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Lucy in the sky with £500: how much the girl behind Beatles classic made
Aline Nassif8 Jun 2009
The woman who inspired The Beatles' Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds more than 40 years ago told today how she made just £500 for her contribution to the classic song.
Lucy Vodden was best friends with John Lennon's son Julian when he drew a picture of the long-haired four-year-old with star-like shapes around her head that captured the imagination of his father John.
But today Mrs Vodden, who suffers from an incurable illness, says she never benefited from the track from the Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album - and admitted she doesn't even like the song.
Mrs Vodden, now 46, was Lucy O'Donnell when she was a classmate of Julian's at Heath House nursery school in Weybridge, Surrey, when she became the unknowing muse for the psychedelic classic.
She said: "It was a long time ago and I don't remember that particular drawing, but I'm told Julian went back and told his dad 'it's Lucy my friend in the sky with diamonds', and it stuck."
Many fans believe the song was the result of the band's experiments with LSD and acid with its surreal imagery but Mrs Vodden believes she was the inspiration.
But she said: "I can't stand the song. I don't feel I can relate to it. I just don't like it. I don't see a four-year-old kid running around with kaleidoscopic eyes, it doesn't make sense."
She said she has never claimed any sense of "ownership" towards the song but she said that the small amount of fame it brought has been used wisely.
"I only made £500 for a photograph of me which I gave to author Steve Turner for his book A Hard Day's Write a few years ago, and I gave all of it away to charity.
"While I am very keen to raise money for charity, I have never expected anything from the Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds nor anything else in connection with it."
The drawing that inspired the song was kept by Julian Lennon but went missing from his kitchen a number of years ago and has not been seen since. It is estimated to be worth more than £250,000.
Mrs Vodden said: "I want Julian to have that drawing back because it is his and the money he could make from it is his as well. It belongs to him and nobody else."
Mrs Vodden, who lives with her husband Ross in Surbiton, has kept in contact with Julian, especially since she was diagnosed with Lupus - a chronic auto-immune disease that affects all parts of the body. She said: "Julian's a wonderful person."
"In my thirties, I discovered I was suffering with Lupus," she added.
"The frightening thing about Lupus is that it too often goes undiagnosed because it mimics so many other conditions that are easily mistaken for it."
Mrs Vodden has been campaigning to help raise funds for St Thomas' Lupus Trust and smaller charities conducting research into the disease.
Reader views (1)
wow, i have been suffering lupus for 20 yrs probably longer but it took 11 yrs to diagnose. i am pleased that a public figure like julian is supporting you...this illness needs all the publicity it can get... i have a great team of doctors and am curently writting a book about it. i never understood the claidascope eyes line either lol... good luck and god speed leanne mayor ...sydney
- Leanne Mayor, penrith nsw australia, 10/06/2009 01:03
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