Do you believe "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" was intentionally about LSD?

“There was also the image of the female who would someday come save me—a “girl with kaleidoscope eyes” who would come out of the sky. It turned out to be Yoko, though I hadn’t met Yoko yet. . . . The imagery was Alice in the boat. And also the image of this female who would come and save me—this secret love that was going to come one day. So it turned out to be Yoko, though, and I hadn’t met Yoko then. But she was my imaginary girl that we all have.”

So.... If it was simply about a child's drawing, where does this stuff fit exactly?

I think Lennon thrived on ambiguity around his lyrics and since the song was banned right away by the BBC, maybe he was a bit embarrassed at having been too obvious about this one?

 

No. It was really about the much more potent but less popular drug LITSWD.

 

That's like the people who refuse to accept that Oswald shot JFK due to some minor inconsistency but then expect you to swallow their theories, facts be damned!

 

Paul has gone on record that the song was I spired by BOTH. The imagery of the song was inspired by it along with the surrealism of writers like Lewis Carroll but that what originally inspired them was Julian's picture. Whether or not they realized the inspiration at the time is another thing entirely. Both stories can be true.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/004/197vgrel.asp

 

Both.

While under the influence of the item in question, he saw the drawing and it inspired him.

 

Of course it reflects the composer's active drug use. But John Lennon would have admitted to the title being a conscious acronym if it had been. He copped to a lot of things he wasn't proud of, and he never was that embarrassed about his drug use to lie about that.

What's the alternative thesis presented by John's accusers? "Oh, no, the BBC is on to me. What will Mary Whitehouse say? Quick, Julian, draw me a picture of that girl you go to kindergarten with! I'll use that as my alibi."

 

Don't let the fact of the real initials of the song get in the way of a good story.

 

Maybe this specific context has already been mentioned in this thread, but it was a pot, or hash, charge that was blocking his green card.

The song's celebration of LSD was too subversive for him to be copping 100% to in his new circumstances. He'd experienced heat and personal frustration and he retreated.

 

In my opinion, the song is clearly about LSD. The song's title, a play on LSD. John was known to have injested LSD. Why complicate it...it was a reference to LSD!

 

Quite evident that the simple thoughts lean toward it being about LSD and John "lying" about it. More internet intellect at work.

 

So for those who believe John went to the bother of cryptically hiding the acronym LSD in the song title, can any of you cite the original source of your theory?

My guess is someone like this guy who also had some great 'theories' about the meaning of Beatle song titles and lyrics:

 

Oh my God

 

I don't know. I'll try some, listen to it, and get back to you.

 

John admitted taking LSD many times, even admitted snorting heroin, not sure why he wouldn't admit that he purposely hid the letters LSD in the title. He'd probably be proud to admit it if it was true.

 

I believe that the song is unintentionally about LSD.

 

no ! its clearly inspired by lewis carrol as John himself said !with this being about beatles everybody is looking for the something that is not there!

 

Yes, but what fun are those facts for people who want to believe he's pulling a fast one?

 

As of my vote just now:

130 yes votes.
130 no votes.
Interesting.

 

I don't buy the theory that he intentionally was referencing LSD in the title, but it's pretty standard to not include articles or prepositions in acronyms. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is not known as the NAFTAOCP for example. So the "real initials" don't really prove anything one way or the other.

 

Well, the debate isn't about whether the song's imagery was at all inspired by LSD. It's about whether the initials of the song title were an intentional reference to the drug or a coincidence.

 

Who was John trying to kid? It's about an LSD trip.

 

He really only denied the initial thing, I doubt he would deny that LSD had some influence on the song as well as Julian's painting & probably Lewis Carroll. Many of his 1966/67 songs were LSD inspired.

 

I believe the song is trippy but the title was not John trying to work "LSD" in. I believe John's consistent accounts on this song. It is a great song and yes it was almost certainly inspired by John's drug use but it wasn't a homage to LSD.

I actually heard Elton John's cover first or was first aware of it because of my age(I was only 4 when Pepper was released). My older cousins played Pepper a lot when I visited but I was 4 or 5 and couldn't have given a damn in 1967 and thereabouts. I thought Elton's cover was about the greatest song I had ever heard when it was on heavy radio rotation. I was not disappointed by The Beatles' original when I deliberately sought it out!

 

Well I'm not the only one

So John sees Julian's picture, realizes the humor of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and figures, we will make it a reference to LSD because of the funny coincidence. This keeps John's story intact because he chose the title based on this but made it a trippy song.

John wasn't lying. The title never hit LSD in it. The lyrics could very easily have been inspired by Lewis Carroll and John used his experience tripping to inform the song. It wasn't really about LSD nor was the title consciously about LSD. Just a funny coincidence. Happy all the time and, funnily enough, it I spired John to use his experience as well.

 

Anybody who finds any "secret messages" on Sgt. Pepper's is obviously crazy.