On the anniversary of one of the most important albums in music history, a new film reveals the real men behind the biggest band of all time.
New film It Was Fifty Years Ago Today! The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper & Beyond, includes incredible archive film and interviews.
John Lennon has always maintained that Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds was not about LSD use but his exclusive clip from the film believes otherwise.
It also shows Paul McCartney’s candid confirmation that he had taken the drug and his refusal to accept responsibility for influencing his fans to do the same.
Beatles author Philip Norman points out when LSD first emerged it wasn’t illegal and reveals that Lennon was angry that McCartney was getting all the attention over his drug use.
He said: “There was place called the International Psychedelic Centre where you could go in and try it off the street, spread on little pieces of bread…
“When Paul when public about LSD talking to a Life magazine reporter… I think John was a bit miffed that he and George (Harrison) had been the first ones to take LSD and here’s Paul being the first one to say ‘I took LSD.’
“They thought it was a bit unfair on them when they had been the pioneers.”
The incredible archive footage hasn’t been seen for almost 50 years and shows Paul talking frankly about taking the drug and insisting that it was the media’s responsibility not to spread the story and thereby encourage drug use, not his.
Paul admitted he had taken LSD four times but refused to reveal its source.
He said: “I was asked a questionably a newspaper and the decision was to tell a lie or tell him the truth. I really didn’t want to say anything. I wouldn’t have told anyone. I’m not trying to spread the news about this. He wanted to spread it so it’s his responsibility not mine.”
McCartney added: “I’m only telling the truth. I don’t know what everyone is so angry about.
“I don’t think my fans are gonna take drugs just because I did. That’s not the point.
“I was asked whether I had or not and from then on the whole bit about how far it is going to go and how many people it’s gonna encourage is up to the newspapers and television. You are spreading this now and it is going into all the homes in Britain and I’d rather it didn’t.”
“You’ve got the responsibility to not spread this now. I’m quite prepared to keep it as a very personal thing. If you shut up about it I will.”
Another journalist, Ray Connolly, refers to Lennon’s famous insistence that teasing Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds was not a coded reference to LSD but was about a painting his young son Julian had done of a friend at school called Lucy.
Connolly said: ”John always swore that the song wasn’t about LSD. I think it probably was.”
It Was Fifty Years Ago Today! The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper & Beyond is now in cinemas and available on Digital & DVD.
Daily Express :: Entertainment Feed
