It was announced today that Lucy Vodden died in London last week at the age of 46 after a long battle with lupus. Although she isn't a household name, Vodden was the inspiration for one of the most famous songs of the rock era... The Beatles' psychedelic classic Lucy In the Sky with Diamonds. Vodden's part in the creation of the Sgt. Pepper track began at the age of 4 when she was schoolmates with Julian Lennon. Just like his famous dad, the young Julian had some artistic talent and drew a picture of his classmate. When Julian brought the drawing home and showed it to his dad, he called it "Lucy In the Sky with Diamonds". Dad took it from there and the rest is, well... you know.
Although the classmates lost touch when Julian left the school after his parent's divorce, the two of them reconnected when Julian learned of Lucy's illness. Once he learned of Lucy's passion for gardening, Julian sent her flowers and vouchers to use at a gardening center near her home. In an effort to lift her spirits, he also sent her text messages on a regular basis.
If you'd like more information on lupus, you can visit the Lupus Foundation of America.
Below is a clip of the song from the 1968 animated feature Yellow Submarine:
5 comments:
Bob said: Wow! Something I didn't know. Lupus is a serious illness.
What a wonderful story, with such a sad ending.
so much death as of late..
I wondered if you would mention Vodden's passing. Figures, just as I'm beginning a series on John Lennon. Is it me?
Pjazzy: I used to wonder if John's story about Lucy In the Sky with Diamonds being inspired by a real girl in Julian's class was true. Now we know. It was wonderful like you said.
Penny: You are so right. For awhile during the summer, I would go to Yahoo's home page and expect to read a news story about another famous person who died.
X. Dell: Thanks for stopping by. I've been working on getting back into blogging more on a regular basis. I'm looking forward to your future posts in the John Lennon series.
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