Lucy - the one in the sky with diamonds - dies at age 46

Lucy Vodden, the childhood friend of John Lennon's son Julian and the inspiration for "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds," is dead at age 46 after a lengthy battle with lupus, The Associated Press is reporting. British press is reporting she may have died as early as last Tuesday.

Vodden, a childhood friend and schoolmate of a young Julian Lennon, is the centerpiece of the Beatle-esque lore behind the song. As the story goes, Julian brought home a painting from school and told his father it was "Lucy in the sky with diamonds." John Lennon would shortly thereafter immortalize the phrase on the Beatles 1967 Sgt. Peppers record.

While Vodden always chuckled at being the centerpiece of some Beatles trivia, she long claimed the association didn't affect her much.

"I don't relate to the song, to that type of song," said Vodden in June to the Associated Press. "As a teenager, I made the mistake of telling a couple of friends at school that I was the Lucy in the song and they said, 'No, it's not you, my parents said it's about drugs.' And I didn't know what LSD was at the time, so I just kept it quiet, to myself."

Most rock historians do believe the song was a lengthy drug reference, in part due to the major first letters of the song title spelling "LSD" and the Beatles well documented experemenation with hallucinogenic drugs during the time period. John Lennon, however, always fought the stigma with the Lucy Vodden explanation.

Julian Lennon and Vodden became friends again after losing touch for many years, with Lennon becoming a rock of support for Vodden during her struggle with Lupus. A spokeswoman for Julian and his mother, Cynthia, said they were "shocked and saddened" by Vodden's death.

- Alec Wooden
currently listening to "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds"...duh