Dear Prudence
In the foothills of the Himalayas during early 1968, Prudence Farrow locked herself inside a small bungalow for three weeks. She refused to leave her room after lectures or meals to meditate with intense seriousness. John Lennon and George Harrison were assigned by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi as her team buddies to coax her out of seclusion. The two musicians took this responsibility seriously because they had experimented with LSD before discovering meditation. Lennon later described the situation in a 1980 interview where he said she seemed to go slightly barmy while trying to reach God quicker than anyone else. He noted that if she had been in the West, people would have put her away. Singer-songwriter Donovan remembered that they were diving deep inside themselves not just for twenty minutes but for days at a time. This deep exploration of the psyche led Lennon to write the song as a way to ask if she was okay inside.
Lennon wrote Dear Prudence using a finger-picking guitar technique he learned from Donovan who followed the Beatles to Rishikesh. Donovan called this method the Carter Family finger style and demonstrated it one morning under a jacaranda tree. Lennon mastered the fast learning process in just two days according to Donovan's recollection. The song sits in the key of D major with an arpeggio effect achieved by detuning the sixth string down to a low D. A descending chromatic bass line runs through the track similar to Lennon's 1967 composition Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Walter Everett notes that together with Across the Universe the song has a peaceful aura and ringing dronelike guitars making it his most Indian-sounding work. The lyrics celebrate nature with lines like The sun is up the sky is blue It is beautiful and so are you. Mark Hertsgaard finds the song typical of Lennon because it transcends its origins to provide a wider message about waking up and playing your part in the grand scheme of things.
The Beatles recorded the song at Trident Studios in London between August 28 and 30 1968. This period was marked by tension and hostility within the group which led to Ringo Starr temporarily leaving the band during sessions for Back in the U.S.S.R. On August 28 the three remaining Beatles completed the basic track using eight-track recording equipment instead of their usual four-track gear. Paul McCartney played drums in place of Starr while Lennon and Harrison handled various guitar parts including Lennon's finger-picked electric rhythm. McCartney overdubbed bass guitar on August 29 while Lennon sang his lead vocal doubled for effect. Additional contributions included handclaps and percussion from Mal Evans Jackie Lomax and John McCartney. A brief snippet of flugelhorn appears over the end portion though Robert Fontenot argues it is actually Harrison's lead guitar on his Gibson Les Paul. An extended drum fill described as a ten-bar solo by McCartney runs through the fourth verse alongside an ascending countermelody played in two octaves by Harrison.
Apple Records released The Beatles double album on the 22nd of November 1968 with Dear Prudence sequenced as the second track on side one. Its introduction was cross-faded with the sounds of a jet aircraft landing that concluded the previous track Back in the U.S.S.R. Record Mirrors writer noted in a contemporary review that a shock to his mind came from the second track opening with old folk clawhammer pick done on an open tuned electric guitar. Peter Doggett later commented that it was strange the band chose to begin the album with two songs recorded without Starr. Tim Riley views it as a key Beatles song about nature praising the ensemble playing. David Quantick writes that given Lennon's falling out with the Maharishi in April 1968 the lyric became an invitation to tune in or drop out. He detects an eeriness in the track fitting with implications evident in the phrase A Dolls House which was the intended title for The Beatles. In the 2023 edition of their compilation the crossfade is cut off and the song starts cleanly without jet aircraft effects.
Critics have praised Dear Prudence for its lyrics and the band's performance throughout the decades since release. Julian Lennon named it one of his favorite songs written by his father while John Lennon himself selected it as one of his favorites among all Beatles tracks. His original handwritten lyrics containing fourteen lines and some doodles sold at auction for US$19,500 in 1987. Rolling Stone ranked the song at number 63 on its list of The Beatles' 100 Greatest Songs in 2010 while Mojo placed it at number 44 in 2006. Farrow said she was flattered by the gesture adding It was a beautiful thing to have done. She told Rolling Stone in 2015 that it epitomized what the Sixties were about in many ways. Her autobiography titled after the track launched the Dear Prudence Foundation raising funds to help educate people in meditation. Tim Riley describes the version by Siouxsie and the Banshees as a surprisingly effective distortion of the Beatles' elegiac original bringing out its buried but implicit sun-blinded sense of menace.
English post-punk band Siouxsie and the Banshees released a cover version of the song as a single in 1983. It peaked at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart kept from the top by Culture Club's Karma Chameleon. Guitarist John McGeoch had left the band due to alcoholism and was temporarily replaced by Cure frontman Robert Smith during recording. They recorded the song at a studio in Stockholm in July 1983 completing it at Angel Recording Studios where Smith's sister Janet added a harpsichord part. The Jerry Garcia Band covered it in extended improvised versions at concerts between 1979 and Garcia's death in 1995. Ramsey Lewis included it on his 1968 album Mother Nature's Son while Doug Parkinson in Focus achieved a top-five hit in Australia with the song. Other artists who recorded the track include Gábor Szabó the Five Stairsteps Katfish and Leslie West in 1976. Sean Lennon included the song on his 1991 Japanese CD release Happy Birthday John and Alanis Morissette performed it on the 2001 Lennon tribute Come Together: A Night for John Lennon's Words and Music.
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Common questions
Who was Prudence Farrow and why did she lock herself in a bungalow during early 1968?
Prudence Farrow locked herself inside a small bungalow for three weeks while meditating with intense seriousness in the foothills of the Himalayas. John Lennon and George Harrison were assigned by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to coax her out of seclusion because they had experimented with LSD before discovering meditation.
How did John Lennon write Dear Prudence using a finger-picking guitar technique from Donovan?
John Lennon wrote Dear Prudence using a finger-picking guitar technique he learned from Donovan who followed the Beatles to Rishikesh. He mastered the fast learning process in just two days according to Donovan's recollection and detuned the sixth string down to a low D to achieve an arpeggio effect.
When did The Beatles record Dear Prudence at Trident Studios in London?
The Beatles recorded the song at Trident Studios in London between August 28 and 30 1968. On August 28 the three remaining Beatles completed the basic track using eight-track recording equipment instead of their usual four-track gear.
What date did Apple Records release The Beatles double album containing Dear Prudence as the second track on side one?
Apple Records released The Beatles double album on the 22nd of November 1968 with Dear Prudence sequenced as the second track on side one. Its introduction was cross-faded with the sounds of a jet aircraft landing that concluded the previous track Back in the U.S.S.R.
How many lines are in John Lennon's original handwritten lyrics for Dear Prudence and what price did they sell for in 1987?
John Lennon's original handwritten lyrics contain fourteen lines and some doodles which sold at auction for US$19,500 in 1987. Rolling Stone ranked the song at number 63 on its list of The Beatles' 100 Greatest Songs in 2010 while Mojo placed it at number 44 in 2006.
When did English post-punk band Siouxsie and the Banshees release their cover version of Dear Prudence as a single?
English post-punk band Siouxsie and the Banshees released a cover version of the song as a single in 1983. They recorded the song at a studio in Stockholm in July 1983 completing it at Angel Recording Studios where Smith's sister Janet added a harpsichord part.