5 T H E P RO B L E M also wrote that JuIian painted "endless pictures for Daddy. " As far as we know, none Ofthose Other pictures inspired tO write a song. What was special about this picture of Lucy? And while examination ofJulian's picture confirms that it is Of a girl floating in a sky among shapes thatlook like diamonds, there is little visible in the picture that suggests a direct association [ 0 carroll's writings or tO the plOt line, specific images, and musical themes that eventu- ally constituted the song Lennon 、 vrote. Compared to these rather superficial explanations of the song, Lennons own 1980 explanation is certainly more complex and psychologically deep. However, one must keep ⅲ mind Lennons well-known antagonism toward the clue hunters who searched for meaning ⅲ his lyrics. Consider, for example, his quote that opens this bOOk, as ℃Ⅱ as Lennon's efforts in songs like G / 0 〃ル〃 tO inten- tionally mislead listeners about the meanings of earlier songs (e ・ g ・ , "The WaIrus was PauI"). Had Lennon's attitude changed by 1980 so that he was now willing to reveal himself? so problematic is that Lennon twice claimed ⅲ this same explanation that he had not yet met Yoko Ono before he wroteLucy 切ど Sky の 0 〃ム when, ⅲ fact, Lennon first met 崘 ko at an art gallery about three months before ( ⅲ early November 。日 966 ) , had seen her again at an art open- ing ⅲ la 記 November, received a copy of her book G ア ( ⅲ the closing months of 1966 , and even seems to have invited ) 6k0 to lunch at his Kenwood home ⅲ January of 1967. WhiIe Lennons memory for the chronology ofevents is unreliable for many other aspects ofhis 1 飛 , one still must wonder why he would say that the song was about ko , but deny (twice) that he knew her when he wrote it. And then we have lan MacDonaId's explanation. WhiIe it is an appropriate application of Sigmund Freud's theories about a boy's

THE MAN, HIS RECENT PAST, AND HIS SON'S 円 CTURE Julian any less as a child. He's still my son, whether he came from a bottle ofwhiskey or because they didn't have pills in those days. He's here, he belongs to me, and he always will. Two features of this event stand out, both of which concern childhood. First, childhood nursery rhymes play important roles inJulian's picture, poem, and Lennon S song. picture created while he は S at nursery SChOOl, and the title is essentially a transposition oftheline "Like a diamond ⅲ the sky" 伝 om ル , 切んん 石切んんカ / なん & . Lennon also reported that Julian's picture and title reminded him of a poem by Lewis Carroll, whose writings began engrossing Lennon soon afer he moved in with his Aunt Mimi while a young boy. lhe laststanza of CarrolI's poem refers tO lines 伝 om another well-known nursery rhyme, 0 曜 0 曜 0 ル ) 〃第 044 as the characters driå "do 、 the stream" and the author ends with the question "Life, 、 vhat is it but a dream?" And the tune ofthe nursery rhyme 乃ど召厩イ M / 化 formed the basis ofparts of the melody 。 f カ〃ヮ切ど Sky 坊 D . Second, this picture of a girl in the sky had not been sent to Lennon in the mail by some unknown Beatles fan, nor had Lennon happened to spot the drawing in an art gallery. The picture was created by an almost four-year-old boy named John Charles Julian Lennon. ile it is admittedly speculative to suggest that thoughts and feelings about his own boyhood might have been activated in Lennon S mind during thiS interaction With JuIian, there are numerous pieces of evidence that suggest this may have been the case. First, his son shared both l_,ennon s own name and

THE MAN, HIS RECENT PAST, AND HIS SON'S 円 CTURE Although Lennon was nottaking LSD while under the super- ViSion Of a professional therapist, it seems reasonable tO conclude that his use of LSD may have had parallel effects on him—a gen- eral weakening ofhis established identity and defensive structures, paired with increasing access [ 0 psychological material that he may have pushed outside his awareness. nrlikelihood that such pro- cesses were occurring for Lennon " ould have been enhanced by the recen い tresses ⅲ his 1 飛 (). g. , the death threats) and the major transition brought on by the end of an activity around which he had organized much ofhis time (). e. , touring). The Activating Event actual moment Lennon's li When hiS son Julian handed him a picture of a girl named Lucy who was up in a diamond-filled sky. This picture ofJulian's (which can be seen on the cover of his EP カ〃ヮ ) is rendered primarily in tans, with splashes of crimson and a bit of pale green. Lucy herself appears on theleft third ofthe page beside some crimson zigzags ・ The girl's bOdy is clearly outlined and seems tO float, as no ground is visible. Above Lucy's body is an obscure green spot that may be her face, as slightly above it on either side are two prominent, eye-like objects drawn in red. lmmediately next [ 0 Lucy, ⅲ approximately the middle ofthe page, Julian drew a circle with tipped points coming 。伍 its edge. %is sun-like motif is also repeated at the top right of the page, this time surrounded with diamond-like shapes. WhiIe no obvious boat-like form appears in Julian's picture, something about the picture made Lennon think 0f the Lewis CarroII books he so loved, as he claimed thatthe song s imagery

Lucy in the Mind 0f Lennon Take this man with this personality, let him age some, and then give him dozens upon dozens ofdoses ofa powerful hallucinogenic drug whose documented effects include psychotic-like symptoms, destabilization ofidentity and defense mechanisms, and increased access tO long-standing but Oåen suppressed emotional conflicts. Just tO make sure that the man is suffciently stirred up, at the same time as he is regularly taking this drug, stress him further by sub- Jecting him tO massive public criticism, by threatening his li 応 , and by having him stop one of the primary activities that had for years organized his work 1 飛 . Together, the drugs and stresses will increase the strength and accessibility Of the man's beliefs about relationships and his feelings about his mother's death at the very time that he has ℃ r psychological resources than usual tO cope with these conflicts. ln the midst of this confusing and diffcult time, present the man with a picture drawn by a young boy. Have the young boy be the man s son, and have the boy's name be a melding of the man s own name and that 0f his dead mother's. Have the young boy be of approximately the same age that the man had been when he himself experienced the first prolonged separation om his own mother. Top this 0 伍 by having the picture the boy draws be of a girl in the sky, so as to remind the man ofa powerful female who is "above him," diffcult [ 0 reach, or possibly even in heaven. D0ing so will increase the likelihood that when this boy gives the man this picture, the concerns abOLIt relationships and about hiS death that have become increasingly accessible in the man S mind , i11 become even insistent. Add C010r [ 0 the mans reactions tO this picture by bringing to his mind a poem he had read as a child and that he had been 88

2 Lucy in the Mind of Lennon the BeatIes endorsed thelegalization ofmarijuana by signing their names tO a full-page advertisement in the カ 0 〃イ 0 〃 7 み〃お . Despite these public proclamations about his drug use, John Lennon steadfastly denied that カ〃ワ切坊ど Sky D was about drugs. Even near the end of his li , when he was well protected from any negative consequences that might occur were he tO admit the song S true purpose," Lennon said: lt was purely unconscious that it came out tO be LSD. Until somebody pointed it out, I never even thought Ofit. I mean, WhO would ever bother tO 100k at initials Ofa title ? lt's 〃 0 an acid song (emphasis in original) ・ Lennon lnstead consistently claimed that the song was a response to a picture painted by his almost four-year-old son Julian. oft-repeated story goes that Julian had brought the picture home from school and told his father that it was ofhis friend, Lucy, who was up in the sky With diamonds. Lennon S mind had then wan- dered toward the Lewis CarroIl books ノん化切〃ツ 4 〃イ and 乃んどカ 0 切ぐ G な that he had long admired and recently been re-reading. カ〃ワ切功ど Sky の was born when Lennon tOOk images 丘 01 Ⅱ Julian'S picture and combined them With elements Of Carroll's stories and poer れ S. A third explanation for the song s meaning and origin was pro- vided by Lennon many years after it was written, J11St a few weeks before he was killed. While reflecting on each ofthe songs in his dis- cography, Lennon said this about カ〃切坊ど Sky ル勗の : There was also the image ofthe female who would someday come save me—a girl with kaleidoscope eyes" wh0 would

4 Lucy in the Mind of Lennon Consider the drug-based explanation. On the one hand, Lennon had clearly admitted that earlier songs ofhis were inspired by or referred to drugs. For example, only months after taking LSD for the first time, he recorded の石ア poking fun at would-be hippies. 0 " 0 ル印グん加 followed soon after, representing Lennon S attempts tO aurally re-create the experi- ence oftripping. Psychologically speaking, it is also quite plausible that Lennon's frequent ingestion of LSD could have made him unconsciously attracted tO a picture 、 vhose title shared that acro- nym. Research studies show, for example, that people have strong but largely unconscious preferences for the letters Of their 0 , n name, which can influence where they live (). g. , st. Louis has an over-representation Of people named LouiS) and the occupations they choose (). g. , dentists have an over-representation Of people named Dennis). On the other hand, the initials LSD also stand for many other phrases and terms, including the British slang "Librae i. e. , Pounds, ShiIIings, Pence), the Chicago Solidi Denarii street "Lake Shore Drive," the statistical test "Least Significant Difference," and the African bovine illness "Lumpy Skin Disease. 、 AS such, one might expect these initials tO co-occur every now and again by chance in prolific songwriters. 、 importantly, it is clearly not the case that all people who take LSD experience the particular images and storyline that appear in カ〃ワ切坊ど Sky ノ ) ア〃 0 〃イ . Something 1 れ ore must have been active in Lennon S mind at the time he 、 vas composing the song. Let us turn next tO the explanation that the song は S based on Julian's picture. Many people who knew Lennon have confirmed that such a picture exists and that it was the initial impetus for カ〃 切ど Sky ル″んの 0 〃 . Lennon's first wife Cynthia, however,

C 0 N T E N T S Preface ⅸ 1. 2. 3. 4 , 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. The Problem ー StyIe 9 lhe Story 23 The Words 35 The Music 49 The Man, His Recent Past, and His Son's Picture 引 Recipe for a Song 87 The Next Songs 93 Expression 97 Afterword Ⅱ 3 APPENDICES Ⅱ 7 NOTES ON THE TEXT ロ 9 NOTES ON THE METHODS 図 7 REFERENCES 汚 3 INDEX ー引 V11

89 " and recently re-reading. AIIow the images of "boat," eye," "sky, R E C E F 0 R A S 0 N G tantly though, the man will use language in thesong that avoids he has recently spent in states that distort his senses. More impor- of the experience oftaking hallucinogens, given how much time guage he uses reflect many Of the perceptual characteristics As the man chooses the words [ 0 the lyrics, the style oflan- a boy. by a boy who reminds the man of his mother and of himself as months combined with this picture of a female in the sky drawn once again by thestressful, mind-shaking experiences ofthe prior script appears in this song now because it has been activated early childhood, figuring in the very earlies い ongs that he wrote. fundamental tO the man's understanding Of relationships since attains union with her.This P10 [ is the basic script that has been seeks tO be close tO this 、 V01 れ an in the sky but who never quite song is tO be about, he will create a story depicting a person , hO If these conditions are met, when the man decides what the killed almost nine years earlier. dead mother, but was the month in which his mother had been not only shares a linguistic root with the names ofhis son and his July" and "Autumn frosts have slain July" with the facts that July still, connect some 、 in his mind the lines "ln an evening 0f by waking eyes," and "Dreaming as the summers die. " Even deeper memories die," "Still She haunts me, phantomwise," seen alSO remembers the poem s more mournful lines: "Echoes fade and sciously uses these images 丘 01 れ the れ , in response tO the boy's picture. Ensure that even as the man con- 、 vorthy Of incorporation into the song he has begun to write in 01 蝨 that れ [ 0 percolate C()11SCiOUSneSS

Afterword on the circumstances ofhis 1 飛 (). g. , the drugs he was taking, the deaths he had experienced). If カ〃ヮ切坊ど Sky 肥勗の was indeed the result ofa coalescence ofhis personal history, his expe- riences in the months 0 日 966 and early 1967 , and the specific acti- vating event 0f being handed a particular picture by his son, then it is extremely likely that 〃ツ later songs he wrote or decisions he made would alSO be due [ 0 the jOint interaction Of his personal history, relevant recent developments in his li , and specific cata- lytic events. For all ofthese reasons, while I have found it an interesting and eye-opening challenge [ 0 analyze カ〃切坊ど Sky 4 , 勗の and its place in Lennon's life, it seems tO 1 れ e that attempts tO answer Other questions about Lennon are best reserved for future psychobiographies that can explore these questions with the full attention that they deserve.

THE MAN, HIS RECENT PAST, AND HIS SON'S 円 CTURE 63 Personal History Lennon Activating Event Julian's Picture Composition Of もリり , ⅲビ Sky w ″〃 D 川 0 〃ホ Recent Past Figure 6 」 Types 0f information needed tO understand Lennon's composi- tion 0f Lucy ⅵ the Sky with Diamonds. Lennon S Personal History John Lennon was born in Liverpool [ 0 JuIia (nee StanIey) and Freddie Lennon on October 9 , 1940 , amidst the onset of WorId War Ⅱ . His parents had wed, against the bride's family's wishes, almost t ' 0 years earlier. Lennon was conceived not long before his father ℃ nt tO sea on a series ofmerchant marine voyages dOdg- ing German U-boats to bring supplies into Britain. Although by 1 れ OSt accounts Julia was a warm, vivacious, playful , 01 れ an , hO enjoyed being with her young son, with her husband away she began carousing around the pubs of Liverpool; one biographer claims she sometimes le 丘 the young Lennon alone at night in a dark apartment for hours on end while she は S out flirting and drinking. Eventually Julia struck up a relationship with a British soldier and became pregnant by him in the 日 1 of 1944. When Freddie