The Real ‘Dear Prudence’ Reacted to The Beatles’ Song
The Beatles‘ “Dear Prudence” was inspired by the sister of a famous actor. During an interview, the real “Dear Prudence” said the song was important. On the other hand, she said it didn’t receive as much attention as other songs in the Fab Four’s discography.
The subject of The Beatles’ ‘Dear Prudence’ 1st heard the song during a family game
A 2015 article from Rolling Stone says The Beatles’ “Dear Prudence” was inspired by Prudence Farrow, sister of Mia Farrow. The Farrows were present during The Beatles’ trip to India and Prudence spent a lot of her time deep in meditation. John Lennon noticed her devotion to spirituality and wrote the song in response.
Prudence said her mother, actor Maureen O’Sullivan, introduced her to “Dear Prudence” during a “psychological” game her family used to play. She explained how the game worked. “The person winks at you, and then you wait, and you have to sort of gauge who it is,” she said. “But you never want to catch everybody’s eyes because they could wink at you and you’re dead.
“It was the perfect opportunity for [my mother] to go and ‘kill’ everybody,” she continued. “So she went around to everybody saying this song is coming up next. She put it on, and she went around preparing everybody, but she was ‘killing’ them. She came to me while the song was playing. She said, ‘Isn’t it beautiful?'” Prudence looked up and her mother winked at her.
Prudence Farrow felt The Beatles’ ‘Dear Prudence’ captured the 1960s
Prudence was asked what she thought of “Dear Prudence” in retrospect. “It epitomized what the ’60s were about in many ways,” she opined. “What it’s saying is very beautiful; it’s very positive. I think it’s an important song.”
Prudence also acknowledged “Dear Prudence” was not a big hit for The Beatles. “I thought it was one their least popular and more obscure songs,” she said. “I feel that it does capture that essence of the course, that slightly exotic part of being in India where we went through that silence and meditation.”
How ‘Dear Prudence’ performed in the United States and the United Kingdom
“Dear Prudence” was not a single, so it did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100. The tune appeared on The White Album, which topped the Billboard 200 for nine weeks. The White Album lasted a total of 215 weeks on the chart.
The Official Charts Company says “Dear Prudence” didn’t hit the charts in the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, The White Album peaked at No. 1 for eight of its 37 weeks on the chart.
“Dear Prudence” inspired a character named Prudence in the Fab Four jukebox musical Across the Universe. In the film, Prudence is a lesbian played by T.V. Carpio. The song’s repeated exhortation for Prudence to “come out to play” is recontextualized in the film as a call for the character to come out of a literal closet.
“Dear Prudence” wasn’t a hit, but Farrow felt it captured the essence of the 1960s.
