DEAR PRUDENCE AND ITS INCREDIBLE RECORDING PROCESS.

"Dear Prudence” was first committed to tape on May 29th, 1968 as a demo recording at 'Kinfauns,' George Harrison's bungalow home in Esher, Surrey. The Beatles met there on the 28th and 29th of the month to record demos of the songs they had individually written during their stay in India. The purpose introduced the songs to the rest of the group and gave themselves a better idea of how to officially record them for the new album. George Harrison had an Ampex four-track machine which he utilized for these demo recordings. 

This recording of “Dear Prudence” appears to be a solo performance by John Lennon on acoustic guitar and vocals, him double-tracking his guitar as well as his vocals. This demo shows that John had the bulk of the lyrics and musical arrangement already figured out, there hardly being much different from the finished version as we know it. Some minor differences include the lyric “sleeping child” in the third verse instead of “little child” as in the finished version, a repeat of the “look around, round” bridge after the third verse, a faster tempo on the final verse, and a continuation of the verse guitar passage at the song's conclusion instead of a repeat of the guitar introduction as we've come to be acquainted with in the released version. Interestingly, during John's vocal double-tracking during the final verse, he starts singing “let me see you smile” instead of “come out to play,” this resulting in him exclaiming “whoops!” Also, during the final moments of this version, while the double-tracked guitars are still playing, John briefly explains the inspiration for the song as follows: “No one was to know that sooner or later she was to go completely berserk under the care of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. All the people around her were very worried about the girl because she was going insane. So we sang to her.”

The Beatles didn't officially record “Dear Prudence” until three months later, on August 28th, 1968. Having recently recorded “Hey Jude” on eight-track recording equipment at Trident Studios (EMI Studios not yet instituting eight-track capabilities at their facility), the group returned to Trident on this day to record John's ballad in a similar fashion, taking advantage of this new technology and procedure. As noted above, Ringo was still away at this time, so the three Beatles arrived around 5 pm on this day to start work on this new song.

Documentation shows that only a single take (“take 1”) occurred on this day, but Mark Lewisohn's book “The Beatles Recording Sessions” explains that there was much more to the recording process on this day than one would think. “The eight-track facility meant that it could be recorded track by track, each one perfected over a number of times while simultaneously wiping previous attempts. This method of working makes the 'take one' statistic look distinctly silly for although it was just one 'take' it was innumerable recordings.” What was first recorded on this day was a basic track of John on his electric Epiphone Casino guitar, playing the distinctive finger-picking rhythm work heard throughout the song, George playing a lead guitar part on his Gibson SG Standard, and Paul on drums. After this, John then double-tracked his finger-picking guitar work on his Epiphone Casino during a good portion of the song, and George added another lead guitar part, double-tracking his lead work in the final verse by playing an octave higher than his first performance.

Since the session didn't end until 7 am the following morning, it appears that each of these elements took quite a few attempts until perfected to their satisfaction. This Trident session ended up costing EMI a total of 431 pounds for studio time, engineer's overtime and blank tape, a cost that would have been just an in-house accounting procedure had they just recorded at EMI on this day as usual.

The next day (or should we say, later that day), August 29th, 1968, they returned to Trident Studios at 7 pm to perform more overdubs on the song. Paul recorded his bass guitar part and John recorded is lead vocals, manually double-tracking them afterward. Then, the group recruited others present on this day, namely Mal Evans, Paul's visiting cousin John McCartney, and newly signed Apple artist Jackie Lomax, to help out in recording backing vocals along with Paul, John, and George. They also joined in providing handclaps at one point, John and Mal Evans even providing some tambourine shaking in the process which made it into the finished product. All those participating in these background vocals and handclaps then broke out in applause in the final moments of the song, although removed out of the released version during the mixing stage. By 6 am the following morning, the session was finally complete, although the song wasn't quite finished.

The following evening (or later that evening), August 30th, 1968, which happened to be the same day of the British release of their single “Hey Jude,” the three Beatles once again returned to Trident Studios to put the finishing touches on “Dear Prudence.” Paul overdubbed a well-performed piano track and, probably because the instrument happened to be lying around in the studio, a brief snippet of flugelhorn during the bridge of the song, this also played by Paul. The session was complete by 11 pm, and so was the recording of “Dear Prudence.”

The first mono mix of the song was done at Trident Studios on October 5th, 1968, by George Martin and engineer Barry Sheffield, along with the songs “Honey Pie” and “Martha My Dear,” which the band also recorded at Trident around that time. This mix was made, undoubtedly, because the master tape still belonged to Trident Studios. However, this mix was never released, instead, further improved upon once the master tape ownership transferred over to EMI Studios.

The song was touched on once again briefly on October 7th, 1968, in EMI Studio Two during a 16 1/2-hour session used primarily for recording George's composition "Long Long Long."  As outlined in Mark Lewisohn's book "The Beatles Recording Sessions," George was "in a happy mood throughout, laughing, joking and bursting into busked versions of other songs, including 'Dear Prudence.'"  This was never released but is evidence that the recording of the "White Album" wasn't all tension and arguments like most believe.

The master tape arrived October 13th, 1968, and immediately both the released stereo and mono mixes of “Dear Prudence” were created by George Martin and engineers Ken Scott and John Smith in the control room of EMI Studio Two. They only needed one try to get the stereo mix, which they completed first, but then had a slightly harder time perfecting the mono mix with five attempts (presumably the fifth attempt being the 'keeper'). The stereo mix has slightly more treble than the mono mix, and also fades to a lower volume during the song's conclusion.

Interestingly, The Beatles did run through a rough version of “Dear Prudence" on January 10th, 1969, during their filmed rehearsals at Twickenham Film Studios for what became their movie “Let It Be.” Needless to say, this version was never officially released in any way, shape or form.

Sometime between 2004 and 2006, George Martin and his son Giles Martin returned to the master tapes of “Dear Prudence” to capture elements of the recording for creating a track entitled “Come Together/Dear Prudence/Cry Baby Cry (Transition),” and appears on the highly successful album “Love.” During the conclusion of the song “Come Together,” they superimposed the lead vocal-less final verse of “Dear Prudence” which appears to fit perfectly given its similar tempo and key.  They also incorporated a bit of Paul's high piano tinkling from "Dear Prudence" on the track "The Fool On The Hill," which was only made available as a bonus track on the iTunes version of the "Love" album.

One can hardly expect a simpler structure for a Beatles song; this one follows a 'verse/ verse/ bridge/ verse/ verse' format (or aabaa) with both an introduction and conclusion thrown in which sound nearly identical.  What gives "Dear Prudence" its complexity is its hypnotically meandering finger-picking rhythm guitar, which lazily propels the song while allowing the listener to enjoy the picturesque landscape of a spring day comfortably.

After the senses get bombarded by the heart-thumping rock and roll of “Back In The U.S.S.R.,” the deafening screeching of a landing plane fades to reveal John's descending fingerpicking guitar work, helping us to relax for a nice leisurely ride. As the guitar slowly fades up in volume, it goes from single-tracked to double-tracked as it approaches the key instrumental phrase then repeats throughout most of the verse. This descending guitar introduction is six measures long, although the screeching plane obscures the first measure somewhat, and segues without us even noticing into the first verse, which is fourteen measures long.

This first verse contains John's hypnotic double-tracked guitar passages plus his double-tracked lead vocals. Paul adds simple one-note bass plucks on the three beat of each of the first eight measures, the tambourine also chiming in with an accompanying beat in the first and fifth measures as if to highlight whenever the word “Prudence” is sung. When John begins to double-up his vocal melody line in the ninth measure, Paul's drums appear for the first time with heavy emphasis on his riding hi-hats along with a rising and falling bass guitar part. The tambourine plays a beat in the gaps left in John's lyrics for the ninth and tenth measure (“the sun is up” beat “the sky is blue” beat...etc.), then putting in a seemingly random beat in the eleventh measure, which also is just after he sings the word “Prudence.” Then, in the thirteenth measure, all elements suddenly disappear to reveal only John's double-tracked finger-picking as heard before.

The second verse is also fourteen measures long and is melodically identical to the first, but with a variety of different elements added. A simple 4/4 drum beat without a ride cymbal for the first through eighth measures along with the same rising and falling bass pattern heard in the first verse. A tambourine beat is heard on the three beat of measures one and five as in the first verse, once again highlighting the word “Prudence.” The same hi-hat heavy drum beat is played once again in measures nine through twelve while the rising and falling bass continues as well. The tambourine plays syncopated quarter-note beats during measures nine and ten, once again adding a single beat after the word “Prudence” in the eleventh measure. Another additional element here is falsetto harmonies that stretch from the seventh measure (just after the lyric “sunny sky-ha-hi-hyyyy”) to the eleventh measure where they finally fade away. These falsetto harmonies reappear in the twelfth measure as a backdrop to the lyric “open up your eyes,” afterward fading away in the thirteenth measure along with the bass guitar and drums. The twelfth and thirteenth measures also premier Paul's piano overdub, playing three drawn-out chords to accent the chord changes. George appears for the first time in the final two measures of this verse with a see-saw-like lower note guitar pattern as a backdrop to John's changing finger-picking rhythm work.

This moves nicely into the eight-measure bridge, which features a continuation of John's finger-picking, George's lower note guitar pattern, which is mimicked by Paul on bass, George's overdubbed lead guitar passages in the first four measures, a simple cymbal-less drum beat from Paul, simple one-note toots on a flugelhorn by Paul, and a rhythmic tambourine overdub. Two sets of harmonies are present here, one set featuring a low monotone group of voices repeating “round, round, round...” (undoubtedly including the voices of Mal Evans, John McCartney and Jackie Lomax) and a set that specifically harmonizes with John's “round, round” in the first measure and “round, round, round” in the third measure. Then the harmonies extend the word “round” in a rising and falling melody in the fifth through seventh measure. Of note here is the sixth measure which is the only measure of the entire song that is in 2/4 instead of 4/4. The seventh and eighth measure is then identical to the final two measures of the first verse, namely, just John's double-tracked finger picking is heard. The third verse that follows is very similar to the second verse but with the addition of lead guitar work by George that worms its way around John's vocal melody line, filling in the open gaps as he goes. Also noticeable here, is the addition of handclaps that are heard periodically throughout the verse.  In the twelfth measure, we hear in the deep background what appears to be arpeggio-like chords from Paul on piano during the lyrics "won't you let me see you smile."  The final two measures, however, change things up dramatically as John temporarily abandons his finger-picking and strums the chords more energetically without raising the tempo (as he did in the demo).  Paul starts playing a careless but interesting random pattern on the drums for these final measures as well.

The fourth verse is lyrically a repeat of the first verse but extremely different musically and is actually fifteen measures long this time. Paul plays what results in an eight-measure drum solo while George double-tracks himself on an intricately worked-out rising lead guitar part, one guitar playing an octave above the other, this lead work stretching through the fourteenth measure. The tambourine and handclaps are going strong throughout the first fourteen measures as well, a high tinkling piano emerging in the third measure and lasting through to the eighth measure where Paul performs a climactic thumb slide down to the ninth measure.

The ninth through twelfth measures feature John spacing out his lyrics into halftime “the sun is up.......the sky is blue......” while the drums resort to a simple drum pattern accenting the snare on every quarter-note and the piano plays away rhythmically along with them. The fourteenth measure dramatically displays the exit of the majority of the elements of the song, revealing only John's finger-picking guitar and lead vocals along with George's highest lead guitar harmony notes ringing out. One can also faintly hear an electric rhythm guitar part played by George from the original rhythm track finishing its final notes while one of his lead guitars fade away with him manually playing with the tone switch of the guitar.

As everything falls away, a reprise of the descending finger-picking introduction lulls as the song's conclusion, performed single-tracked by John, which fades in volume as it descends the scale. After the dramatic climax of the final verse, we have a soft and satisfying landing. We are left off in the same way as we arrived as if floating away on the same cloud.

John must have known that he had something of great potential with “Dear Prudence,” insisting on recording it at Trident Studios with their eight-track capabilities in order to inspire them to a perfect arrangement and performance. All three Beatles involved were at their best, John's excellently performed and newly perfected guitar chops assembled to good use. His vocal work was also convincingly done, his concern for his subject coming through nicely along with his spot-on depictions of the beauty of nature. Paul, as usual, was up to the challenge of adding as many elements as possible to give the track the attention it deserved. George didn't shy away from working hard at perfecting his craft, undoubtedly recognizing the songs' potential and giving it his all.

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