[h=2]The Beatles, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” “A Day in the Life”[/h] The Beatles | Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Many Beatles songs were banned by various groups and radio stations at different times in the band’s career, particularly after John Lennon’s infamous “we’re more popular than Jesus” comments. While those comments and various aspects of the group’s image resulted in widespread bans and boycotts of their music as a whole, particular songs drew ire for their supposed references to drugs. “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and “A Day in the Life” are two Beatles songs that were banned from radio stations for their alleged references to drugs.
The title of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” was thought by some to be an acronym for the hallucinogenic drug LSD, while John Lennon says it came from a drawing his young son Julian did of a classmate named Lucy with that title. He also pointed to the Lewis Carroll book, Alice in Wonderland as an inspiration for the song. Lennon and McCartney both adamantly denied that the song was about LSD.
The closing track from the same album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, was also banned by the BBC for the lyrics “I’d love to turn you on” and “found my way upstairs and had a smoke,” both of which the puritanical radio station decided were references to drugs. Lennon and McCartney also denied these accusations.