Lucy of 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' fame dies

Yahoo - AP ^ | 09/28/09 | GREGORY KATZ

[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.

[ErnBatavia]

See post 40....nobody, but nobody could do it like Shat.

...snicker

[murron]

Yes, I’ve heard the story. I’m just saying I don’t believe it.

[La Lydia]

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.”

[Sybeck1]

Rocketman.....

[knarf]

Shat?

Past tense of shit?

Yeah ... I guess he is.

[Borges]

Who at the time was better?

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Don’t get me wrong. I have always loved the Beatles. But John Lennon could deny it all he wanted to.

Why would he? Lennon was the sort of man who'd brag about the song being about LSD if that were the truth. He and his son Julian both say the song was inspired by the young Julian's drawing, which can be seen in this article about the real Lucy.

[Gabz]

His b*tch of a stepmother has made sure of that.

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.

[wxgesr]

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.

[jimfree]

Not guilty!

[NRA1995]

I prefer “Judy In Disguise With Glasses” myself.

[Deaf Smith]

“Hey, I’m a believer”

That was the Monkees.

[murron]

He would deny it because they were taking a lot of criticism about their LSD usage, which they admitted at the same time the album Sgt. Pepper came out. In fact, that picture does not look like the drawings of a 5 or 6 year old.

[wordsofearnest]

And she did it in the road.

[chris_bdba]

Oh that is awful. I’m just about the same age as Julian but was lucky that my parents were not divorced like a lot of my friends parents were. It’s sad what happens to the kids. Julian was doing pretty well there for a while and then he just seemed to disappear from the music scene. What happened to him?

[hoe_cake]

LOL.

[Windflier]

Julian was doing pretty well there for a while and then he just seemed to disappear from the music scene. What happened to him?

It seemed to me that his dad just cast too long a shadow for him to grab the light himself. It didn't help that people who were producing him did everything they could to make him into a clone of his dad. Sorta the same thing as what happened with Frank Sinatra Jr.

Plus, you actually have to sell records to survive in that business. I don't know that Julian produced anything that sold, after his initial debut.

[raccoonradio]

Boston novelty band the Swinging Erudites did a Beatles spoof medley that featured “Stupid People Living In The Past” (Sgt Pepper).... also
“Some people wanna rid the world of Paul McCartney/What’s wrong with that, I’d like to know” (Silly Love Songs), and
this tidbit, entitled “Losers in the Studio, and Dying”:

Picture yourself making songs in the studio
Trying to pad this out to LP size
Suddenly someone says you’re out of money
Did I mention (forget name)’s thighs?

etc.

---

Title of old National Lampoon article:

SARGENT SHRIVER’S BLEEDING HEARTS CLUB BAND

[AnotherUnixGeek]

He would deny it because they were taking a lot of criticism about their LSD usage, which they admitted at the same time the album Sgt. Pepper came out.

He was still denying it over 10 years after the album came out, even after he'd received a US green card. And John Lennon admitted to things which drew a lot more criticism than composing a song about acid. I think the simplest explanation is the drawing.

In fact, that picture does not look like the drawings of a 5 or 6 year old.

It looks about like what I used to draw at that age, though my subjects were usually angry, predatory dinosaurs.