John Lennon’s Son Forgets How He Came Up With Drawing That Inspired Beatles’ Hit
John Lennon’s first son, Julian, had more of an impact on The Beatles than many might expect. For instance, Paul McCartney wrote “Hey Jude” to give Julian Lennon words of comfort as his parents went through a divorce. Another famous song by The Beatles was based on a drawing he made. However, Julian doesn’t why or how he came up with the idea behind it.
Julian Lennon doesn’t remember the inspiration for the drawing that John Lennon used for ‘Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds’
Many still believe that “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” references hallucinogenic drugs. The title clearly spells out the acronym for LSD, and the supposed drug connection led to it being banned by the BBC. However, John Lennon claimed the track had no connection to drugs and was based on a drawing created by his son.
“It never was [about LSD] and nobody believes me,” Lennon said in a 1971 interview on The Dick Cavett Show. “This is the truth: My son came home with a drawing and showed me this strange-looking woman flying around. I said, ‘What is it?’ and he said, ‘It’s Lucy in the sky with diamonds,’ and I thought, ‘That’s beautiful.’ I immediately wrote a song about it. The song had gone out, the whole album had been published and somebody noticed that the letters spelled out LSD, and I had no idea about it. … It wasn’t about [LSD] at all.”
Julian had a classmate in nursery school named Lucy O’Donnell. However, according to Express, he later recalled having no memory of why he decided to create a drawing about Lucy.
“I don’t know why I called it that or why it stood out from all my other drawings, but I obviously had an affection for Lucy at that age,” Julian said. “I used to show Dad everything I’d built or painted at school, and this one sparked off the idea.”
John Lennon thought the song was ‘abysmal’
Despite having a strong personal connection to the lyrics, John Lennon wasn’t fond of “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.” The song was released on 1967’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, an album that wasn’t one of Lennon’s favorites. In his 198o interview with Playboy, Lennon reflected on The Beatles’ discography and admitted there was much he wanted to remake. He specifically pointed out “Lucy” and called it “abysmal.”
“So in that respect, I think The Beatles are the best thing that ever happened in pop music, but you play me those tracks and I want to remake every damn one of them,” John added. “I heard ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ last night. It’s abysmal, you know? The track is just terrible. I mean, it is a great track, a great song, but it isn’t a great track because it wasn’t made right. You know what I mean?”
Was ‘Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds’ a hit?
“Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” wasn’t released as a single so it never charted. However, Sgt. Pepper’s was a No. 1 album worldwide and is still the best-selling album of The Beatles, selling over 32 million copies worldwide.
However, “Lucy” is still one of the most remembered songs from the album and has had a cultural impact since its release. Many other artists, including Elton John and Miley Cyrus, have covered it. The jukebox musical Across the Universe featured a unique version of the song, and one of the characters played by Evan Rachel Wood was named after the song.
