Editing Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (section)

==Background and inspiration==
[[John Lennon]] said that his inspiration for the song came when his three-year-old son [[Julian Lennon|Julian]] showed him a nursery school drawing that he called "Lucy – in the Sky with Diamonds",<ref name="cavett" /> depicting his classmate Lucy O'Donnell.{{sfn|The Guardian|2009}} Julian later recalled: "I don't know why I called it that or why it stood out from all my other drawings, but I obviously had an affection for Lucy at that age. I used to show Dad everything I'd built or painted at school, and this one sparked off the idea."{{sfn|The Guardian|2009}}{{sfn|Kral|2009}}<ref>BBC Radio 2, ''Sounds of the 60s'', 2 February 2008</ref> [[Ringo Starr]] witnessed the moment and said that Julian first spoke the song's title on returning home from nursery school.<ref name="cavett" /><ref name="anthology">{{cite book |last=Beatles |first=The |date=2000 |title=The Beatles Anthology |location=San Francisco |publisher=Chronicle Books |page=[https://archive.org/details/beatlesanthology0000unse/page/242 242] |isbn=0-8118-2684-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/beatlesanthology0000unse/page/242 }}</ref><ref name="yellowsub">{{cite interview |last=Starr |first=Ringo |subject-link=Ringo Starr |interviewer=Jim Ladd |title=''Ringo's Yellow Submarine'' |publisher=ABC Radio Network |location=Los Angeles |date=25 June 1983 }}</ref> Lennon later said, "I thought that's beautiful. I immediately wrote a song about it."<ref name="cavett" />

According to Lennon, the lyrics were largely derived from the literary style of [[Lewis Carroll]]'s novel ''[[Alice in Wonderland]]''.{{sfn|Sheff|2000|p=182}}<ref name="aldridge" /> Lennon had read and admired Carroll's works, and the title of Julian's drawing reminded him of the "Which Dreamed It?" chapter of ''[[Through the Looking Glass]]'', in which Alice floats in a "boat beneath a sunny sky".{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=104}} Lennon recalled in a 1980 interview:

<blockquote>It was Alice in the boat. She is buying an egg and it turns into [[Humpty-Dumpty]]. The woman serving in the shop turns into a sheep and the next minute they are rowing in a rowing boat somewhere and I was visualizing that.{{sfn|Sheff|2000|p=182}}</blockquote>

[[Paul McCartney]] remembered of the song's composition, "We did the whole thing like an ''Alice in Wonderland'' idea, being in a boat on the river&nbsp;... Every so often it broke off and you saw Lucy in the sky with diamonds all over the sky. This Lucy was God, the Big Figure, the White Rabbit."<ref name="aldridge" /> He later recalled helping Lennon finish the song at Lennon's [[Kenwood, St. George's Hill|Kenwood]] home, specifically claiming he contributed the "newspaper taxis" and "cellophane flowers" lyrics.<ref name="anthology" /><ref name="parkinson" /> Lennon's 1968 interview with ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' magazine confirmed McCartney's contribution.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Cott |first=Jonathan |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/john-lennon-the-rolling-stone-interview-19681123?page=2 |title=John Lennon: The Rolling Stone Interview |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=23 November 1968 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120826221859/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/john-lennon-the-rolling-stone-interview-19681123?page=2 |archive-date=26 August 2012}}</ref>

Lucy O'Donnell Vodden, who lived in [[Surbiton, Surrey]], died 28 September 2009 of complications of [[lupus]] at the age of 46.  Julian had been informed of her illness and renewed their friendship before her death.{{sfn|The Guardian|2009}}