I'd rather lie on the beach. 

Lie - no direct object (I lie down for bed at 8 pm) 

Lay - direct object (I lay the pen on the table)

"Lie" versus "lay" is a famous area of argument. The American Heritage Dictionary's usage note is excellent. It's here: https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=lay&submit.x=47&submit.y=22 The usage notes are one of my reasons for liking this dictionary.

They note that "evidence exists that 'lay' has been used to mean 'lie' since the 1300s."

In English classrooms, it is often taught that "to lay" is a transitive verb, meaning to put something in its place:

"Lay your cards on the table."

And it is taught that "lie" is an intransitive verb, meaning to put yourself into a reclining position:

"I lie on my back and look up at the stars."

Thus, according to classroom English, one would say:

"I laid the baby in the crib. The baby lies in his crib."

The problem is that it's not true. It's basically just too confusing to have the same word, "lay," is the present tense of "to lay" and the past tense of "to lie."

We are in the strange territory of "grammar myths." If you use "to lay" instead of "to lie," people will say "That's not an error--but some people think it is and will correct you--so use 'lie.'"

An important point that classroom teachers do not discuss, or at least did not discuss with adolescents in the 1960s: "To lay" has a very common vulgar slang meaning, "to have sex" or "to have sex with." This is a secret reason why there is a tendency to avoid saying "to lay" in the sense of "to lie!" There is a very funny 1964 novel about high school teachers, "Up the Down Staircase," by Bel Kaufman, in which a teacher is advised by a colleague, "Never give a lesson on 'lie' and 'lay.'"