the drug theme, it was easy to deflect by saying the song was about his kid’s picture. Any none-experienced “square” who sought to argue against Lennon’s ode to his kid’s picture was fighting an uphill battle. Lennon loved a good taunt and "Lucy" allowed him to play a great hand!
   
   Post-Lennon, I’m not sure that the band wanted to “change its tune”: McCartney has said that the drugs culture of the 60s/70s was different than today. The availability and use of hard drugs today (crack, heroin, crystal meth, etc.) makes the drug culture far more dangerous i.e., best course is to speak to Julian’s influence via his picture of a childhood friend, Lucy.
   
   
   In the end I don’t think I’ve said much different than others here, but perhaps have added some (or much) context. And now I must retire,
   in my lego-brand bedroom,
   that ripples with the colors of the rainbows that run by …

3. 3TOP RATED

   #3 top rated interpretation:
   zapatelli

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   Oct 16th 2013 !⃝

   I have looked occasionally at these lyric meaning sites, curious about how people interpret Beatles music. I am somewhat amused at how clueless most people seem to be. Not that I am anybody special but I came of age at the peak of the Beatles' popularity.
   The Beatles were trying to turn people on to great esoteric truths, things which cannot always be taught directly. The Sergeant Pepper Album was very much about that.
   I do not think Lennon was lying when he said the song was inspired by his son's drawing, but the song was certainly about more than that.
   Something that commonly occurred when using psychedelic drugs, especially with groups of people who were close was a certain flowing together of personalities and a sort of "ego loss' where the oneness of existence is perceived. This may sound like gibberish, but if it ever happened to you it would be clear to what I am referring.
   Now let me relate what I have just said to the lyrics of "Lucy in the Sky"
   "the girl with kaleidoscope eyes" - the nature of a kaleidoscope is a tube with many mirrors. You look in and the mirrors cause the bits of colored glass or plastic to form brilliant patterns. The word eye sounds the same as the word I. Kaleidoscope "I's" could refer to perceiving the world as a million reflections of yourself.
   Picture yourself in a train in a station with plasticine porters with looking glass ties.
   It seems the picture being painted is of railway porters with neckties with mirrors on them (looking-glasses). But the word tie has more than one meaning; it can also mean the ties between people, that which connects them. Porters conduct people from one place to another. In other words when you perceive the tie between yourself and another it is like looking into a mirror. "Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes and she's gone" This psychic state cannot be reached by conscious effort. If you try, it flees from you.
   If you think I am off the track just look at how much of the Beatles music returns to this theme.. i.e.Day in the Life, I am the Walrus, Looking through a Glass Onion, Within you, Without You, Come together, Tomorrow never knows, and the list goes on and on. The famous album cover of Sergeant Pepper has pictures of many famous cultural icons (musicians, actors, artists, authors) but there are also many pictures of leaders of spiritual disciplines such as Paramahansa Yogananda, Aleister Crowley and many others. Just some thoughts on this subject.
4. anonymous

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   Apr 8th 2023 !⃝

   Lucy aka Lucifer - Aliester Crowley (occultist) I believe it's clearly about the devil there's an pledge called "Lucifer in the sky with deamons" my take on it I believe it was Lennon who adored Crowley.
5. anonymous

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   Feb 10th 2020 !⃝

   The Beatles were very smart and creative even when they were high. There songs have a main theme, however, they were artists and like every other artist, they have a mind of their own and their art was strange. That being said, every song has mulitiple meanings and every person perceives things the way they want to. Probably everyone on this blog is wrong unless you were personally friends with them. Trends, vocabulary and the way in which people socialize are so different then in the past. Any one who is old enough to remember LSD and it's affects, then one might tend to see the humor in this song as well. John Lennon is probably laughing at all of us who think we have it figured out!!! Hahahaha!! The joke is definately on US!!!
6. anonymous

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   Jul 16th 2019 !⃝

   Every creative thing anyone makes is influenced by multiple things simultaneously. I believe his son's drawing inspired memory of an LSD trip and I believe he was smart enough to catch the acronym of his son's description of the drawing.
   
   I also believe Satan had a role in influencing the song because through it he captured the minds and imaginations of many people.
   
   Lucy-fer in the sky with diamonds
   
   The Bible: Lucifer in the heavens with precious stones.
   (see Isaiah 14:12-13 and Ezekiel 28:13)
   
   http://www.truefreethinker.com/articles/lucy-fer-sky-diamonds
   
   Our minds affects our whole being. Attitudes are important to health and success as we apply God's word in our lives.
   
   The doctor says, “You are what you eat.” The psychologist says, “You are what you think.”
   
   Satan knows the tremendous power of the mind, and he tries to capture it for himself through catchy songs and creative interpretations.
   Resist his lies with God's truth & he will flee from you.
   
   Memory Verses to Treasure in Your Heart:
   
   
7. anonymous

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   Jul 16th 2019 !⃝

   Every creative thing anyone makes is influenced by multiple things simultaneously. I believe his son's drawing inspired memory of an LSD trip and I believe he was smart enough to catch the acronym of his son's description of the drawing.
   
   I also believe Satan had a role in influencing the song because through it he captured the minds and imaginations of many people.
   
   Lucy-fer in the sky with diamonds
   
   The Bible: Lucifer in the heavens with precious stones.
   (see Isaiah 14:12-13 and Ezekiel 28:13)
   
   Our minds affects our whole being. Attitudes are important to health and success as we apply God's word in our lives.
   
   The doctor says, “You are what you eat.” The psychologist says, “You are what you think.”
   
   Satan knows the tremendous power of the mind, and he tries to capture it for himself through catchy songs and creative interpretations.
   Resist his lies with God's truth & he will flee from you.
   
   Memory Verses to Treasure in Your Heart:
   
   
8. anonymous

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   Mar 7th 2018 !⃝

   lucy is Lucifer the sun
9. anonymous

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   May 15th 2015 !⃝

   Everything John and Paul created after the Sgt. Pepper sessions commenced on 11/24/66 is Bible based. They were the two witnesses - see www.thegoodguise.wordpress.com for a complete substantiation of that claim.
   
   The song Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds is an important song during that period. See the video at Youtube that explains the origin of the song title - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EiSTEC9edk
   
   A new understanding of what John and Paul accomplished during the 1,260 days prior to the release of their final LP, Let It Be, is now fully understood. Help spread the word and prepare because they really did come to change the world - and that change is only just beginning!!
10. anonymous

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    Oct 28th 2014 !⃝

    Does anyone have thoughts on what if any connection exists between this Lucy in the Sky and the Lucy in the sky that was revealed in glowing robes in the lyrics of "Let There Be More Light" from the album Saucerful of Secrets by Pink Floyd released in 1968?
11. anonymous

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    Sep 10th 2014 !⃝

    Read Sylvia Plath: Polly's Tree (1959), contrast and compare, then maybe there would be something to talk about.
12. anonymous

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    May 26th 2014 !⃝

    If you take out the "in the" in Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,the first letters in each word spell out LSD, but I don't know if John wrought this song about his son's friend Lucy or his son's drawing or about one of his trips.
13. anonymous

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    Nov 16th 2012 !⃝

    Thanks for your post on this web site. From my own experience, there are occassions when softening way up a photograph might provide the professional photographer with a dose of an imaginative flare. Often times however, this soft clouds isn't just what exactly you had under consideration and can often times spoil a normally good snapshot, especially if you thinking about enlarging it.
14. anonymous

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    Jun 17th 2012 !⃝

    this song is clearly about being high on acid or LSD Lennon lied it isn't about any person its about being high
15. anonymous

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    May 4th 2012 !⃝

    If you never really peaked on acid you have no clue what so ever
16. purehecate25

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    Feb 18th 2012 !⃝

    I think it has different meanings to different people. SO STOP FIGHTING ABOUT IT! :P
17. anonymous

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    Jan 26th 2012 !⃝

    It's about a drawing, not about drugs. Why would he lie about it being about drugs, if it's already banned by the BBC and radio?
18. anonymous

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    Sep 8th 2011 !⃝

    Many of you are overanalyzing the song, coming up with interpretations that are very weakly supported by the song's lyrics.
    
    Regardless of how the song was inspired, the song's lyrics consist of a series of visual imagery that is utopian, colorful, surreal, and childlike in nature. Think Alice in Wonderland, and you've got the right idea.
    
    That's all there is to it. Newsflash: not all artistic works have specific meanings or messages. John Lennon in particular wrote plenty of songs that were meaningless, or that were even meant to perplex the bozos that think that everything has some kind of deeper meaning.
    
    Also, for the record, the song's title was inspired by a drawing one of Lennon's sons drew, and the actual lyrics of the song were inspired by Lennon's experiences on LSD. The initials of the song's title was a coincidence though, surprisingly.

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