My Own Prison

Revealed: The real Lucy in the sky with diamonds

Last updated at 12:20 01 June 2007

Forty years after The Beatles' Sergeant Pepper LP was released, a housewife from Surbiton is claiming she inspired the track Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.

Lucy Vodden, 43, was at nursery school in Weybridge with John Lennon's son Julian, who one day took home a drawing of a girl surrounded by stars.

When John asked him to describe he said, "It's Lucy in the sky with diamonds,".

                   Lucy Vodden, 43, was at nursery school in Weybridge with Julian Lennon

                            The painting that inspired the song

Julian later confirmed this: "I don't know why I called it that or why it stood out from all my other drawings, but I obviously had an affection for Lucy at that age.

"I used to show dad everything I'd built or painted at school, and this one sparked off the idea for a song about Lucy in the sky with diamonds."

Beatles biographers and account by band members confirm that she is the most likely source of the song.

                                   A young Lucy O'Donnell

Mrs Vodden said: "I can imagine him saying, 'That's Lucy at school,' and his father asking questions like "What's that in the sky?'"

There has been much specualtion about the song, many believe that it is an ode to LSD.

"When I told a couple of friends that Lucy in the sky with diamonds was about me, they said, 'No, it can't be, it's to do with LSD.' I was too embarrased to tell them that I didn't know what LSD was."

Julian's mother Cynthia has said that she has kept the picture.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-459145/Revealed-The-real-Lucy-sky-diamonds.html