Song 564: This week the playlist recognizes Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds by The Beatles, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. I didn't get that excited when the Sgt. Pepper 33 arrived, and I didn't know how to assess the new direction the Fab Four had chosen. When I began my LP collection a couple of years later, I started it with Revolver, but being a major fan of the quartet, I did eventually add the Lonely Hearts Club disk to the pile, and having it in hand, it would get plenty of spins on the turntable. This particular opus had gotten a lot of attention during the release era, in part due to the debate over whether or not the psychedelic inspiration behind the lyrics might lead a portion of the band's followers to engage in destructive pleasure with drugs. The letters of the title gave a clue as to the type of ingestion that had triggered the images John outlines with his words, but as a listener, I never cared how a songwriter came up with the lines I liked. Interestingly enough, recent research indicates that psychedelics may actually provide relief for some who struggle with certain mental disorders, and if that’s the kind of medication that makes them feel better, then I see no adverse consequences for legalization of the pills. Personally, I could picture myself in a boat on a river with tangerine trees and marmalade skies, and if a girl with kaleidoscope eyes happened to call me, I also might answer quite slowly, but afterwards, I would definitely feel like finding a musical way to share the experience.
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