Many people thought this was about drugs, since the letters "LSD" are prominent in the title, and John Lennon, who wrote it, was known to have taken acid. In 1971 Lennon told Rolling Stone that he swore that he had no idea that the song's initials spelled L.S.D. He added: "I didn't even see it on the label. I didn't look at the initials. I don't look— I mean I never play things backwards. I listened to it as I made it. It's like there will be things on this one, if you fiddle about with it. I don't know what they are. Every time after that though I would look at the titles to see what it said, and usually they never said anything."
Paul McCartney recounted trading lyric ideas with Lennon in an interview, saying, "We never noticed the LSD initial until it was pointed out later, by which point people didn't believe us." This is confirmed by a 1971 interview of Lennon, where he described searching for acronyms in other song titles only to find "they didn't spell out anything." In an interview with Playboy, published in 1981, Lennon revealed the true background of the song: "My son Julian came in one day with a picture he painted about a school friend of his named Lucy. He had sketched in some stars in the sky and called it 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,' Simple." George Martin also denied the song was about LSD in the book The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions by Mark Lewisohn.
However, Lewisohn goes on to say "there can be little doubt that this was the very substance that provoked such colourful word imagery to flow out of Lennon's head and onto paper." McCartney agrees in a 2004 interview, where he noted that Julian's painting had inspired the song, but that it was "pretty obvious" that the song was also inspired by LSD. For his part, Lennon attributed the colourful prose not to the drug, but to the writings of Carroll. George Martin also accredits the influence of Carroll and Dylan Thomas on Lennon.
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
Beatles Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
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
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 taxis appear on the shore
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 the 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
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
The song Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds is a psychedelic masterpiece by The Beatles that tells a dream-like story of a person's journey through a kaleidoscopic landscape of surreal and colorful imagery. The opening lines describe a boat on a river with tangerine trees and marmalade skies, setting the tone for the rest of the song. The singer hears a call, and a girl with kaleidoscope eyes appears before them. The lyrics evoke surreal imagery of cellophane flowers, towering over the head in yellow and green, and a bridge by a fountain where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies. The lyrics then move to the idea of being in a station with plasticine porters with looking glass ties as someone appears at the turnstile, which is a vivid representation of a hallucination of a mystical place.
The singer seems to be exploring alternate realities, and the song conveys the idea of escaping from the mundane world and exploring a place of vivid imagination. The song title “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds'' has often been thought to reference the drug LSD, which was associated with the hippie subculture in the 1960s. Nonetheless, the band and the songwriters have maintained that Lucy was inspired by a drawing that John Lennon's son Julian made in school. Nevertheless, the song's trippy lyrics and melody perfectly capture the spirit of the psychedelic era, where people were experimenting with various forms of drugs and spiritual practices, and trying to create an alternate culture.
Line by Line Meaning
Picture yourself in a boat on a river
Visualize being peacefully adrift in nature's beauty.
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies
Envision a surreal, colorful world created by your imagination.
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly
You are kindly beckoned, responding calmly and without rush.
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes
A curious and unique female, filled with multi-colored wonder.
Cellophane flowers of yellow and green
Flowers made of thin, translucent material that appear bright and colorful.
Towering over your head
Growing high, casting a literal or figurative shadow over one's head.
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes
Search for the same interesting female previously mentioned, the apple of one's eye.
And she's gone
The girl is no longer there, having disappeared into a magical dream world.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy is the girl with kaleidoscope eyes, and the diamonds symbolize a transcendental state of mind.
Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain
Pursue her and explore an ever-changing, fantastical landscape with a water feature.
Where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies
A place with peculiar beings enjoying unconventional food, adding to the surrealism.
Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers
You are warmly greeted by the strange inhabitants as you leisurely pass by the bizarre, towering blooms.
That grow so incredibly high
The flowers continue to grow impossibly high, reaching dizzying heights.
Newspaper taxis appear on the shore
Cars resembling taxis made of old newsprint are waiting nearby.
Waiting to take you away
Inviting you to escape with the promise of an unforgettable adventure.
Climb in the back with your head in the clouds
Get in the rear of the car, daydreaming and free-spirited while journeying to new heights.
And you're gone
In that moment, you embark on a surreal quest for enlightenment and self-discovery.
Picture yourself on a train in a station
Imagine yourself aboard a train, stationary and waiting to depart.
With plasticine porters with looking glass ties
The train personnel dress in peculiar garb, appearing oddly polished and robotic.
Suddenly someone is there at the turnstile
A mystery figure suddenly appears, appearing to be an important presence.
The girl with the kaleidoscope eyes
The same unique female, a guiding light in a world of vivid imagination.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: JOHN LENNON, PAUL MCCARTNEY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind