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Lucy Vodden, the real 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' gravely ill
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by Amy Judd | June 12, 2009 at 01:14 pm
3980 views | 2 Recommendations | 1 comment
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Lucy Vodden, the inspiration behind the Beatles classic 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' is gravely ill in her London home, but is finding comfort in Julian Lennon, an old childhood friend and son of the famous John Lennon.
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds Lyrics
It was over 40 years ago that Julian came home from school with a drawing and said to his father John 'that's Lucy in the sky with diamonds', which then became the title of one of the most famous and most played songs from 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'. Lucy Vodden was of course, the one in the picture that Julian knew from school, but after years apart they lost touch, and Lucy's illness has brought them together again.
"Julian got in touch with me out of the blue, when he heard how ill I was, and he said he wanted to do something for me," said the 46-year-old Vodden, who has lupus, a chronic disease where the immune system attacks the body's own tissue.
Julian sent Lucy flowers from France and gift vouchers to buy herself plants as she loves to garden still, and now they text back and forth all the time.
"I wasn't sure at first how to approach her. I wanted at least to get a note to her," Julian Lennon told The Associated Press. "Then I heard she had a great love of gardening, and I thought I'd help with something she's passionate about, and I love gardening too. I wanted to do something to put a smile on her face."
Lucy Vodden likes the song named after her, but doesn't have any real affection for it as it is thought both then and now that the song was really about LSD. She was also only four years old in 1967 when the song was released.
"I don't relate to the song, to that type of song," said Vodden, described as "the girl with kaleidoscope eyes" in the lyrics. "As a teenager, I made the mistake of telling a couple of friends at school that I was the Lucy in the song and they said, 'No, it's not you, my parents said it's about drugs.' And I didn't know what LSD was at the time, so I just kept it quiet, to myself."
Many say the song is not about LSD, but is about John's love of Alice in Wonderland and also the drug culture at the time. It has been proved though that Lucy Vodden is the Lucy from the song.
However, Lucy is now suffering with lupus, extreme fatigue, joint pain and other ailments.
"She's not given up, she's a fighter, and she has her family backing her, that's a good thing," said Angie Davidson, campaign director for St. Thomas' Lupus Trust, which funds research. "We need more people like her, more Lucys."
Lucy now finds it difficult to go out, but recently she said she was out and her the song playing in a shop.
"That made me giggle," she said.
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Amy Judd
Vancouver, Canada
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (1)
at 18:03 on June 21st, 2009
Of course I am curious to learn whether Lucy and I are in the same family tree. Our Vodden line is traced back to Lawrence Vodden, born in 1665 in Devonshire. Shear curisoity, but we encounter many wild coincidences. A friend here in Canada found a funeral card for Ann Vodden among her family's pictures. This Ann died in Devonshire in 1874 and she is also a descendant of our Lawrence. We have no idea how this card reached Canada and ended up in our home town.
HB Vodden