Hmm… Heard it on the radio a few months back that Paul had finally come clean. No cite. Reputable news radio station though. Let me look into it. (Although really, was there ever any doubt?)
Just an FYI, Leaffan - and no junior modding intended - but the powers that be tend to frown upon quoting the full lyrics to a song. Copyright issues, and all that.
Paul McCartney didn’t write the lyrics. Unless he had ESP, who’s he to say?
The denial seems very strong. There’s a witness to the alternative explanation, and in fact images of the picture still exist. It’s difficult to understand why Lennon would lie about something like that when he was prone to saying what was on his mind about pretty much everything.
Jackson Browne’s “Rosie” - It takes a second, but then you realize that it’s about masturbation.
Rosie, you’re alright.
(You wear my ring.)
When you hold me tight.
(Baby that’s my thing.)
When you turn out the light, I’ve got to hand it to me.
It looks like it’s me and you again tonight, Rosie.
XTC’s song “Pink Thing” works as an extended double entendre. The “pink thing” in the title could be the singer’s new baby, or it could be his other pink thing.
Here’s how I imagine it: the coincidence of the picture inspired the guys to write a song about an LSD trip. Personal theory; no cite. But come on. How could someone familiar with LSD and its effects write a song whose title abbreviates out to “L.S.D.,” with the imagery that the lyrics describe, and claim with a straight face, “Honest, officer, it never entered our mind!”
Let’s not forget “Turning Japanese”, to continue the masturbation theme (Or am I the only one doing it? ).
AFA “Lucy in the Sky”, I believe all of the denials were in regards to the title of the song vis a vis the initials Lucy…Sky…Diamonds. I think it has been obvious since the beginning what the song is actually about.
Anyone who’s familiar with the effects of LSD will probably be reminded of them if they attempt to read James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake, too-- and you don’t have to resort to acrostics to find the “L.S.D.” It’s right there in Book I:
Now, you may argue that at the time Joyce was writing, “L.S.D.” was more commonly used as slang for “money,” (“pounds, shillings, and pence,”) but if so, what are the chances that, in the very same section, a pun linking L.S.D. with psychedelic drugs would be made?
If hiding the “LSD” makes it more cryptic, look at the word after “dope” in this sentence, also from the same section:
It can’t be coincidence, because the text is so obviously druggy. Never mind that LSD was only synthesised the same year that Joyce wrote it, and not available on the street. Anyone who’s done enough LSD will tell you all about the weird stuff it does to time. Heck, synchronicity and telepathy is totally par-for-the-course on the stuff.
That’s why we shouldn’t be surprised when Joyce appears to write about John Lennon in the very same bit I’ve quoted from:
If you don’t think this describes Lennon’s assassination, in spite of the cryptic allusions to his work and the open declaration “Here is Lennon!” then remember that the Eggman from Liverpool was killed a few feet away from his liveried chaffeur by someone named “Mark.”
It’s obvious that Finnegans Wake is a long paen to drug intoxication, and predicts John Lennon’s death. Goo Goo goosth. Either that or it’s easy to project stuff on material that has an element of nonsense to it. I’m not entirely sure.
In all seriousness, though, tangentially connected to Finnegans Wake, and with strict regard to the OP:
The traditional comic drinking song Finnegan’s Wake contains a cryptic subtext that should be clear to anyone who’s been raised a Master Mason. (After what I’ve written above, your eyes may glaze over, but bear with me.)
“To rise in the world he carried a hod.” This is an oblique way of saying that he’s (literally) a mason. It’s also a bit of a sly reference to speculative masonry. (If you are learning about kaballah, “hod” has another meaning.)
Why the apparent resurrection when Tim is splashed with whiskey? “Whiskey” is derived from the Irish Gaelic “uisce beatha”, “water of life.” This’ll ring a bell for hermetics.
Kind of cool.
All of Cab Calloway’s Minnie the Moocher songs were about a couple of star-crossed junkies, but through the magic of jive they managed to get radio play, feature in cartoons, and generally sail over the heads of the less-than-hip.
[ Moderator ] Leaffan and others: please, you may NOT quote full song lyrics on this Message Board. You may quote a line or two, and provide a link to some site that has copyright permission.
