The Beatles 'Dear Prudence'

"The sun is up, the sky is blue, it's beautiful, and so are you" begins the Beatles song “Dear Prudence”. The song appears on the Beatles self-titled double album, also known as The White Album. A song written during the Beatles stay in India with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi about actress Mia Farrow’s sister, Prudence. A song with lyrical innocence and simple-ness, there were important events in Beatles history that surrounded “Dear Prudence” including The White Album and the retreat in India. While George Harrison was in India working on the soundtrack to Wonderwall in January of 1968, the rest of the Beatles were to join him by the beginning of February for the beginning of the Guide Course training at the Maharishi’s meditation center (Gould 461). The Beatles’ interest in the Maharishi was led by George Harrison, who was introduced by his wife Patti who had taken a course on Transcendental Meditation (Gould 433). The first introduction the group had together was in 1967 at a weekend retreat in Bangor, Wales where they had learned of the news of manager Brian Epstein’s passing from a drug overdose. The

The length of time in which each Beatle stayed at the retreat was varied. “…George and John were avid converts, Ringo was game if uncommitted, and Paul, though he participated from the beginning this time, tended to hold back” (Gould 449). Ringo was the first to leave the retreat stating his reason as he could not deal with the food and he and his wife missed their children. Ringo and his wife stayed only ten days (Gould 466). Paul lasted about a month while John and George stayed the longest. The Beatles stay with the Maharishi in India was important because it was here they wrote many songs that ended up on The White Album. This is important because “Dear Prudence” is a song that was written during the stay and appeared on The White