4 Songs That Fans Believe the Beatles Wrote About Psychedelics

The Beatles definitely had their period of psychedelics, and they (allegedly) wrote quite a few songs about it. That being said, quite a few songs by the Fab Four that fans believe are about the use of substances have been shut down by different members of the band. Lennon was particularly direct about how some of his trippiest songs weren’t about drugs at all. However, some of the references in their songs are so bold and direct, that it’s hard to believe they are about anything other than psychedelics. Let’s take a look at just a few examples!

1. “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds”

Let’s be real here. “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” spells out “LSD”. There are numerous lines throughout the song that are steeped in psychedelia. There’s no way this song isn’t about acid. However, John Lennon swore that the song was not about drugs at all, and any perceived references to drugs were simply coincidences.

“I had no idea it spelt LSD,” said Lennon. “This is the truth… My son came home with a drawing and showed me this strange-looking woman flying around. I said, ‘What is it?’ and he said, ‘It’s Lucy in the sky with diamonds,’ and I thought, ‘That’s beautiful.’ I immediately wrote a song about it.”

2. “Got To Get You Into My Life”

The Beatles allegedly wrote a few songs about psychedelics, but “Got To Get You Into My Life” is a very clear time marker in the Fab Four’s history that pointed to their increasing use of particular substances. Despite being the least interested in drug use of the Fab Four, Paul McCartney penned this tune about marijuana.

“I’d been a rather straight working-class lad, but when we started to get into pot it seemed to me to be quite uplifting,” said McCartney. “So ‘Got To Get You Into My Life’ is really a song about that.”

3. “Doctor Robert”

John Lennon definitely had the darkest kind of humor out of the Fab Four. That darkness often made it into a few of their songs, most notably “Doctor Robert”. This track was a humorous exploration of the substance explosion in the 1960s, told with a focus on a helpful doctor with a chipper tune. 

“Another of mine, mainly about drugs and pills,” Lennon said of the song. “It was about myself. I was the one that carried all the pills on tour… later on, the roadies did it. We just kept them in our pockets, loose, in case of trouble.”

4. “Day Tripper”

The Beatles were not beating the allegations about writing songs about psychedelics with “Day Tripper”. This song is as big of an ode to psychedelics as it gets. By the time the Fab Four put together this tune, each of them had become fascinated by the effects of LSD. McCartney described it a little differently, but Lennon straight-up said it was a “drug song”.

“This [‘Day Tripper’] was just a tongue-in-cheek song about someone who was a day tripper, a Sunday painter, a Sunday driver, somebody who was committed only in part to the idea,” said McCartney.

Photo by David Magnus/Shutterstock

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