Dear Prudence - Remastered 2009

While Mia Farrow inspired such men as Andre Previn, Frank Sinatra and Woody Allen, her sister Prudence left her mark on John Lennon. According to Nancy de Herrera's book, All You Need Is Love, Prudence met The Beatles on a spiritual retreat with their guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, in India, which she attended with Mia. When Prudence, suffering depression, confined herself to her room, Lennon wrote this song hoping to cheer her up. It did. According to American flautist Paul Horn, who was also with them in Rishikesh, Prudence was a highly sensitive person, and by jumping straight into deep meditation, against the Maharishi's advice, she had allowed herself to fall into a catatonic state. Horn stated, "She was ashen-white and didn't recognize anybody. She didn't even recognize her own brother who was on the course with her. The only person she showed any slight recognition towards was Maharishi. We were all concerned about her and Maharishi assigned her a full-time nurse."

Prudence Farrow wanted to "reach God quicker than anyone else," according to John Lennon. She would lock herself in her room trying to meditate for hours and hours - the inspiration for the lyric "won't you come out to play?" 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." Prudence remained with the TM organization for the rest of her life and set up TM affiliate programs throughout the state of Florida.

"Dear Prudence" is part of The White Album, which was a tough one for The Beatles to record. Drummer Ringo Starr left the studio when the sessions got very tense, so Paul McCartney ended up playing drums on this track. When Ringo came back a short time later, there were flowers on his drum kit welcoming him back.