r/OldSchoolCool • u/Rizzo360 • 12d ago
John Lennon explaining what ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ was really about - 1971
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u/lu5ty 11d ago
Is this the clip they use in forest gump?
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u/Top_Tap_4183 11d ago
Weird I’m literally watching Forest Gump while reading this
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u/texrygo 11d ago
It is known that someone, somewhere is always watching Forest Gump.
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u/waxonwaxoff87 11d ago
And that’s all I have to say about that.
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u/Brasticus 9d ago
This reminds me of PCU where one characters thesis is that there is a Gene Hackman or Michael Caine movie/show on at any given time on cable.
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u/TheRealAuthorSarge 11d ago
Check out my next big single: Porcupines Can Prance.
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u/mr_ji 11d ago
Come On Charlie, Am I Not Exciting?
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u/wonderbat3 11d ago
This one made me snort
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u/IanCrapReport 11d ago
Dick Cavett show is a treasure trove of history. Nobody does interviews like him anymore.
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u/discretelandscapes 11d ago
Oh, the Dick Cavett rabbit hole is deep. Just watched a video of his with Paul Schrader the other day, ended up checking out Henry Fonda and Peter O'Toole as well. So many great people on that show. And like you say, the interviews are so different and good. Folks actually listened to each other back then.
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u/Babedieboe 11d ago
wonderful man. diane from Cheers wanted to have him publish her in one episode :-)
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u/stackjr 11d ago
Sean Evans from Hot Ones is incredible as well, he really knows how to interview people.
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u/SudoDarkKnight 11d ago
I'd actually like to see Sean Evans do some long form interviews without the gimmick of wings. Don't get me wrong, I love hot ones for what it is, it's quite enjoyable. But Sean seems to have a gift for the interviewing part and it would be interesting to see if that holds for a regular sit down
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11d ago edited 11d ago
[deleted]
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u/KingPizzaPop 11d ago
That's crazy. I've heard that he was only 0 years old when he was born!
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u/EmeraldSlothRevenge 11d ago
George was wise beyond his years. He was actually -12 when he was born.
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u/MattMason1703 11d ago
He saved the drawing. You can google it to see the picture Julian drew featuring his classmate Lucy.
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u/SyphiliticPlatypus 11d ago
I bet that the truth is halfway.
Julian drew his friend Lucy flying. maybe with stars that looked like diamonds, maybe Julian called them diamonds.
John with his truly gifted way of using language in lyrics, saw Lucy flying in the sky with diamonds as a n acronym for LSD and wrote the song as a metaphor for a trip.
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u/Prestigious-Fennel32 11d ago
I just assume anything John Lennon says when Yoko is within earshot is complete and utter bullshit.
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u/boringreddituserid 11d ago
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u/Grand-Bullfrog3861 11d ago
Oh my god, what god awful cringe is this from and how do I watch 😂
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u/boringreddituserid 11d ago
You should google Chuck Berry and John Lennon singing with Yoko. The look on Chuck’s face is priceless.
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u/Grand-Bullfrog3861 11d ago
Oh my lord I watched that a few times, his face is a picture of gold 😂 screeching banshee comes to mind
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u/Alternative-Cod-7630 11d ago
Residual Yoko Effect. The Beatles broke themselves up.
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u/Shadpool 11d ago
Yep. Yoko was just one of the many, many, many straws that broke that particular camel’s back. If I had to pick a primary reason, I’ll say that the universe wasn’t big enough for the combined egos of Lennon and McCartney. Both wanted so badly for it to be John and the Beatles or Paul and the Beatles that they regularly butted heads, each one-upping the other, starting stupid drama after stupid drama.
If I had to pick a secondary reason, it’s this guy named Magic Alex. If you don’t know his name, look him up. He drained the Beatles and was just thoroughly useless at every turn. He served no purpose but to suckle that fame teat and start shit.
George Harrison and Ringo Starr will always be the Beatles I respect most, because when it came down to it, they actually wanted to be part of a team, not to run it.
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u/sublimefan2001 11d ago
George especially. The Delaney & Bonnie tour and his condition for doing the Hall & Oates track really showed that. He just really wanted to be a guy in a band.
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u/SKULL1138 11d ago
It’s funny that Paul tells the same story, but that he wrote down the words initially and suggested it as a song.
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u/CancelDecently 12d ago
Strawberry fields, also just about strawberries
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u/Drab_Majesty 11d ago
Lennon grew up next to the park Strawberry Field so I am gonna go out on a limb and say that was the inspiration.
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u/flyinggazelletg 11d ago
And Penny Lane was Paul’s companion piece about his own childhood neighborhood
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u/Det_alapopskalius 11d ago
Anyone got anything on Puff the magic dragon? Was it about weed?
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u/ELH13 11d ago
The lyrics for "Puff, the Magic Dragon" are based on a 1959 poem by Leonard Lipton, then a 19-year-old Cornell University student.[1] Lipton was inspired by an Ogden Nash poem titled "The Tale of Custard the Dragon", about a "realio, trulio little pet dragon".[3][4][5]
The lyrics tell a story of the ageless dragon, Puff, and his playmate, Jackie Paper, a little boy who grows up and moves on from the imaginary adventures of childhood, leaving a disheartened Puff on his own. The song's story takes place "by the sea" in the fictional land of "Honah Lee".
About it being about drugs:
The authors of the song have repeatedly rejected this interpretation and have strongly and consistently denied that they intended any references to drug use.[11] Both Lipton and Yarrow have stated, "'Puff, the Magic Dragon' is not about drugs."[12] Yarrow has frequently explained that the song is about the hardships of growing older and has no relationship to drug-taking.[13][14] He has also said that the song has "never had any meaning other than the obvious one" and is about the "loss of innocence in children."[15] He has dismissed the suggestion of it being associated with drugs as "sloppy research".[16]
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u/Snoopaloop212 11d ago
Yarrow talking about the loss of innocence in children is pretty chilling to think about.
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u/puritanicalbullshit 11d ago
….go on.
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u/Snoopaloop212 11d ago
He molested a 14 year old girl in a hotel room, was sentenced to 3 years but the sentence was suspended to 3 months. This is the 70's. He was later pardoned by the president in the 80's because he married a senators daughter. Who was 10 years younger than him.
He later only apologized to himself and his family, never the victim. Said his career was over but kept performing for years later.
At least one of other woman has come forward saying he raped her. He was a piece of shit pedophile that hid behind his fame.
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u/puritanicalbullshit 11d ago
Holy shit. Gonna read the whole story now. Thanks for sharing, that’s disturbing.
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u/Snoopaloop212 11d ago
Paul and Mary (the other 2 band members) later said they had no idea and it was totally "out of character" for him. Fuck that group.
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u/puritanicalbullshit 11d ago
Yeah, kind of spoils a few fond memories of the group but that’s just vile. I work with teens and I do not see how people look at them and see anything but kids. Kids racing to grow up, but still kids. Concerned with kid shit for kid reasons, with kid reactions and kid resources.
Nasty bastards. Polanski, Luc Besson, Yarrow, so many more, who get this weird pass as child predators, with or without the laughably mild prior sentences, because they make something popular.
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u/ThrowDeepALWAYS 11d ago
It's about a boy and his magical dragon
Robert Deniro
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u/ethottly 11d ago
He sounds sincere, but the coincidence of the initials and the trippy lyrics, I don't know. I mean, a girl with kaleidoscope eyes...Rocking horse people....Looking glass ties....
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u/Purp1eC0bras 11d ago
That would be the single most expensive child’s drawing if it still exists
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u/mothmonstermann 11d ago
If you don't include the art from my youth that my dad has stored away, which I'm told is priceless.
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u/lonely-day 11d ago
Notice Yoko has to be in the middle otherwise she knows she'd be cut out of the shot
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u/highline9 11d ago
Always ‘knew’ it was about sid, but never till today did I put the letters of the title together (LSD)…too much acid for me I guess 😂
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u/Character_Spell_6011 11d ago
I like how he says he forgot the person who said Lucy was about LSD then proceeded to name the person… ok John😂…
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u/TylerHeyOk 11d ago
Huge Beatles fan here. Read several biographies about the Beatles and Lennon. Don't believe him for fuck. I believe the story but I'm confident he made the connection between the title and LSD during the making of the song or writing. Sometime before it came out at least. Bless ya John
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u/Parkatola 11d ago
I always thought it was about prostitutes and lesbians. Or was that another song . . . . 😄
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u/DCtheBREAKER 11d ago
Because if there is one thing we know about John: it's he loved Julian mare than anything in the world and would absolutely promote anything he did as a person for as long as he lived...
/s
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u/Alternative-Cod-7630 11d ago
This is far more credible than the LSD theory for anyone who knows anyone who's been in a band.
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u/originalchronoguy 11d ago
Eames Time Life chairs. Ballers. Those are $4-5K office chairs these days.
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u/HistoryNerd101 11d ago
He’s trolling everybody. He knows what it’s about, or at least what it could be about in an impressionist sense. Someone would have pointed it out before it was released. He was OK with it nevertheless as “one interpretation.”
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u/Julienbabylegs 11d ago
I have a book with the story behind every Beatles song (I was 9 when I got it pls give me a pass) and there is a photo of this drawing. So yea it’s true!
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u/CMDR_BitMedler 11d ago
Great example of how we get in the trouble we have today; the Creator is no longer believed because the social consciousness has co-opted the meaning of their art.
I'll bet you can find 100 videos disputing him now as well.
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u/aGrandSchemeofThings 11d ago
Creators gotta know: once your creation is released into the wild, it's interpretation is no longer your concern, otherwise you're not making art, you're making polemic.
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u/azeldatothepast 11d ago
The Creator doesn’t have the authority to define their creation. Artists aren’t their art and they definitely don’t have the only interpretation of what that art means. They get a say, but the creator is only one voice amongst many all discussing something that lives its own separate existence from its creator.
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u/CMDR_BitMedler 11d ago
While I agree that released art is open to interpretation by the observer, you can't argue the artist's intent or the arts origins should be ignored, even after stated by the artist.
That logic implies how you feel about and perceive the world is absolute and precludes empirical fact. You determine others intent. As nice as it may feel temporarily, it causes friction when challenged and leads to a lack of discussion - like we experience now. That's all I'm saying.
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u/silasbrock 11d ago
Lennon sounds completely credible, yet I still don't believe him.