Dear Prudence

The harmony is deceptively sparse — barely a handful of chords across the entire song — but the continuous chromatic bass descent gives it a sense of forward motion without conventional harmonic progression. The Gm intrusion (the minor subdominant borrowed from D minor) at the end of each verse loop adds a quiet unease before the return to D. Because Lennon's Travis-picking pattern spans all six strings, the descending bass is physically woven into the guitar texture rather than added beneath it, making the harmonic device and the arrangement inseparable.

Lennon wrote 'Dear Prudence' in early 1968 while the Beatles were in Rishikesh studying Transcendental Meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Prudence Farrow had become so consumed by meditating that she refused to leave her bungalow for days at a stretch. The Maharishi assigned Lennon and George Harrison to act as her 'team buddies' and coax her back into group life; Lennon's response was this song, asking her to open her eyes and notice the world around her. The guitar technique came from Donovan, who taught Travis picking to Lennon during the same retreat.

John Lennon wrote 'Dear Prudence' in Rishikesh in early 1968 as a literal appeal to Prudence Farrow — Mia Farrow's sister — who had retreated so deeply into meditation she wouldn't leave her bungalow for weeks. Recorded at Trident Studios without Ringo Starr, who had temporarily walked out of the White Album sessions, it opens side two of the album with an intimate, escalating guitar figure built on a Travis-picking technique Lennon learned from Donovan. Lennon later named it among his favourite Beatles recordings.