“Dear Prudence” by The Beatles

"Dear Prudence" comes from the Beatles' sprawling 1968 double album known as the White Album, and it was born in Rishikesh. On the meditation course with the Maharishi, Prudence Farrow, Mia Farrow's sister, locked herself away meditating without end; John Lennon and George Harrison, her assigned partners, tried to lure her back outside, and Lennon turned the effort into a song.

He wrote it around a finger-picked guitar pattern he'd picked up from Donovan, and the words are a gentle, wide-eyed invitation to step outside and take in the beauty of the world. The band cut it at Trident Studios that August as a trio, with Ringo Starr temporarily gone after a row over his drumming, so Paul McCartney took the kit as well as bass, piano and flugelhorn. George Martin produced, and the track builds from a hush into a gorgeous swirling climax. Lennon later counted it among his favorite Beatles songs.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.