Editing Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (section)

==Reception==
Upon the release of the ''Sgt. Pepper'' album, ''[[Disc and Music Echo]]'' magazine wrote that "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" was "easily remembered", that the song spotlighted John Lennon's "peculiarly insinuating" vocals, and that it "jumps along on a crashing clavicord-type sound."<ref name=disc-20may67>{{cite news|title=Disc Exclusive! The first pop paper to give its readers a full, track-by-track preview of the Fantastic Beatles Album!|work=[[Disc and Music Echo]]|page=2|date=20 May 1967}}</ref> Richard Goldstein wrote in a review for ''[[The New York Times]]'' that the song was "an engaging curio, nothing more."<ref name=nytimes-18jun67>{{cite news|last1=Goldstein|first1=Richard|title=We Still Need the Beatles, but ...|work=The New York Times|page=24D|date=18 June 1967}}</ref> Ernie Santosuosso wrote in a review for ''[[The Boston Globe]]'' that the song's imagery was "wild".<ref name=bosglobe-18jun67>{{cite news|last1=Santosuosso|first1=Ernie|title=Sound in the Round: Sgt Pepper's Hot LP|work=The Boston Globe|page=18A|date=18 June 1967}}</ref>

Discussing the impact of the ''Sgt. Pepper'' album, author [[Nicholas Schaffner]] cited the song as an example of how the Beatles successfully captured the way "young people were trying to transcend, transform, or escape from straight society" in 1967. He said that just as Harrison's "[[Within You Without You]]" represented the exoticism of [[Hermann Hesse]]'s ''[[Siddhartha (novel)|Siddartha]]'', "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" was a "miniature [[pop music|pop]] version" of [[J. R. R. Tolkien|Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' in terms of conveying the sense of wonder the book evoked.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|pp=81–82}} According to musicologist [[Walter Everett (musicologist)|Walter Everett]], the song's lyrics inspired "derivative texts" throughout the late 1960s, namely [[John Fred|John Fred & His Playboy Band]]'s "[[Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)]]", [[the Lemon Pipers]]' "[[Jelly Jungle (of Orange Marmalade)]]", [[Pink Floyd]]'s "[[Let There Be More Light]]", and [[the Scaffold]]'s "Jelly Covered Cloud".{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=105}}

''[[Rolling Stone]]'' magazine described "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" as "Lennon's lavish daydream."{{CN|date=November 2023}} In their respective reviews for [[AllMusic]], [[Stephen Thomas Erlewine]] identifies it as "one of the touchstones of British [[Psychedelic music|psychedelia]],"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/mw0000649874|first=Stephen Thomas|last=Erlwine|title=The Beatles ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''|publisher=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=3 December 2018|archive-date=3 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181203202734/https://www.allmusic.com/album/mw0000649874|url-status=live}}</ref> while [[Richie Unterberger]] views it as "one of the best songs on the Beatles' famous ''Sgt. Pepper'' album, and one of the classic songs of psychedelia as a whole." Unterberger adds: "There are few other songs that so successfully evoke a dream world, in both the sonic textures and words."<ref>{{cite web|last= Unterberger |first= Richie|author-link= Richie Unterberger |title= The Beatles 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' |publisher= [[AllMusic]] |url= {{AllMusic|class=song|id=t23440|pure_url=yes}} |access-date=3 December 2018}}</ref> In his book on the history of [[ambient music]], Mark Prendergast highlights the track as one of the album's "three outstanding cuts", along with "[[A Day in the Life]]" and "Within You Without You". He describes it as "incredible" and "a gossamer-like evocation of childlike psychedelia."{{sfn|Prendergast|2003|pp=193–94}} For [[BBC Culture]], [[Greg Kot]] called the song an "[[acid-rock]] fantasia" and a high point of the album.<ref name="bbcculture">{{cite web |last1=Kot |first1=Greg |title=Why Revolver is the greatest Beatles album |url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20160804-what-is-the-greatest-beatles-album |website=BBC Culture |access-date=12 August 2020 |archive-date=16 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200916125623/https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20160804-what-is-the-greatest-beatles-album |url-status=live }}</ref>

In a review for the BBC Music website, Chris Jones described the track as "nursery rhyme surrealism" that contributed to ''Sgt. Pepper''{{'}}s "revolutionary&nbsp;... sonic carpet that enveloped the ears and sent the listener spinning into other realms."<ref>{{cite web |last= Jones |first= Chris |year= 2007 |title= Review of The Beatles ''Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' |work= BBC Music |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/5dcz |access-date= 19 November 2009 |archive-date= 16 September 2009 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090916010257/http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/5dcz |url-status= live }}</ref> Writing for ''[[Paste (magazine)|Paste]]'' in 2015, Hilary Saunders called the song "a perfectly indulgent introduction to [[psychedelic rock|psych-rock]]."<ref>{{cite magazine |first= Hilary |last= Saunders |title= The 50 Best Beatles Songs |date= 28 August 2015 |magazine= [[Paste (magazine)|Paste]] |access-date= 23 July 2016 |url= https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/08/50-best-beatles-songs.html|archive-date= 16 August 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160816153201/https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/08/50-best-beatles-songs.html?a=1 |url-status= live }}</ref> In 2013, [[Dave Swanson]] of ''[[Ultimate Classic Rock]]'' ranked "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" fourth on his list of the "Top 10 Beatles Psychedelic Songs" saying that, despite Lennon's insistence about the inspiration for its title, the track is "Three-and-a-half minutes of pure lysergic bliss, full of picturesque and surreal lyrics set to one of the Beatles' most trippy songs."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ultimateclassicrock.com/beatles-psychedelic-songs/|last=Swanson|first=Dave|title=Top 10 Beatles Psychedelic Songs|date=30 March 2013|website=[[Ultimate Classic Rock]]|access-date=10 February 2016|archive-date=5 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210305112100/https://ultimateclassicrock.com/beatles-psychedelic-songs/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Harrison later identified "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" as one of the few songs he liked from ''Sgt. Pepper''<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Clerk|first=Carol|title=George Harrison 1943–2001|date=February 2002|magazine=[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]|page=46}} Available at [http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/george-harrison-2 Rock's Backpages] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141215032558/http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/george-harrison-2 |date=15 December 2014 }} (subscription required).</ref> and expressed satisfaction with his Indian music-inspired contributions.{{sfn|Lavezzoli|2006|pp=179–80}} For his part, Lennon expressed disappointment with the Beatles' arrangement of the recording, complaining that inadequate time was taken to fully develop his initial idea for the song. He also said he had not sung it very well. "I was so nervous I couldn't sing," he told journalist [[Ray Connolly]], "but I like the lyrics."<ref>{{cite web |title= Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds Songfacts |url= http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=120 |ref= {{SfnRef|songfacts.com}} |access-date= 17 September 2009 |archive-date= 12 September 2009 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090912055226/http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=120 |url-status= live }}</ref> According to author [[Ian MacDonald]], in a scenario similar to Lennon's disappointment with "[[Strawberry Fields Forever]]", Lennon most likely rued the loss of "sentimental gentleness" he had envisaged for the piece, and, overly passive to his songwriting partner's suggestions, allowed the arrangement to become dominated by McCartney's "glittering countermelody".{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=241}} MacDonald views the bridge portions as the "most effective" sections, through their subtle use of harmonised drone and "featherweight bass", and bemoans the reversion to "clodhopping ... three-chord 4/4 rock" over the choruses. He concludes by saying that the track "succeed[s] more as a glamorous production (voice and guitar through the Leslie cabinet; echo and varispeed on everything) than as an integrated song."{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=241}}