Dear Prudence

Dear Prudence, won't you come out to play
Dear Prudence, greet the brand new day
The sun is up, the sky is blue
It's beautiful and so are you

Dear Prudence won't you come out and play
Dear Prudence open up your eyes
Dear Prudence see the sunny skies
The wind is low the birds will sing
That you are part of everything

Dear Prudence won't you open up your eyes?
Look around round
Look around round round Look around
Dear Prudence let me see you smile
Dear Prudence like a little child
The clouds will be a daisy chain
So let me see you smile again
Dear Prudence won't you let me see you smile?



- Released November 22, 1968

Prudence = Prudence AnneVillars Farrow, who is the younger sister of Hollywood actress Mia Farrow.
- Prudence Farrow wanted to "Teach God quicker than anyone else," according to John Lennon. She would lock herself in her room trying to meditate for hours and hours. From A Hard Day's Write, by Steve Turner: "At the end of the demo version of Dear Prudence John continues playing guitar and says: 'No one was to know that sooner or later she was to go completely berserk, under the care of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. All the people around were very worried about the girl because she was going insane. So, we sang to her.'" Prudence Farrow explained years later that she was just trying to take Transcendental Meditation seriously. She said in Mojo magazine, September 2008: "They were trying to be cheerful, but I wished they'd go away. I don't think they realized what the training was all about."

- The Beatles in India (Photoshow)

- The Beatles in India (Video 1)

- The Beatles in India (Video 2)

Author's Note: It is not difficult to see how the song is so profoundly influenced by a single, lucid event. In this case, Prudence Farrow retreated to her room to meditate for long periods of time and refused to come out. There is a remarkable period reflection as well with the daisy chain. The beauty of art is how an unpretentious event like this can compel others to write a powerfully moving song.