Getting High with Lucy in the Sky

            My taste in music tends to vary based on sundry, seemingly unrelated factors, but my love for the Beatles remains constant. Considered one of, if not the, most influential and critically acclaimed bands that has ever existed, they have music for just about every mood, feeling, occasion, etc. This is because they constantly adapted – they never remained stagnant. From mainstream love songs to psychedelic hippie music to ponderous existentialism, the Beatles progressively changed their sound with every release and changed the way the public enjoyed music.

            So what does this have to do with anything? Well, as it turns out, it is quite difficult to produce something like this picture without some sort of hallucinogen!



 

             Shocking, right? According to Jonathan Gould’s book, John Lennon and George Harrison were both exposed to LSD in 1965, which correlates with the initiation of their psychedelic phase. One of the most famous releases from this particular timeframe is “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” from the 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. For years, controversy has raged over whether or not this song is about LSD; given the song’s trippy nature and the fact that the song title seems to be an acronym for LSD, it definitely seems possible (of course Lennon insisted to the contrary, but who are you going to believe, the songwriter or some random guy on the internet?). However, I’m not looking to prove whether or not the song is about LSD; rather, I am looking to explore the effects of LSD and how it would have affected Lennon’s potential state of mind while writing this song. So buckle up and let’s take a ride on a magical mystery tour of LSD!

 

            LSD is properly known as D-lysergic diethylamide; it is semisynthetic, having origins in a type of fungus. While there is still much to learn about the drug, most research focuses on LSD’s effect as an agonist on certain serotonin receptors and its seeming ability to invoke the REM cycle during the waking state, which would both seem to indicate why perceptions and emotions that generally only occur during sleep are able to be experienced while awake. Furthermore, LSD acts on the serotonergic system, which modulates and regulates sensory perception and motor coordination, in addition to the noradrenergic system, which regulates attention as well as blood pressure and arousal. As a result, the effects collectively regarded to as a “trip” include the sensation of not having psychological boundaries, enhanced insight, a heightened awareness of sensory perception, enhanced memory recall, a feeling of contentment, and a sense of being “at one” with the universe; all of these effects could have been potential catalysts for Lennon’s songwriting, even if the original inspiration was a picture his son drew.

            Interestingly enough, author Neil Goodman points out the similarities between religious “experiences” – especially Eastern religions – and some of the effects of LSD; he postulates that the sites of activation of these experiences might be the same as the sites of activation for LSD. This can be seen in the Beatles’ work as well: their transition from trippy music to existential music correlates with Lennon and Harrison’s increasing interest in Eastern religions and transcendental philosophy. Is it possible that the songwriters tolerated to the effects of LSD and sought their “trip” from religious experiences that seem to share certain effects with LSD? The article doesn’t quite answer that question – it only raises it – and Goodman illustrates the need for further research. This is an interesting topic that could explain several questions – why certain fanbases (cough cough, Deadheads) consider concerts by certain bands (cough cough, the Grateful Dead) to be “religious experiences” and whether or not there is a connection between mysticism and hallucinogen use would be a good start.

Goodman, N. (Jul-Sep. 2002). The sertonergic system and mysticism: Could LSD and the nondrug-induced mystical experience share common neural mechanism? Journal of    Psychoactive  Drugs, 34(3), 263-272.
Abstract