Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
Artist: The Beatles
Year: 1967
Date of Action: June 1, 1967
Region: Europe
Location: United Kingdom
Subject: Political/Economic/Social Opinion
Medium: Music
Confronting Bodies: BBC
Description of Artwork: The song, primarily written primarily by John Lennon (but credited to John Lennon and Paul McCartney) is part of The Beatles' 1967 album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The song is visually enticing, instructing listeners to imagine imagery presented in the lyrics.
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 girl with the sun in her eyes And she's gone
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 taxies 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 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 Incident: While Lennon insisted that the song was inspired by his four-year-old son, Julian's, artwork of the same title, BBC censored the song from radio play due to suspected drug (specifically LSD) references. BBC felt that the song encouraged illegal drug use.
Results of Incident: The song was banned from airing on BBC radio.
Source:
• http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2002/apr/12/artsfeatures.popandrock
McCartney revealed in later interviews that the song was "obviously" written about drugs.
link to song: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x68mdx_the-beatles-lucy-in-the-sky-with-di_music
image source: http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/10-great-key-change-songs-221289/6/