The Beatles: Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds - AQAImpact
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is on the album Sgt. Pepper鈥檚 Lonely Hearts Club Band. The song can be classed as psychedelic rock due to its unusual timbres and lyrics.
The Beatles were the first British band to have success in America. In 1964, The Ed Sullivan Show played host to their first American television performance and was watched by approximately 73 million viewers in the USA. The Beatles鈥 rapid success and growing fan base in America saw them hold the top five places in the Billboard Top 100, which is still a record to this day. The success of British bands in America was known as the 鈥楤ritish Invasion'. Other bands followed suit including the Rolling Stones and The Who.
Sgt. Pepper鈥檚 Lonely Hearts Club Band was one of the first ever 鈥榗oncept鈥 albums and led the way to albums having longer songs and thematic links. Technological advances played a vital role as the complexity of their music developed. Producer George Martin and sound engineer Geoff Emerick used signal processing - dynamic range, reverberation, signal limiting - on the recordings as well as running instruments through a Leslie speaker. New production techniques were also used and included pitch control, direct injection (DI). Automatic double tracking (ADT) and ambiophonics.
How the piece is viewed today
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds has been both covered and referenced in songs since its release in 1967. Elton John released a cover version of the song in 1974 and then performed with John Lennon at Madison Square Garden in 1975.