Lucy Richardson, 47
theresa
By Beth Hale
June 15, 2005
Inspiration ... how the British tabloids saw the story.
WHEN the Beatles released Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, it was
popularly
assumed to be a barely concealed reference to LSD.
John Lennon denied a drugs link, claiming the true inspiration
was a young
girl called Lucy who appeared in a painting by his then
four-year-old son,
Julian.
Her identity was not revealed at the time but the story can now
be told of
the little girl who may have been the real Lucy in the Sky.
Lucy Richardson grew up to be a successful movie art director.
But this month she died at the age of 47 after a two-year battle
with breast
cancer.
Last night her sister Mary Foster paid tribute to the popular
and talented
film lover, and told of the family's connection to the Beatles.
Lucy was a few years older than Julian Lennon when he enrolled
at the
private Heath House School, in Weybridge, Surrey.
However, because John Lennon and the other Beatles used to visit
the
Richardson family's antique and jewellery shop, she knew the
little boy.
So when he became homesick and unsettled she would be called out
of class to
sit with him while he drew pictures. One of those pictures was
of Lucy.
Mrs Foster said: "One day John Lennon came into the shop and
said, 'Hello,
Lucy in the sky with diamonds'. We thought it was just John
being John."
When a song with that same name appeared on 1967's Sgt Pepper's
Lonely
Hearts Club Band album, the Richardson family began to wonder.
And when Lennon announced he had been inspired by his son's
picture of a
girl called Lucy, the pieces of the emotional jigsaw puzzle came
together.
It was in a 1975 interview that Lennon said: "Julian came in one
day with a
picture he painted about a school friend of his named Lucy. He
had sketched
in some stars in the sky and called it Lucy in the Sky with
Diamonds."
Mrs Foster, who still runs the antiques shop, said: "It was then
we realised
why he had been calling our Lucy, Lucy in the sky.
"Lucy remembered the times when she would sit with Julian as he
drew
pictures.
"She was rather chuffed to realise she had inspired the song
title, but was
very modest about it.
"There was another girl called Lucy who thought the song was
about her, but
we always knew the song was about our Lucy."
Julian Lennon, now 42, has recollected his drawing in
interviews.
"I obviously had an affection for Lucy at that age," he said.
As Lucy grew up, contact with the Beatles was lost.
She went on to work her way up in the film industry, becoming an
art
director on films such as Elizabeth with Cate Blanchett and
Geoffrey Rush,
Chocolat and last year's The Life and Death of Peter Sellers.
Lucy, who never married, was diagnosed with breast cancer in
2003 and
endured a lumpectomy and gruelling chemotherapy and
radiotherapy.
Last December she was told the cancer was back, and had spread
to her bones.
She died on June 1 and was buried in Weybridg.
Her family sprinkled crystals on her grave to symbolise the
diamonds of the
song she inspired.
James Neibaur
was about. Changing the header for others.
Very interesting obit
JN
deb...@comcast.net
(John Lennon, Paul McCartney)
Lead Vocal: John Lennon
Picture yourself in a boat on a river
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes
Cellophane flowers of yellow and green
Towering over your head
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes
And she's gone
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Aaaaahhhhh...
Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain
Where rocking horse people eat marshmellow pies
Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers
That grow so incredibly high
Newpaper taxis appear on the shore
Waiting to take you away
Climb in the back with your head in the clouds
And you're gone
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Aaaaahhhhh...
Picture yourself on a train in a station
With plasticine porters with looking glass ties
Suddenly someone is there at the turnstyle
The girl with the kaleidoscope eyes
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Aaaaahhhhh...
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Aaaaahhhhh...
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds (fade out)
Horson Buggy
"James Neibaur" <jnei...@wi.rr.com> wrote in message
news:BED5B295.58897%jnei...@wi.rr.com...
theresa
>
> Link please.
>
http://www.entertainment.news.com.au/story/0,10221,15627577-7484,00.html
http://www.entertainment.news.com.au/story/0,10221,15627577-7484,00.html
King Daevid MacKenzie
wondering how closely (or not) she resembled the Lucy character that was
drawn into the song's sequence in YELLOW SUBMARINE...
--
King Daevid MacKenzie, WLSU-FM 88.9 La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA
heard weekdays at http://whiterosesociety.org
"Why do people take drugs anymore, when reality has become a hallucination?"
LEWIS BLACK
King Daevid MacKenzie
Richardson died on the 38th anniversary of the release of SGT. PEPPER'S
LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND, the album on which "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
was first heard...
--
James Neibaur
> ...Brian Peroff of CHWO Radio in Toronto just reminded me that Lucy
> Richardson died on the 38th anniversary of the release of SGT. PEPPER'S
> LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND, the album on which "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
> was first heard...
Wow, good trivia. Thanks
JN
R H Draney
Too bad "it was thirty-eight years ago today that Sergeant Pepper taught the
band to play" doesn't scan very well....
(Looking forward to *next* June, when Paul is sixty-four)....r
Bill Schenley
> Richardson; I'm wondering how closely (or not) she
> resembled the Lucy character that was drawn into
> the song's sequence in YELLOW SUBMARINE...
There ya' go ...
http://www.entertainment.news.com.au/story/0,10221,15627577-7484,00.html