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.
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bump
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.
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