Lucy in the Sky... with a GCSE: Famous Beatles song said to be based on LSD trip to feature on syllabus

• Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds - was believed to have been based on acid trip
• Song will be examined by pupils to see how it shaped contemporary music
• It's the first time an exam board has introduced study of The Beatles songs

By Eleanor Harding for the Daily Mail

Published: 19:28 EST, 13 May 2015 | Updated: 02:40 EST, 14 May 2015

Teenagers will examine the Beatles song Lucy In The Sky with Diamonds as part of a new ‘spiced up’ syllabus for GCSE music.

The track, which is said to be based on an LSD drug trip, will be examined by 14 to 16-year-olds to see how it helped shape contemporary music.

Exam board AQA said two other Beatles tracks will form part of the syllabus – both from the 1967 album Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Lucy In The Sky with Diamonds, along with two other tracks from the 1967 album Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, will appear on the new GCSE music syllabus 

This is the first time an exam board has introduced study of the Fab Four, and the songs With a Little Help from My Friends and Within You, Without You will also feature.

The board said pupils will be asked to look at ‘various aspects which make up the songs’, including ‘melody, harmony, structure, rhythm and the meaning behind the music and lyrics’.

The new course will also allow pupils to DJ or sing songs by pop singers including Beyoncé as part of the performance section of the qualification.

Seb Ross, who leads AQA’s music department, said: ‘Pop music began in this country with The Beatles in the swinging sixties, so what better band to look to for the study of contemporary music than the Fab Four.

‘We’ve chosen The Beatles because John, Paul, Ringo and George helped to define popular music and the iconic Sergeant Pepper album has taken on a life of its own, so it’s an exciting addition to AQA’s music GCSE.’

This is the first time an exam board has introduced study of the Fab Four, and the songs With a Little Help from My Friends and Within You, Without You will also feature

Pupils will be given more freedom to perform pieces they are most interested in – from modern pop music to Puccini’s Nessun Dorma.

Those performing DJ sets will be asked to demonstrate technical skills including ‘scratching’, which produces different sounds by moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable.

They can use vinyl, CDs or a laptop for their performance.

The GCSE revamp comes after a major overhaul of exams by the previous government which was designed to toughen up qualifications.

AQA’s music GCSE is split into three sections - understanding music, performing and composing.

Guitarist Carlos Santana’s Supernatural is also included in the course as well as works by composers Haydn and Copland.

LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS... AND THE LINK WITH LSD

When the psychedelic song was released on 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, listeners and the media speculated it was a thinly disguised paean to the drug LSD, based on the first letters of Lucy, sky and diamonds.

But Lennon always disputed that notion, even though he was known to experiment with drugs. Lennon said he did not realize until later the title contained those letters in sequence.

A British woman named Lucy Vodden, (pictured) revealed in 2007 that she had been the source of the song

As Lennon and others have explained it, the inspiration came from his son, Julian, who was then a child and drew a picture of his classmate Lucy. Julian Lennon is said to have showed the painting to his father and told him, 'That's Lucy in the sky with diamonds.' 

A British woman named Lucy Vodden, whose maiden name was O'Donnell, revealed in 2007 that she had been the source of the song. She died in 2009.

Despite the explanation of the song's origins, the debate about its ties to LSD has persisted, in part due to the song's swooning melody and strange lyrics. 

AQA said it has submitted the qualification to exams regulator Ofqual for accreditation.

Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band took 129 days to record and was an immediate commercial and critical success.

‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’, which describes a magical land ‘with tangerine trees and marmalade skies’, was written by John Lennon.

Lennon said his son, Julian, inspired the song with a nursery school drawing he called ‘Lucy — in the sky with diamonds’.

However, shortly after the song’s release, speculation arose that the first letter of each of the title’s nouns intentionally spelled LSD.

Lennon denied this, but the BBC banned the song and Paul McCartney later admitted that the song was about the hallucinogenic drug.