Posted on 09/28/2009 9:44:56 AM PDT by Borges
LONDON – Lucy Vodden, who provided the inspiration for the Beatles' classic song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," has died after a long battle with lupus. She was 46.
Her death was announced Monday by St. Thomas' Hospital in London, where she had been treated for the chronic disease for more than five years, and by her husband, Ross Vodden. Britain's Press Association said she died last Tuesday. Hospital officials said they could not confirm the day of her death.
Vodden's connection to the Beatles dates back to her early days, when she made friends with schoolmate Julian Lennon, John Lennon's son.
Julian Lennon, then 4 years old, came home from school with a drawing one day, showed it to his father, and said it was "Lucy in the sky with diamonds."
At the time, John Lennon was gathering material for his contributions to "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," a landmark album released to worldwide acclaim in 1967.
The elder Lennon seized on the image and developed it into what is widely regarded as a psychedelic masterpiece, replete with haunting images of "newspaper taxis" and a "girl with kaleidoscope eyes."
Rock music critics thought the song's title was a veiled reference to LSD, but John Lennon always claimed the phrase came from his son, not from a desire to spell out the initials LSD in code.
Vodden lost touch with Julian Lennon after he left the school following his parents' divorce, but they were reunited in recent years when Julian Lennon, who lives in France, tried to help her cope with the disease.
He sent her flowers and vouchers for use at a gardening center near her home in Surrey in southeast England, and frequently sent her text messages in an effort to buttress her spirits.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
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Even the initials of the song are LSD.
Lennon denied that his entire life.
Don’t get me wrong. I have always loved the Beatles. But John Lennon could deny it all he wanted to. It is just too coincidental that the whole song sounds like an LSD trip (so I’ve been told, not from 1st hand experience) and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds has the initials LSD.
There were other songs that Lennon freely admited were about drugs. Why just deny that one?
The Far Side had a cartoon once of a new "Lucy" discovery--a fossil looking like Lucy from Peanuts.
the girl with kaleidoscope eyes...
Kudos to Julian for trying to help her out but if he really wanted to make a difference, he could have sent her to a country that still - at least for now - has a world class medical system.
How’s Lovely Rita, Meter Maid doing these days?
“Even the initials of the song are LSD.”
LITSWD?
She’s still sitting on the sofa with a sister or two.
Cool to know this trivia.
And for all us poo pooers who say it’s about LSD and not Julian’s schoolmate, I propose it’s about both. Julian gave his dad the idea of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and while dropping acid he expounded on the idea.
Makes since to me. In the late 60s I saw Lucy in the sky a few times myself.
‘Don’t know. Just drop a tab of acid and listen to the song and you will know the truth.’
Do that and the ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic’ would be a mind blowing experience.
BTW I have no dog in this fight.
Sorry to hear about the Lucy’s passing.
Maybe because he didn’t want to be seen as a simpleton songwriter.
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.
{CHORUS}
Lucy in the sky with diamonds,
Lucy in the sky with diamonds,
Lucy in the sky with diamonds,
Ah... Ah...
{VERSE 2}
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.
{CHORUS}
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.
Lennon wasn’t a very nice person. His son admitted it, hell even HE admitted it.
Lennon was lying when he says it wasn’t about drugs.
I’m a Paul fan, anyways...
Luckily, we still have Yoko!
RIP.
Awww, must go message Julian. He just met back up with her a few months back.
No it’s not!
Well then you would be spinning off into infinity of a trip if you sang a song about one of my four year old’s drawings.
Cynthia still has this picture that Julian drew and Julian just was reunited with Lucy a few months ago.
No, she was named for the song.
Julian isn’t rich by any stretch of the imagination. His b*tch of a stepmother has made sure of that.
He even has to purchase postcards HE sent to John from auctions.
Most overrated band ever.
Couldn’t stand them or their politics.
I’m sure for a hippy who liked to trip on acid, it seemed just trippy enough to write a song about. However the actual “Lucy in the sky with diamonds” was taken from the picture.
Yep and don't forget that on the album it come right after a song about getting high "with a little help from my friends."
“Most overrated band ever.”
Oddly, John probably would have agreed with you, LOL!
Hey, I’m a believer. I have no problem with Julian’s account. I think it’s great.
I heard one song that Yoko sang from an album put out in the mid 70’s and produced by John. It was a techno funk pop 70’s disco type of song. The song was lousy and her voice was worse than that.
I’m sure I’ve “danced” with Lucy ... but everyone knew her as Nancy.
HEAR HEAR!
Damn hippies...
Did Nancy come in through the bathroom window?
...snicker
Yes, I’ve heard the story. I’m just saying I don’t believe it.
Stay away from the brown acid. ... “The brown acid that is circulating around us isn’t too good. It is suggested that you stay away from that.”
Rocketman.....
Past tense of shit?
Yeah ... I guess he is.
Who at the time was better?
I can't attest to anything other than your one word description of her, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least. My mother had several encounters with her, not a pleasant person in the least.
I do not really care, but the album DID help me get next to Lorraine from Houston in 1967. She had it, I wanted it, and a better deal was never struck.
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