What does Dear Prudence mean?

Beatles: Dear Prudence Meaning

Album cover for Dear Prudence album cover

Song Released: 1968


Dear Prudence Lyrics

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 to play?

Dear Prudence, open up your eyes
Dear Prudence, see...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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    Apr 26th 2007 !⃝

    This song is about Mia Farrows sister Prudence. When they were in india with the Ravi guy, they were spending much of their time meditating. Prudence Farrow was trying to reach the highest level of meditation. She was very stressed out and everyone was worried about her. John especially took a liking to her. She would not come out of her tent. She constantly would meditate. No matter how much the boys or anyone else asked her, she wouldn't come out. So John wrote the song and would sing it to her. Hence "Dear Prudence, won't you come out to play" I am familiar with the meaning of most of their songs, I've have done extensive research. I am a huge Beatle fan, I love this band, the greatest band to ever play.

  2. Geke
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    Feb 27th 2013 !⃝

    Some details to add to that Wikipedia excerpt:
    (Please post more Wikipedia stuff on this site; it's allowed, often well-researched, and good to have everything in one place.)

    John really liked how this song had come out, and I think that's because the lyrics and music complement each other very well in describing aspects of (transcendental) meditation.
    For example: "Let me see you smile, like a little child." When one is deep in meditation, speaking is somehow far away, and when one is asked to react, often only a really nice innocent smile comes out, as if to say: "I like you, but I'm sorry, right now I can't speak." That's the kind of smile Prudence must have given John.
    In the music, you hear the guitar pluck a two-note thing over and over: that's the mantra repeating. At the end of the song, when Prudence finally "gives in" to the calls by her friends, the mantra winds down and she slowly comes out of the meditation.
    The bass has a riff that goes down and down: that's the mind sliding deeper and deeper into silence. From time to time, the mind comes out somewhat, and then the downsliding will start over.
    Back to the words :-) The repeated "round, round" refers to them doing many rounds of meditation in the morning and in the afternoon.
    In general, the lyrics' simple words reflect the uncomplicated state of mind during and after meditation.

  3. anonymous
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    Jun 11th 2011 !⃝

    Wikipedia is correct:
    The subject of the song is actress Mia Farrow's sister, Prudence Farrow who was present when The Beatles went to India to study with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
    Farrow became so serious about her meditation that she "turned into a near recluse" and "rarely came out" of the cottage she was living in. Someone asked John Lennon to "contact her and make sure she came out more often to socialize". As a result, Lennon wrote the song Dear Prudence. In the song Lennon asks Farrow to "open up your eyes" and "see the sunny skies" reminding her that she is "part of everything". The song was said to be "a simple plea to a friend to 'snap out of it'". Lennon said later that "She'd been locked in for three weeks and was trying to reach God quicker than anyone else". According to Farrow: "I would always rush straight back to my room after lectures and meals so 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".
    Lennon did not play the song for Farrow while they were in India together. Farrow later said "George was the one who told me about it" as Lennon and Harrison were leaving the ashram. According to Farrow, "I was flattered. It was a beautiful thing to have done". The lyrics of the song are simple and innocent and praise the beauty of nature in the lines: "The sun is up, the sky is blue, it's beautiful, and so are you".
    The Beatles are magical for writing all of their songs and they are the greatest band to have ever lived. The Beatles are timeless.

  4. abunel
    click a star to vote
    Sep 6th 2008 !⃝

    No Beatles and football-wrong. I just finished reading Patti Boyds' "Wonderful Tonight." As stated above, Dear Prudence is when all of the Beatles and their wives were in India with Mia Farrow and her sister, Prudence. She got so heavily into meditation she locked herself into her room for days.

    Lennon wrote this song and they would set outside her door and sing it every morning in an effort to get her to "come out and play".

  5. beatlesandfootball
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    Jun 5th 2008 !⃝

    The song was about homosexuality. Come out of closet sort of speak.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  6. anonymous
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    Nov 13th 2007 !⃝

    The tent thing makes so much sense...if you've seen Across the Universe.

  7. anonymous
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    Aug 28th 2007 !⃝

    One of the other reasons she wouldn't leave the room was because the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was sexually harassing her. The guy was a complete fake douche bag.


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