Lennon’s Handwritten Lyrics ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds’
Beatles’ Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds about that at one time been much speculation, can now be sold for more than $200,000. The original handwritten manuscript by John Lennon of the lyrics for this psychedelic song will be sold at an auction scheduled for May 14 and 15 at the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills. The draft contains the opening lyrics for the song and a rough sketch of four people in a room with windows draped in curtains.
Beatles hit song which featured on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, has been for years regarded by many as being in praise of the hallucinogenic drug LSD, based on the offbeat lyrics and the fact that the opening phrase, Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, spells out the initials of the drug. But Lennon always disputed that notion, even though he was known to experiment with drugs. Lennon said he did not realize until later the title contained those letters in sequence.
Lennon claimed the inspiration came from his son Julian, who drew a picture of one of his classmates, Lucy, when he was a child. Julian Lennon is said to have showed the painting to his father and told him, That’s Lucy in the sky with diamonds. A British woman Lucy Vodden, who died in 2009, revealed that she had been the source of the song in 2007.
Auction house Profiles in History said on Wednesday that it expects the draft lyric sheet to sell for more than $200,000 at a sale next month in Beverly Hills. Whether that the inspiration came from LSD or Lucy, its value not diminished, but can only increase.
Other items going under the hammer will include Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the hero filming Chitty car estimated at $1,000,000 to $2,000,000 and a historic handwritten letter from Walt Disney written in 1924 to Mickey Mouse creator Ub Iwerks.
The earnings of the auctions will be donated to the Red Cross for Japanese earthquake and tsunami victims.[Profiles in History]
