Led by primary songwriters Lennon and McCartney, the Beatles built their reputation playing clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg over three years from 1960, initially with Stuart Sutcliffe playing bass. The core trio of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, together since 1958, went through a succession of drummers, eventually settling with Pete Best in 1960, who played with them for two years before being replaced with then Rory Storm & The Hurricanes drummer Ringo Starr in 1962. Manager Brian Epstein molded them into a professional act and producer George Martin guided and developed their recordings, greatly expanding their domestic success after their first hit, "Love Me Do", in late 1962. As their popularity grew into the intense fan frenzy dubbed "Beatlemania", the band acquired the nickname "the Fab Four", with Epstein, Martin and other members of the band's entourage sometimes given the informal title of "fifth Beatle".
By early 1964, the Beatles were international stars, leading the "British Invasion" of the United States pop market and breaking numerous sales records. They soon made their film debut with A Hard Day's Night (1964). From 1965 onwards, they produced increasingly innovative recordings, including the albums Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966) and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), and enjoyed further commercial success with The Beatles (also known as "the White Album", 1968) and Abbey Road (1969). In 1968, they founded Apple Corps, a multi-armed multimedia corporation that continues to oversee projects related to the band's legacy. After the group's break-up in 1970, all four members enjoyed success as solo artists. Lennon was shot and killed in December 1980, and Harrison died of lung cancer in November 2001. McCartney and Starr remain musically active.
The Beatles are the best-selling music act of all time, with estimated sales of 600 million units worldwide. They hold the record for most number-one albums on the UK Albums Chart, most number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and most singles sold in the UK. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, and all four main members were inducted individually between 1994 and 2015. In 2008, the group topped Billboard's list of the all-time most successful artists on the Billboard Hot 100. The band received seven Grammy Awards, four Brit Awards, an Academy Award (for Best Original Song Score for the 1970 film Let It Be) and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards. Time magazine named them among the 20th century's 100 most important people.
Former Rolling Stone associate editor Robert Greenfield compared the Beatles to Picasso, as "artists who broke through the constraints of their time period to come up with something that was unique and original "... In the form of popular music, no one will ever be more revolutionary, more creative and more distinctive ..." The British poet Philip Larkin described their work as "an enchanting and intoxicating hybrid of African-American rock-and-roll with their own adolescent romanticism", and "the first advance in popular music since the War".
They not only sparked the British Invasion of the US, they became a globally influential phenomenon as well. From the 1920s, the US had dominated popular entertainment culture throughout much of the world, via Hollywood films, jazz, the music of Broadway and Tin Pan Alley and, later, the rock and roll that first emerged in Memphis, Tennessee. The Beatles are regarded as British cultural icons, with young adults from abroad naming the band among a group of people that they most associated with UK culture.
Their musical innovations and commercial success inspired musicians worldwide. Many artists have acknowledged the Beatles' influence and enjoyed chart success with covers of their songs. On radio, their arrival marked the beginning of a new era; in 1968 the programme director of New York's WABC radio station forbade his DJs from playing any "pre-Beatles" music, marking the defining line of what would be considered oldies on American radio. They helped to redefine the album as something more than just a few hits padded out with "filler", and they were primary innovators of the modern music video. The Shea Stadium show with which they opened their 1965 North American tour attracted an estimated 55,600 people, then the largest audience in concert history; Spitz describes the event as a "major breakthrough ... a giant step toward reshaping the concert business". Emulation of their clothing and especially their hairstyles, which became a mark of rebellion, had a global impact on fashion.
According to Gould, the Beatles changed the way people listened to popular music and experienced its role in their lives. From what began as the Beatlemania fad, the group's popularity grew into what was seen as an embodiment of socio-cultural movements of the decade. As icons of the 1960s counterculture, Gould continues, they became a catalyst for bohemianism and activism in various social and political arenas, fuelling movements such as women's liberation, gay liberation and environmentalism. According to Peter Lavezzoli, after the "more popular than Jesus" controversy in 1966, the Beatles felt considerable pressure to say the right things and "began a concerted effort to spread a message of wisdom and higher consciousness".
Other commentators such as Mikal Gilmore and Todd Leopold have traced the inception of their socio-cultural impact earlier, interpreting even the Beatlemania period, particularly on their first visit to the US, as a key moment in the development of generational awareness. Referring to their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show Leopold states: "In many ways, the Sullivan appearance marked the beginning of a cultural revolution ... The Beatles were like aliens dropped into the United States of 1964.
In 1965, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). The Beatles won the 1971 Academy Award for Best Original Song Score for the film Let It Be (1970). The recipients of seven Grammy Awards and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards, the Beatles have six Diamond albums, as well as 20 Multi-Platinum albums, 16 Platinum albums and six Gold albums in the US. In the UK, the Beatles have four Multi-Platinum albums, four Platinum albums, eight Gold albums and one Silver album. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.
The best-selling band in history, the Beatles have sold more than 800 million physical and digital albums as of 2013. They have had more number-one albums on the UK charts, fifteen, and sold more singles in the UK, 21.9 million, than any other act. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the Beatles as the most significant and influential rock music artists of the last 50 years. They ranked number one on Billboard magazine's list of the all-time most successful Hot 100 artists, released in 2008 to celebrate the US singles chart's 50th anniversary. As of 2017, they hold the record for most number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100, with twenty. The Recording Industry Association of America certifies that the Beatles have sold 178 million units in the US, more than any other artist. They were collectively included in Time magazine's compilation of the 20th century's 100 most influential people. In 2014, they received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
There are two holidays celebrated for the Beatles: Global Beatles Day on 25 June each year. On that date in 1967, the band performed "All You Need Is Love" on television. In 2001, UNESCO created World Beatles Day on 16 January each year. This date has direct relation to the opening of The Cavern Club in 1957.
Five asteroids, 4147 Lennon, 4148 McCartney, 4149 Harrison, 4150 Starr and 8749 Beatles are named after the Beatles.
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
The 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 lyrics to The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" depict a surreal, dreamlike landscape filled with vivid colors and images. The first verse sets the scene with a boat on a river surrounded by tangerine trees and marmalade skies. The lyrics also introduce a mysterious girl with kaleidoscope eyes who beckons the singer, but disappears just as quickly. The second verse takes the listener to a bridge with rocking horse people eating marshmallow pies, and more colorful flowers. Here, the lyrics describe newspaper taxis waiting to take the singer away, suggesting a departure from reality. The final verse brings the listener to a train station with plasticine porters and a turnstile where the girl with kaleidoscope eyes once again appears.
The interpretation of the lyrics is often debated, with some suggesting that the song is about drug use, particularly LSD, while others argue that the song is simply a whimsical tale of a fantastical world. John Lennon, who wrote the song, confirmed that the inspiration for the song came from a drawing his son Julian made of a classmate named Lucy, who was in fact a real person. He acknowledged that the psychedelic imagery in the song may have been influenced by his own experiences with LSD, but maintained that the song was not a deliberate reference to the drug.
Line by Line Meaning
Picture yourself in a boat on a river
Imagine yourself in a state of peaceful calmness, drifting along a flowing body of water.
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies
The environment around you is surreal, with orange trees and skies that resemble a sweet and colorful jam.
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly
A voice enters your tranquility, distant and barely audible. You respond in a sluggish manner, not wanting to break your harmony.
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes
The owner of the voice appears before you, a girl with eyes that seem to reflect a constantly shifting pattern of colors.
Cellophane flowers of yellow and green
Blossoms made of translucent material float around you, some yellow, some green.
Towering over your head
These flowers rise high above you, creating a sense of wonder and awe.
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes
The girl you met before is the one to follow, her eyes shining with the radiance of a sun that guides you.
And she's gone
Suddenly, the girl vanishes, leaving behind only the memory of her beauty and the desire to pursue her.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
The name Lucy refers to the girl with kaleidoscope eyes, while diamonds may symbolize her brilliance and value.
Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain
You decide to pursue her, and find her near a water feature that creates a calming atmosphere.
Where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies
The place she's brought you to is downright bizarre, with imaginary beings riding rocking horses and consuming pies made of fluffy treats.
Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers
Despite the strangeness of the location, the inhabitants seem friendly and welcoming, smiling at you as you pass by the flowers.
That grow so incredibly high
Once again, the flowers tower above you, indicating that you're in a place where reality is distorted.
Newspaper taxis appear on the shore
You notice an unusual mode of transportation, taxis made of newspapers, waiting for passengers to take them away.
Waiting to take you away
You're faced with a choice, either to stay in this strange place or to leave with the taxis and continue your journey.
Climb in the back with your head in the clouds
You choose to leave, boarding the taxi with your mind occupied by the wonder of the surreal world you just left.
Picture yourself on a train in a station
The scene changes, and now you're on a train, waiting to embark on a journey that once again takes you away from reality.
With plasticine porters with looking glass ties
The train staff is made of colorful figures that resemble plasticine, all wearing ties that seem to be made of mirrors.
Suddenly someone is there at the turnstile
As the train is about to depart, a familiar face appears, the girl with kaleidoscope eyes.
The girl with the kaleidoscope eyes
You're reminded of the surreal world you just left behind, and the girl who led you there.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
The name Lucy is repeated, once again referring to the girl, while diamonds may symbolize her beauty and mystery.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
The chorus repeats, underlining the importance of the girl and the surreal world she represents.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
The chorus repeats one last time, leaving the listener with the lingering feeling of a surreal experience that defies explanation.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: John Lennon, Paul Mccartney
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Philip Kassabian
on Mother Nature's Son
A really great Beatles song.
Philip Kassabian
on The Night Before
A really splendid Beatles song.
Philip Kassabian
on P.S. I Love You
Now this is a really great Beatles song.
Philip Kassabian
on There's a Place
A seriously underrated Beatles song.
Philip Kassabian
on Do You Want to Know a Secret
A fantastic song by The Beatles.
Philip Kassabian
on When I'm Sixty-Four
A very tuneful Beatles song.
Philip Kassabian
on Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
An excellent Beatles song.
Philip Kassabian
on I'm Looking Through You
A beautiful Beatles song.
Philip Kassabian
on Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
Honestly The Beatles can't stop producing good songs.
Philip Kassabian
on Michelle
A fantastic Beatles song and absolutely beautiful.