Queen’s Brian May is a huge fan of The Beatles‘ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” On the other hand, John Lennon wished he could have rerecorded the track. Both of them had an unbalanced view of the tune.
Queen’s Brian May cited The Beatles’ ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ as a masterpiece
During a 2020 interview with Loudersound, May said John was the most talented member of The Beatles. He named some of his favorite songs that John wrote.
“There is not enough space here to come closes to chronicling all Lennon’s masterpieces, but check out ‘Tomorrow Never Knows,’ ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,’ and then ‘I Am the Walrus’ and ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ and tell me you do not gasp,” he said. “Never has anything been created like these works in the whole of history.”
John Lennon felt The Beatles did not execute the song right and called it ‘abysmal’
In the 1980 interview from the book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, John discussed “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” at length. Though he praised many Fab Four songs during the interview, he also said he was never satisfied with the band’s work. “I think The Beatles are the best thing that ever happened in pop music, but you play me those tracks and I want to remake every damn one of them,” he said. “I heard ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ last night. It’s abysmal, you know?
“The track is just terrible,” he added. “I mean, it is a great track, a great song, but it isn’t a great track because it wasn’t made right. You know what I mean? I feel I could remake every f****** one of them better. But that’s the artistic trip, isn’t it? That is why you keep going, always trying to make that next one the best.”
Why both rockers were wrong about ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’
John was far too hard on “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” It’s a standout track on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which is one of the band’s standout albums. It manages to sound cosmic, strange, eerie, and beautiful all at the same time. It’s also, arguably, the most psychedelic song from the record. The music and the lyrics are otherworldly. On the other hand, other Sgt. Pepper tunes such as “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!” and “A Day in the Life” had psychedelic soundscapes but lyrics that were more straightforward.
Meanwhile, May might’ve praised “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” too much. It’s great, but it might not be one of the greatest works of art in history. It’s not even John’s best psychedelic song, as tracks like “Tomorrow Never Knows” and “#9 Dream” are superior. What makes it different from some other psychedelic songs is its accessible whimsy.
John’s and May’s views of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” both feel wrong — but the track still holds up.