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. anonymous

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   Dec 1st 2009 !⃝

   Of course it's about effing lsd. one of them even said so in an interview. youtube that shit.
   
   omg, how could it not be about lsd?
2. anonymous

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   Nov 18th 2009 !⃝

   Lucy in the sky with diamonds is not about lsd. Why do people always assume that Beatles songs are drug related?!? They should realize by now at least half the songs by them have hidden meanings or double meanings! This song is about when Julian Lennon brought home a painting he did. and all the people were floating off the ground. Julian had titled it Lucy Int The Sky With Diamonds. IT'S NOT ABOUT LSD FOR ALL YOU BEATLE HATERS WHO THINK THAT THEY ARE ALL ABOUT DRUGS!
3. anonymous

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   Oct 6th 2009 !⃝

   It's simply about LSD
   L=lucy
   S=sky
   D=diamonds
   just listen to the song... They're high

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
4. jabruford

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   Sep 9th 2009 !⃝

   Here's the problem... It's 2009, and not 1969. If you've done LSD, then you probably have a real good idea of how this song "relates" to acid. If you haven't done LSD, then you're most likely going to draw your own conclusion. And if you claim to be the biggest beatle freak in the world, but can't get past the simple fact that the Beatles experimented with psychedelic drugs like so many other artists in the 60's, you're choosing to be ignorant. So many people today seem to forget about the psychedelic era and the music being created. If anyone loved acid more than Harrison or Donovan, it was Lennon. Before the release of Sgt. Pepper, Lennon said he had taken over 1000 trips. If you love something enough and it's illegal, then you'd understand the reason for using metaphors and coding in your message.
   
   Try branching out from this song, and look to other songs around the same time.
   
   I hate to make something so obvious, but...
   
   (Sunshine Superman, Sunshine of you love, Good Day Sunshine, Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Black Hole Sun, Sun King, Who Loves the Sun, Yellow Sun, Reach for the Sun, Black Hole Sun, Island in the Sun, Sun is Shining, Orphans, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Behind the Sun, Here comes the Sun, The Word)
   
   -yes, they're all about LSD.
   
   Why?
   
   Because LSD is a simple treasure.
   
   
   
5. anonymous

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   Aug 29th 2009 !⃝

   Having read a book authored in conjunction with the Beatles members, John Lennon was interviewed saying that the song is about a picture that Julian drew in school that was apparently, rather trippy. When John asked Julian what he had drawn, Julian replied, "That's Lucy in the sky with diamonds".
   
   The image he drew was of a girl with a very psychedelic background of colors. John thought that was amazing, obviously, and wrote a song about it.
   
   Because of the Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, people assume L(ucy)S(ky)D(iamonds) / LSD which is incorrect although if you are a conservative or drug addict, you may assume so incorrectly.
6. 28IF

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   Jul 15th 2009 !⃝

   Come On Guys & Gals - Here's the real deal:
   
   John was in middle of his "LSD phase" and probably had already written the lyrics to this song, but needed a title.
   
   Along comes little Julian with his picture which he describes to his father as "It's Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds".....
   
   Perfect!
7. xfreexxxfallinx

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   Jun 13th 2009 !⃝

   This song is most definitely NOT about LSD. John's son had made a picture of a girl in his class and created the sky out of diamonds. When John asked who it was, his son simply replied, "It's Lucy in the sky with diamonds."
8. thomasfly

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   Jun 8th 2009 !⃝

   "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a glaring example of Lennon’s impressionistic lyrics, the most conspicuous of which is "I Am the Walrus" (which, as if to acknowledge that he was “up to something,” itself refers to "Lucy in the Sky").
   
   Chronologically, it's the next "glaring example" after "Hey Bulldog." The last example, "Come Together," contains the phrase, "he has walrus gumboot," thereby back-referencing "Walrus."
   
   Sheryl Crow, at least, also has written song lyrics of this genre, such as "If It Makes You Happy."
   
   From WikiPedia: the "musical impressionism (of the 19th century) focused on suggestion and atmosphere rather than strong emotion or the depiction of a story."
   It’s not clear that Lennon consciously set out to create a new "artistic movement" in popular/rock music – in other words, that one day he said to himself, “I think I’ll write some songs that superficially appear to be nonsensical and meaningless – which, in fact, HAVE NO concrete meaning - but which, nonetheless, strongly suggest some kind of meaning … conveying an interpretation and / or feeling subliminally.”
   
   Precisely why Lennon wrote such songs is open to speculation. Probably he wrote them because he could (and not many good songwriters can), but Lennon also seemed to enjoy being a bit inscrutable at times, as if his ability to mystify the masses were evidence of his intellectual superiority (which perhaps it was).
   
   At the time he wrote it, Lennon was making substantial "use" of LSD (as was Harrison), and it certainly seems likely that the song’s extraordinary, psychedelic imagery was inspired by an “acid trip,” but that hardly means that the song is “about” LSD - any more than it was "about" the picture drawn by his then-young son Julian of his friend Lucy; though of course that picture also provided some inspiration, at least as to the title of the song.
   
   Lennon probably delighted in his fore-knowledge that people would say that the song was "obviously about LSD;" not only did he seem to enjoy being a bit inscrutable, but it seems that, at times, he actively sought to mystify and deceive.
   
   The interpretation that's "hiding in plain sight" is that "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a metaphor for falling in love – an experience as extraordinary (and all too often, unreal) as any drug trip. Put simply, it's a psychedelic love song.
9. anonymous

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   May 15th 2009 !⃝

   If anyone doubts that this song is about an LSD trip, then I suggest you drop a tab and listen to it. You'll then realise that not only is this song obviously referring to LSD, but John and the rest of the band were tripping right through the whole process, from the writing through the playing/singing and the final mix!
   
   Whoever seriously believes it's about a kid's picture is naive and stupid. Lennon was a great liar, and Paul an even bigger one. They were also heavily using heroin at that time, too - as indicated by many, many songs.
10. anonymous

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    May 7th 2009 !⃝

    honestly anyone who thinks this song has no base in drugs is on drugs. Lennon claimed to have taken more then 1000 acid trips. The picture could be motivation for a song and LSD the fuel for inovation. ~ Tyler(Kahlil)
11. anonymous

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    Apr 23rd 2009 !⃝

    I have done lsd 5 times and what he says in the song is very much what it is like. Same with strawberry fields
12. anonymous

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    Mar 31st 2009 !⃝

    I think its a great classic Beatles song about love.
    it's got a lot of metafores (ooh bad spelling.)
    Lucy is probably not actually the persons real name(they also might not exist!)of course this is just MY interpretation.
13. anonymous

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    Feb 20th 2009 !⃝

    Lucy has been another slang term for LSD (acid) since before this song was ever written.
14. anonymous

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    Jan 11th 2009 !⃝

    Those who think that this song is not about LSD are just scared that they're favorite band is full of druggies but still the beatles are cool.
15. anonymous

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    Dec 9th 2008 !⃝

    Lucy is in fact the inspiration for this song. Photography and inspiration with a little bit of LSD made it so.

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