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"Lucy" is the name George Harrison of the Beatles gave to the unique red Gibson Les Paul guitar he received from Eric Clapton in August 1968. Previously owned by rock guitarists John Sebastian and Rick Derringer, Lucy is one of the most famous electric guitars in the world.
Lucy was originally a "Goldtop" Les Paul Standard model with PAF humbucking pickups, a combination initially produced only in 1957 and part of 1958. Gibson records show that serial number 7-8789 was shipped from the Kalamazoo factory on December 19, 1957. By 1965 the guitar was owned by John Sebastian of the Lovin' Spoonful, who traded it to Rick Derringer of tourmates the McCoys for an amplifier to replace one which had blown.[ citation needed ]
At one point circa 1966 the guitar's original gold finish was worn and, according to Derringer, "It was a very, very used guitar, even when I got it... so I figured that since we didn’t live far from Gibson’s factory in Kalamazoo, the next time the group went there I’d give it to Gibson and have it refinished. I had it done at the factory in the SG-style clear red finish that was popular at the time." [1] However, Derringer wasn't happy with the guitar after the refinish; he sold it to Dan Armstrong's guitar shop in New York. [2]
The guitar had only been in Armstrong's shop for a few days when it was purchased by Eric Clapton. [3] Clapton did not play this instrument much, his principal guitars in 1966–1968 being his psychedelic 1964 SG called "The Fool", a 1964 ES-335, a 1964 Gibson Reverse Firebird I, and a sunburst 1960 Les Paul he bought from Andy Summers. In August 1968 Clapton gave the red Les Paul as a present to his good friend George Harrison. Harrison dubbed the guitar "Lucy", after redhead comedian Lucille Ball.
Harrison and the Beatles were at the time recording their self-titled double album (also known as "the White Album"), and had been working for several weeks on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". Harrison had been unable to record a lead guitar part that he was satisfied with; moreover, Lennon and McCartney were dismissive of the song and "didn't try very hard". Knowing that his bandmates would be on good behaviour around a guest musician, Harrison invited Clapton to come into EMI Studios on September 6 and play on the song, telling him "you don't need to bring a guitar, you know I've got a good Les Paul you can use". Clapton overdubbed the part in a single take. The story that Clapton ceremoniously presented Harrison with the guitar after this session is a widely repeated myth. [2] [4]
Harrison continued to play Lucy as one of his principal guitars for the remainder of his time with the Beatles. It can be seen in the promotional videos for "Revolution" and “The Ballad of John and Yoko”, and the 1970 Let It Be documentary film. Lucy can be heard during the three-way guitar solo near the end of "The End".
In 1973 Lucy was one of the items stolen in a burglary at Harrison's home in Beverly Hills. The thief or an intermediary sold it at Whalin's Sound City [note 1] on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood; owner George Whalin promptly resold it (in violation of the statutory 30-day waiting period) to Miguel Ochoa, a musician from Guadalajara, Mexico. When the red guitar appeared on a police stolen-property bulletin, Whalin called Ochoa's contact number, his friend Mark Havey; this began a lengthy negotiation, which ultimately resulted in Harrison via Havey trading Ochoa a sunburst Les Paul and a Fender Precision Bass for the return of Lucy. Harrison later referred to the incident as a "kidnapping"; he kept Lucy until his death in 2001. In 2014, the History Channel show Brad Meltzer's Lost History featured this story.
Eric Patrick Clapton is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. He ranked second in Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and fourth in Gibson's "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". In 2023, Rolling Stone named Clapton the 35th best guitarist of all time. He was also named number five in Time magazine's list of "The 10 Best Electric Guitar Players" in 2009.
George Harrison was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian culture and helped broaden the scope of popular music through his incorporation of Indian instrumentation and Hindu-aligned spirituality in the Beatles' work. Although the majority of the band's songs were written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, most Beatles albums from 1965 onwards contained at least two Harrison compositions. His songs for the group include "Taxman", "Within You Without You", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Here Comes the Sun" and "Something". Harrison's earliest musical influences included George Formby and Django Reinhardt; subsequent influences were Carl Perkins, Chet Atkins and Chuck Berry.
The Gibson SG is a solid-body electric guitar model introduced by Gibson in 1961, following on from the 1952 Gibson Les Paul. It remains in production today in many variations of the initial design. The SG Standard is Gibson's best-selling model of all time. SG stands for "solid guitar".
The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar that was first sold by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1952. The guitar was designed by factory manager John Huis and his team with input from and endorsement by guitarist Les Paul. Its typical design features a solid mahogany body with a carved maple top and a single cutaway, a mahogany set-in neck with a rosewood fretboard, two pickups with independent volume and tone controls, and a stoptail bridge, although variants exist.
"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 double album The Beatles. It was written by George Harrison, the band's lead guitarist. Harrison wrote "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" as an exercise in randomness inspired by the Chinese I Ching. The song conveys his dismay at the world's unrealised potential for universal love, which he refers to as "the love there that's sleeping".
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The Gibson Les Paul Junior is a solid-body electric guitar introduced in 1954 as an affordable, entry-level Les Paul. It was first released with a single-cutaway body style; models with a double-cutaway body style were later introduced in 1958. The Junior continued through the first three years of the Les Paul/SG body redesign. The initial run was discontinued in 1963.
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The Gibson Les Paul Custom is a higher-end variation of the Gibson Les Paul guitar. It was developed in 1953 after Gibson had introduced the Les Paul model in 1952.
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John Lennon's musical instruments were both diverse and many, and his worldwide fame resulted in his personal choices having a strong impact on cultural preferences.
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