A key facet of the Reader Response Critical Theory is the understanding that through the combination of the reader and the text, meaning is created. Lois Tyson explains it as, “a written text is not an object, despite its physical existence, but an event that occurs within the reader, whose response is of primary importance in creating the text” (164).

Julian Lennon arrived home from preschool with a painting he had made of his schoolmate and friend Lucy O’Donnell. When his father John asked him about his work of art, Julian simply said, “it’s Lucy in the sky with diamonds” (Runtaugh, 2018).

John, a fan of Lewis Carroll, connected the abstract nature of his son’s art with the “Which Dreamed It?” chapter of “Through the Looking Glass“. He sat down to write a song about the type of fantastical world that a three-year-old child might imagine, written in the style of Lewis Carroll’s descriptions of imagery.

When the song was released, more observant listeners connected the title “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” with the drug lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), a hallucinogenic drug. John Lennon was known to experiment with the drug, and the surrealist world described in the song seemed to reflect the experience of an LSD trip. The belief was so pervasive that the song was banned from the radio.

John claimed that he was inspired to write the song because of Julian’s painting and his reading of Lewis Carroll.

“This is the truth: My son came home with a drawing and showed me this strange-looking woman flying around,” he explained during an appearance on The Dick Cavett Show in 1971. “I said, ‘What is it?’ and he said, ‘It’s Lucy in the sky with diamonds,’ and I thought, ‘That’s beautiful.’ I immediately wrote a song about it. After the album had come out and the album had been published, someone noticed that the letters spelt out LSD and I had no idea about it. … But nobody believes me” (Runtaugh2018).

His bandmate Ringo Starr, Julian’s mother Cynthia Lennon, and friend Pete Shotton confirmed John’s story (Runtaugh, 2018).

Readers believed he was making a thinly veiled reference to drug use. They combined the letters in the title of the song with the surreal imagery and applied what they knew of John’s use of hallucinogens and came up with their own meaning. Reader Response Critical Theory teaches us that the meaning created by the reader’s experiences and beliefs while digesting the text is valid.  

Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter what John Lennon intended, consciously or subconsciously. When the consumer of his art can make a sound argument for their perception, and back it with evidence, their argument becomes a valid critical response. When a large group of consumers, or an “interpretive community” (Tyson, 176), agree upon that meaning through the Social Reader Response Theory, that agreement demonstrates that societal influences inform the constructs readers apply to texts. “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” may always be associated with hallucinogens, and no protestations will convince many readers of the lyrics otherwise.

Julian Lennon’s painting currently hangs in the home of musician David Gilmour (Raul, 2016). The song is played regularly on the radio and there are dozens of videos to accompany the song on the internet. Future listeners who don’t necessarily understand the drug culture of 1967 may indeed believe that the song is about the lovely painting by a three-year-old boy as the experiences of the interpretive community change. John Lennon’s author intent may someday align with the reader’s response, after all.

Works Cited

Raul. “Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour Owns Julian Lennon’s ‘Lucy in The Sky With Diamonds’ Painting.” FeelNumb.com, FeelNumb.com, 5 May 2016, http://www.feelnumb.com/2011/05/17/pink-floyds-david-gilmour-bought-julian-lennons-lucy-in-the-sky-with-diamonds-painting/.

Runtagh, Jordan. “Remembering the Real ‘Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds’.” Rolling Stone, Penske Business Media, 25 June 2018, https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/beatles-sgt-pepper-at-50-remembering-the-real-lucy-in-the-sky-with-diamonds-121628/.

Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today: a User-Friendly Guide. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2015.