Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds — Notes on … the Beatles

General Points of Interest

Style and Form

“Lucy ...” is comparable in many respects to “Tomorrow Never Knows” and “Strawberry Fields Forever”. It is less subtle than either of those two songs, but it also all the more outrageous and not the least bit less ingenious.

It’s also the most explicitly drugs-oriented of the three; even the earlier precedents such as “I’m Only Sleeping” and “Dr. Robert” sound tame in comparison. Don’t ever forget that just because the title of the song matches the name of picture painted by toddler Julian doesn’t mean that the song isn’t’s about the so-called “dreaded” Lysergic Acid :-) Plasticene porters with looking glass ties, indeed.

The music is certainly as mercurial and elusive as the imagery of the words, especially in terms of the constantly shifting key structure and the rhythmic alternation of 3/4 and 4/4 meters. There’s also that typically Beatlesque manipulation of form in the way the bridge section is dropped for the final Verse sequence.

The use of drone-like harmony in the verse and rote repetition of a single phrase in the refrain lends an appropriate eyes-pinned hypnotic feeling to the piece.

Melody and Harmony

The melodic material is kept exceedingly simple in consideration of the combined metrical and harmonic challenges which underlie it. Hum it to yourself and listen to what it sounds like independently of the accompaniment. I mean, there’s not much there if you take it out of context.

The song’s three sections each have a distinct harmonic and melodic profile:

The verse is in the key of A and consists of a repeated chromatic filling out of the I chord. The tune just noodles around the five notes that outline the A-Major triad.

The bridge starts off in the key of B-flat but finishes up in the key of G. This seemingly remote modulation belies a loose relation between the two keys: G is the parallel Major of g minor, and the latter is the relative minor of B-flat. The tune here is almost monotonously stuck on the note D.

In order to provide some well-needed ballast-like oases of predictability, the Refrain is in G and stays close to home with the old I → IV → V progression. However, it also pivots on the D chord to get back to the key of A for the verses which follow it. The melody this time consists of a plain downward scale.

Arrangement

Lewisohn says the opening ostinato lick is played on a special Hammond organ stop that sounds like a celeste. Fine; the end result still sounds to my ears sounds like a harpsichord played back with as much seasick flutter as you’d get from my 35 year-old (and counting) Wollensak reel-to-reel tape deck.

Paul’s standout performance on bass is ample proof of how the magical collaborative abilities of Messrs. Lennon and McCartney was extended well beyond the arbitrary task divisions of words-versus-music, or verses-versus- middle eights. I am especially impressed by the amount of variation provided by the bass part:

First verse: downbeats only ;
First bridge: every beat, largely with repeated notes;
First refrain: running eighth notes in Baroque fashion;
Second verse: downbeats only, again;
Second bridge: every beat, with more in the way of arpeggio outlines;
Second refrain: running eighth notes, again;
Third verse: more active and in a less regimented manner than previously;
Outro: more running eighth notes, this time with arpeggios as well as melodic runs.

The vocal parts show similar attention to structured variation:

Verses: John solo; at first with so little ADT that you can isolate a pristine single-track vocal by blocking out either of the stereo channels. Final phrase is more truly double-tracked.
Bridges: John solo; heavily echoed with mild ADT, and sounding like he’s exhaling helium :-)
First refrain: First phrase sounds like Paul solo but with ADT. Second phrase has John and Paul singing in unison. Third phrase has them singing in parallel thirds; with Paul as usual “on top”, so to speak.
Second refrain: The parallel thirds start right in the first phrase.
Outro: First phrase has John and Paul in unison, but the rest of the entire outro is in parallel thirds.

Other instrumental details of note include the way the lead guitar always doubles the lead vocal in the bridges, the prominence of the organ during the outro, and the repeated, ultra close-up, yet sparing use of the tamboura drone; “is that you buzzin?”

Section-by-Section Walkthrough

Intro

The intro is a four measure presentation of the harpsichord ostinato which happens to contain within it the complete design of the verse sections:

|         E   |      E      |           E |     DC#      |
|     A       |          A  |      A      |           A  |
|     A       |G            |F#           |F-nat         |
|E            |             |             |              |

# Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, intro ostinato (figure 108.1)
# One keyboard line drawn as a pitch graph on four rows, suggesting four parts ("a single melodic
# line to suggest a complete four-part linear texture"): a low E; the descending A G F# F that
# becomes the verse bassline (fig. 108.2); a repeated upper A; and a top E (D C# in bar 4).
# Each bar's three beats come from the column positions. In bar 1 the A appears on two rows at the
# same moment, so it is doubled at the octave; the second row's A lies above the descending line,
# which puts that line (A G F# F) an octave below the repeated A, with the low E beneath it.
# D and C# share the middle beat of bar 4 (typed together as "DC#").
#? Octaves: the relative heights follow the graph; the absolute register (E3 up to E5) is my guess
#? from the record and may sit an octave off. Also check whether the record really doubles bar 1's A.
meter 3/4
key A

system
voice contour  | E3 A3+A4 E5 | G3 E5 A4 | F#3 A4 E5 | F3 D5*0.5 C#5*0.5 A4 |

Figure 108.1

It’s very Baroque-like in the way it uses a single melodic line to suggest a complete four-part linear texture. Play it at parties and amaze your friends :-) And let me encourage all of you to sharpen your listening skills by forcing yourself to transcribe such things by dictation, rather than turning immediately to the sheet music!

Verse

The verse contains two long and roughly parallel vocal phrases that sit on top of a limping uneven quatrain of phrases in the accompaniment; note the 4/5/4/6 phrasing of the backing track:

  Melody: |C#  C#  C#  |C#  B   A   |C#  B   A   |C#   B   A  |
Bassline: |A           |G           |F#          |F-nat       |

  Melody: |C#  B   A   |C#  -   C#  |E   D   C#  |A           |
Bassline: |E           |G           |F#          |F-nat C  F  |

  Melody: |            |
Bassline: |C       D   |

  Melody: |C#  D   E   |C#  B   A   |C#  B   A   |C#   B   A  |
Bassline: |E           |G           |F#          |F-nat       |

  Melody: |C#  B   A   |E   D   C#  |A           |            |
Bassline: |E           |G           |F#  A   F   |A    F#  A  |

  Melody: |            |            |
Bassline: |D   D   D   |C   C   C   |

# Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, verse (figure 108.2)
# Two long vocal phrases over four backing phrases of 4, 5, 4 and 6 bars (Pollack's "4/5/4/6"
# phrasing); the typed systems are kept: 4 | 4+1 | 4 | 4+2. The bassline is the descending A G F# F
# of the intro ostinato (fig. 108.1); the second phrase ends with a move to F ("F-nat C F"), the
# fourth spells out D Major (F# A F# | A F# A | D) and descends through D to C, the V of the bridge's
# B-flat. Melody notes are one to a beat (3/4).
# Added: the melody's blank bars are shown as the last note held ("-"); Pollack leaves them empty.
# Changed: the third bass note of the fourth phrase's third bar is typed "F" but the essay's last
# section spells this lick "| F# - A - F# | A - F# - A | D", so it is written F#.
#? Bar 3 of the fifth system: typed "F# A F", read as F# A F# per the essay; check the record.
#? Phrases 2 and 3 start the bass on E (typed), not A as phrase 1 does; check it isn't a typo.
#? Octaves (melody C#5, bass A2 and below) are a guess for register.
meter 3/4
key A

system
voice "Melody"     | C#5 C#5 C#5 | C#5 B4 A4 | C#5 B4 A4 | C#5 B4 A4 |
bass "Bassline"    | A2 | G2 | F#2 | Fn2 |

system
voice "Melody"     | C#5 B4 A4 | C#5 - C#5 | E5 D5 C#5 | A4 |
bass "Bassline"    | E2 | G2 | F#2 | Fn2 C3 F2 |

system
voice "Melody"     | - |
bass "Bassline"    | C3 D3 |

system
voice "Melody"     | C#5 D5 E5 | C#5 B4 A4 | C#5 B4 A4 | C#5 B4 A4 |
bass "Bassline"    | E2 | G2 | F#2 | Fn2 |

system
voice "Melody"     | C#5 B4 A4 | E5 D5 C#5 | A4 | - |
bass "Bassline"    | E2 | G2 | F#2 A2 F#2 | A2 F#2 A2 |

system
voice "Melody"     | - | - |
bass "Bassline"    | D3 D3 D3 | C3 C3 C3 |

Figure 108.2

The ostinato is allowed in to fill out the A-Major chord in the first and third phrases. In the second phrase, it ends with an implied move to the flat-VI (“Peggy Sue”) chord of F-Major. This gesture is stretched out in the fourth phrase where the bassline first lingeringly spells out the D-Major chord (the V of G-Major — intimations of the Refrain yet to come!), before it chromatically descends through d-minor to F-Major. This time, the F-Major chord is “given its head” to serve as a V chord to the B-flat key of the Bridge which follows.

Bridge

The bridge “should be” sixteen measures long with four phrases. At least it starts off that way, but it is foreshortened at the beginning of where the fourth phrase would be by a switch to 4/4, with the quarter note of the 3/4 measures being equal to an eighth note of the new meter.

       |D      |-      |-      |-      |-       |-     |-  B-f |lat   |
       |B-flat |-      |C      |-      |F       |-     |B-flat |-     |
B-flat: I               V-of-V          V               I

       |D      |-      |-      |- C B  |A - - - |
       |C      |-      |G      |-      |D 2 3 4 |
        V-of-V
     G: IV              I               V

# Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, bridge (figure 108.3)
# The top row is the tune: a repeated D over the chords (a ninth chord on C, a thirteenth on F),
# sliding down to B-flat ("B-f|lat" typed across the bar line, so held into bar 8). The bridge
# pivots from B-flat to G (C is V-of-V in B-flat and IV in G).
# The last bar is the switch to 4/4, counted "D 2 3 4" in the typed chart. Pollack says the 3/4
# quarter equals the new eighth, so that bar is written 8 of the old beats long, each count 2 beats.
#? Check that the 4/4 bar really lasts 8 of the bridge's 3/4 beats when played (tempo change).
meter 3/4
key Bb

system
voice "Melody"   | D5 | - | - | - | - | - | - Bb4 | - |
chords           | B-flat{I} | - | C{V-of-V} | - | F{V} | - | B-flat{I} | - |

system
voice "Melody"   | D5 | - | - | - C5 B4 | <8> A4*2 -*2 -*2 -*2 |
chords           | C{V-of-V = G: IV} | - | G{G: I} | - | <8> D{G: V}*8 |
words            | r | r | r | r | <8> 1*2 2*2 3*2 4*2 |

Figure 108.3

The tune of this section rides roughshod over the chords with the repeated note, D, creating a freely (i.e. “gratuitous”) dissonant ninth chord on C and a thirteenth chord on F. The effect is one of I’m-So-Tired (and can’t be bothered) enervation; as if the singer didn’t have the energy or motivation to nudge the tune to move along more in lock step with the chords.

Refrain

The refrain is a spirited albeit deliberately paced rock march whose energy level contrasts nicely with the other sections. The section is an unusual seven measures long with the opening phrase repeated three times, followed by a one-measure transition back to the next verse:

    ------------- 3X --------------
   |G      C       |D              |
G:  I      IV       V

                   ||Verse
   |D              ||A    2   3|
G:  V
A:  IV               I

# Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, refrain (figure 108.4)
# Seven bars: the two-bar phrase three times, then a bar of D (V in G, IV in A) leading to the
# verse's A. The "A 2 3" typed for the verse's first bar is its 3/4 count.
#? The verse's 3/4 bar is drawn 3 beats long; if the refrain's quarter is two verse beats (as in
#? the bridge, fig. 108.3), it should sound as 1.5 refrain beats. Check against the record.
meter 4/4
key G

system
chords   | [3X] G{I} C{IV} | D{V} |

system
chords   | D{V = A: IV} | [Verse] <3> A{A: I} |
words    | r | <3> 1 2 3 |

Figure 108.4

Outro

The outro grows directly out of the final refrain, turning it into an eight measure section in which the meter is kept constant and the A-Major chord, which earlier had signaled a return to the key of A, now is left hanging an unresolved V-of-V; certainly not the first or last example of this particular chord left hanging.

    ------------ 3X ---------------
   |G      C       |D              |-              |A              |
G:  I      IV       V                               V-of-V

# Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, outro (figure 108.5)
meter 4/4
key G

system
chords   | [3X] G{I} C{IV} | D{V} | - | A{V-of-V} |

Figure 108.5

The fade-out starts relatively early and is done gradually, becoming complete about half way through the third iteration.

Some Final Thoughts

This song maintains a subtle and paradoxical hold on the forces of foundation-level deep (throated) structure in spite of the way it appears on the surface to be caught up entirely in those equally opposing forces of free-wheeling and unbound consciousness. In my analyses I don’t usually indulge in the music theory equivalent of Chomskian linguistics, but in this case the evidence seems just too compelling.

Cutting right to the chase ..., I think the harmonic structure of the overall song is characterized by the following Moebius Strip of a chord progression:

   |A      |F      |B-flat  |(C)    |G      |D      |A      |
A:  I       flat-VI                          IV      I
       Bb:  V       I
                G:  flat-III (IV)    I       V

# Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, the song's overall progression (figure 108.6)
# A schematic, one chord per bar, read through three keys: A, B-flat and G. Pollack puts the C in
# parentheses (a chord the scheme implies), kept as "(C)" with its "(IV)".
key A

system
chords   | A{A: I} | F{A: flat-VI = Bb: V} | B-flat{Bb: I = G: flat-III} | (C){G: (IV)} | G{G: I} | D{G: V = A: IV} | A{A: I} |

Figure 108.6

Most salient in this scheme is the repeated motif of root harmonic motion by a third (rather than along the cycle of fifths), creating in each case a tangy cross relation; i.e. the move from A to F pits F# with F-natural, and the move from B-flat to G pits B-flat with B-natural.

What really sparks my imagination here is the way in which this same motif of motion in thirds is carried through in the melodic material. For example, in the verse you have triadic outlining (C# → A, C# → E), and in the bridge you have that slide from D → B-flat (on the two syllables of “away”). For that matter, you can also point to those parallel thirds harmonizing the refrain!

And yes, I’ll grant you that John was an essentially intuitive composer working entirely without awareness aforehand of such precious internal details. But that doesn’t mean the effect is not implanted in the music. Attribute it to, or blame it on, George Martin, if you will.

I leave you with one final detail in the song that, intuition aside, convinces me that what I’m describing is no random accident:

Did you ever notice how, in the transition from verse to bridge, the bassline outlines a D-Major triad (| F# - A - F# | A - F# - A | D ... |) and immediately following, the so-called harpsichord part mimics the bass’s melodic oscillation over a minor third using notes chosen for the extent to which they emphasize the cross relation between F# and F-natural; | E - C# - E | F-natural - D - F |.

Go check it out — in the second verse/bridge combination they execute it more sloppily than the first time around, but it’s there both times, no question. No coincidence.

Regards,
Alan (122495#108)