Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

Album: Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Year: 1967

Written by: Lennon & McCartney

Picking up his young son Julian from pre-school one afternoon, John was impressed with a picture he had drawn. "Wow, that's really beautiful!" remarked John. "Who is that in the picture?"

"It's Lucy in the sky with diamonds," was the boy's response. Lucy was a friend of his from pre-school, and he had drawn her floating in the sky with diamonds, stars, and musical notes.

John loved the picture and he thought that the title was also beautiful, so he decided to write a song. Inspired by the word play and vivid images in Lewis Carroll's writings, especially Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, John created a very dreamy and imaginative song, with beautiful images of "the girl with kaleidoscope eyes."

John sings a double-tracked vocal, and Paul adds some harmony in the song's chorus. George plays two Indian instruments on this track–the sitar and the tambura. The very colorful video above features scenes from The Beatles' 1968 animated movie Yellow Submarine.