For more on this book, see NOW READING.
The circling four-chord sequence and plaintive pentatonic melody of DEAR PRUDENCE depicts the mental dilemma of its subject, Mia Farrow’s sister Prudence, who, made hypersensitive by too much meditation, found herself unable to leave her chalet in Rishikesh and had to be coaxed out by Lennon and Harrison. Founded on the fingerpicking style of many of the Beatles’ songs written in India, DEAR PRUDENCE uses a descending chromatic sequence akin to those of the verses of LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS and CRY BABY CRY, whose childhood resonances it shares. The lyric, Lennon’s gentlest, works on similar nursery-rhyme principles. Recorded, like HEY JUDE, on the eight-track at Trident Studios, this was the second song the group taped in Starr’s absence. Filling in for him, McCartney is unsteady in the first half and his hi-hat work is stiff, but his continuous fill through the last verse/chorus brings the performance to a cathartic climax. The richest ingredient is Harrison’s Indian guitar, his first use of this once ubiquitous style since THE INNER LIGHT, recorded six months earlier.
-Revolution in the Head: The Beatles’ Records and the Sixtees, by Ian McDonald. Entry No. 143 (Dear Prudence), pages 310-311
Now you see why that book had me mesmerized? Engrossed and totally unreponsive to outside stimulus I was, book in hand, absorbing all the great unknown Beatle-isms. Do enjoy.
what a great song. dear prudence and helter skelter are two of their best.
the white album, without fail, brings me back to my childhood. bungalow bill. rocky raccoon. my momma raised me right
another good story is the traveling wilburies documentary.. check it out sometime. you can watch it on my ipod on the way to juarez