Since 1996 |
  
Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready.... |
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Since 1996 |
Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready.... |
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by psychologist, Dr Bruce L. Thiessen, aka Dr BLT Song: Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds Artists: The Beatles *Picture yourself in a boat on a river,
The late Larry Norman, who suffered greatly throughout much of his adult life, died recently, and carved out an indelible legacy in the world of "Christian" rock once said in a song, /Why Should the Devil Have all the Good Music? / I would add, "Why should all the good songs be written and/or recorded while the artist(s) was (were) hopelessly drunk or high?" It's no secret that the Beatles that the most experimental Beatles music took place, not in a middle of a journey, but a "trip." Though the title of his tour, /Trippin' through the Sixties/, is a drug-free one, I'm sure Barry McGuire knows what I'm talking about: http://www.trippinthesixties.com/about.html The Beatles under-produced it. Elton John over-produced it in a grandiose, self-indulgent style that made it an irresistible guilty pleasure for me in the mid-seventies. I probably single-handedly destroyed it here, by putting the BLT in BeaTLes: *Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds*
But the fact remains that, drug-induced or not, this is one gem of a song. I'm not here to condone drug-use. As a psychologist, I've seen too many lives destroyed by it. I've seen to much human potential go down the drain. I've seen too many marriages and relationships ruined. I've seen too many patients with a "meth head" to their madness. But I will say this, at the danger of repeating myself: This is one gem of a song! Cellophane flowers of yellow and green,
/ The beauty of the song is that you can almost go anywhere with it, and you don't need drugs to take you there. The lyrics paint a picture that puts one in a dream state. When the lyrics command you to "picture yourself on a boat on a river," you don't think twice about it, you just jump on that boat and grab the oars. You're absolutely hypnotized. You see the "tangerine trees," and you touch, ----even taste the marmalade skies. Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Ah, indeed.
/When you're instructed to "Follow her down" to that "bridge by the fountain," you don't hesitate, not even for a moment. And when that "newspaper taxi" appears, you're the first to jump into it and take a ride. Your head might be in the clouds by now, but it doesn't have to be a cloud of marijuana smoke. By now, you're completely "gone." Picture yourself on a train in a station,
/When you climb out of the cab, you give the driver a generous tip, even as you eagerly eye the station, wondering where the train will take you. Well, as the train in this other song suggests, the train can often take you to places you wish you never went. /This Train/
Drugs promise so much, like a lover who
loves to lie. When you use them, they end up using you. You
end up with a broken heart that takes years to mend. So I thank God for
the song, and the beautiful imagery it conjures up. And I thank God
for the Beatles. And that Lucy, she's quite a temptress! And
if you're inviting me to go back to the golden age of rock, I'll gladly
go there with you. But if you want me to go "tripping through the
60s,"I think I'll do it Barry's way---clean, sober and sanctified by the
blood of Christ. Sorry, Lucy!
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