Written by: Lennon-McCartney
Recorded: 28-30 August 1968
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Ken Scott
Released: 22 November 1968 (UK), 25 November 1968 (US)
John Lennon: vocals, backing vocals, guitar
Paul McCartney: backing vocals, bass, piano, drums, flugelhorn, tambourine, handclaps
George Harrison: backing vocals, lead guitar, handclaps
Mal Evans, Jackie Lomax, John McCartney: backing vocals, handclaps
Available on:
The Beatles (White Album)
Love
Written by John Lennon in India, Dear Prudence was about Mia Farrow's younger sister, who refused to leave her chalet at the meditation retreat in Rishikesh, and had to be coaxed out by Lennon and George Harrison.
Prudence Farrow had become infatuated with meditation, locking herself away from the rest of the group and falling into deep states against the advice of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
All the people around her were very worried because she was going insane. So we sang to her.
They selected me and George to try and bring her out because she would trust us. She went completely mental. If she'd been in the West they would have put her away. We got her out of the house. She'd been locked in for three weeks and wouldn't come out, trying to reach God quicker than anybody else. That was the competition in Maharishi's camp: who was going to get cosmic first.
Anthology
Prudence later confirmed she was more fanatical in her pursuit of enlightenment than those around her.
Being on that course was more important to me than anything in the world. I was very focused on getting in as much meditation as possible , so that I could gain enough experience to teach it myself. I knew that i must have stuck out because I would always rush straight back to my room after lectures and meals so that I could meditate. John, George and Paul would all want to sit around jamming and having a good time and I'd be flying into my room. They were all serious about what they were doing but they just weren't as fanatical as me...
At the end of the course, just as they were leaving, George mentioned that they had written a song about me but I didn't hear it until it came out on the album. I was flattered. It was a beautiful thing to have done.
A Hard Day's Write, Steve Turner
The song's distinctive fingerpicked guitar style was taught to Lennon by Donovan, another guest in Rishikesh. The style was used on a number of other songs on the White Album, including Julia and Happiness Is A Warm Gun.
In the studio
Like Back In The USSR, Dear Prudence was recorded without Ringo Starr, who had temporarily left the group.
The Beatles taped the song over three days in Trident Studios, an independent facility in London's Wardour Street. Unlike Abbey Road, Trident had eight-track facilities available, which The Beatles had previously used for the recording of Hey Jude.
Work on Dear Prudence began on 28 August 1968. Although the studio records note that The Beatles only recorded one take, the luxury of eight tracks meant they were able to piece together the song instrument by instrument, wiping previous attempts as they went along.
The basic track, recorded on this first day between 5pm and 7am, featured Lennon on fingerpicked guitar, Harrison on lead guitar and McCartney on drums.
The next day McCartney recorded a bass part, Lennon manually double-tracked his lead vocals, and backing vocals, handclaps and tambourine were performed by McCartney and Harrison. They were assisted with contributions from Mal Evans, recent Apple discovery Jackie Lomax, and McCartney's cousin John.
In the Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Mark Lewisohn notes that the end of the song originally featured applause from those who contributed backing vocals and handclaps, though it was left out of the final mix.
The recording of Dear Prudence was concluded on 30 August, with a piano track and a very brief flugelhorn section. Both of these were performed by Paul McCartney.
Great site!
But it's not true that this particular fingerpicking style is used in "Blackbird" or "Mother nature's son".
Those two are played differently by Paul, while John had been taught the picking stlye by Donovan and used it on "Julia" and "Happiness".
At the time of the writing of this song, Prudence Farrow's sister, the actress Mia Farrow, was married to Frank Sinatra.
I wonder that there had ever been a get-together with Frank and The Fabs...it would have certainly been interesting, in the same way as their meeting with Elvis in L.A.
I will be interested to hear the "Mono Box" version of this, to see if it confirms my hazy memory. A friend's dad had the REEL TAPE version of the album, and several of the tracks were noticeably different than the familiar album. In particular this song was, I think, missing the "look around, look around round" part, or it was moved to another place in the song -- I can't remember, this was almost forty years ago!
There had to have been lead guitar overdubs as there are two guitar parts harmonizing with each other behind John's primary guitar. My wild guess would be that Paul and George played the parts together on an overdub as they did on 'And Your Bird Can Sing'. Also possibly George simply did an overdub harmony guitar.
I'd go on to suggest that the lead guitars sound layered and with the bouncing capabilities on the 8-track it would be conceivable that they overdubbed the harmony lead parts at least twice.
I suppose as there is no record of this that I'm wrong but as a musician I honestly don't see how they could have recorded the lead guitar part on one guitar. They were great players but it's such a difficult part to play with one guitar! Somebody should ask Paul.
What an amazing arrangement and the sonic quality is stunning in the first place and more so on the remaster!
After listening again, I'm positive a third guitar enters at at least one point, in counterpoint to the rhythm; and that the lead guitars are two guitars in harmony (though perhaps not layered but rather ADT'd or something). The remastered version is absolutely gorgeous - you can hear each insanely brilliant instrument - and Paul's drumming is killer. I think the others' roles drum-wise were occasional snare and cymbal hits.
Of course this is all just my opinion (albeit based upon hundreds of listens)....
simply one of the best from our dear john...It seems ,after the trip to India. the white album was a witness to their going their own separate ways...still chosen as my favorite album...everyone picks the "Get back" album (let it be) as the witness of the break-up. True indeed, but The white album sure had shown us the writing was on the wall.
No book, no website, no blog will ever convince me that Paul McCartney drummed on this track. Tambourine, sure. Handclaps, of course. Drums, no way. 20 years of scrutinizing Beatles recordings along with experience as a musician tells me what Ringo sounds like on drums, and what Paul sounds like. Trust your ears, folks.
So even though it was recorded while Ringo had left the band, you still think he played drums? That goes against all studio documentation, and the words of the band members and studio staff who were there at the time (and Ringo, who wasn't).
Paul wasn't a bad drummer at all. He played them on a fair amount of his solo/Wings stuff, including all the Band On The Run album. He also used to switch with Pete Best for the latter's vocal spot in the Cavern days.
I agree completely with rhino. The drumming on the last part of the song is exactly Ringo's style, and sounds nothing like Paul's other drumming. I think Paul probably drummed the basic part on the song, and Ringo overdubbed the part at the end, after he had returned to the group. You can even hear on the recording that the drums at the end are on a different recording track, and the drum sound is completely different. Someone should ask Ringo or Paul about this.
Joe, I refer you to the last sentence of my first comment. Just listen to "Maybe I'm Amazed", recorded when Paul would have had a little more practice under his belt. Still sounds pretty rough, nothing like the brilliance of "Dear Prudence". Paul never seemed able to get both his hands hitting with equal force, making fills sound like DUM du DUM du DUM du DUM du. (Check his fills on Back In The USSR) That's the difference between a drummer and a non-drummer. I know because like Paul (and this is the only similarity I claim) I am a guitar / piano player who dabbles in drums and there's quite a difference between conceiving a cool, musical drum part and having the stick control to execute it.
bcr, I agree that there are probably two separate performances married together on the track. Those two stray hi-hat hits on the left channel just before the start of the last verse tell me this is probably the case. The basic track sounds very Ringo to me as well. He never played straight 8th notes, they always swing *just* a little and the hi hat on the "sun is up" parts is a classic example of this.
I am so glad that someone has realized that this is not Paul on drums. Those fills are pure ringo.