Dear Prudence by THE BEATLES

The song Dear Prudence was written by The Beatles and released as part of their 1968 album, known as “The White Album”.

The following is the best version ever of this song, released in 1983 by Siouxsie and the Banshees.

Siouxsie and the Banshees – Dear Prudence

DEAR PRUDENCE, HOW ARE THINGS GOING IN RISHIKESH?

The song was inspired by Prudence Farrow, Mia Farrow’s sister, and composed in Rishikesh, India.

The Beatles had gone to India to take part in a course in Transcendental Meditation. Their intention was to denounce the use of drugs, such as LSD, to obtain inspiration and foster the practice of meditation instead.

In Rishikesh, they joined a group of 60 other students among whom were singers Donovan and Mike Love (Beach Boys), and actor Mia Farrow and her sister Prudence.

The following is a short documentary of the Rishikesh experience:

The Beatles: Parting Ways - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Prudence Farrow is the daughter of Maureen O’Sullivan, the actor who played Jane in the Tarzan films, and director John Farrow. Today, she’s a reputed meditation teacher and film producer, and the author of her memoir “Dear Prudence, the story behind the song”.

Prudence, Lennon and Harrison had experimented with LSD before resorting to meditation, so John and George were assigned to be Prudence’s “team buddies”.  But Prudence was so “prudent” and committed to meditation that she wouldn’t leave her room for days on end. In other words, she didn’t come out to play nor open her eyes to see the sunny skies.

To sum up, we could say that “Dear Prudence” was not inspired by any drug or any type of meditation. It was simply and obviously inspired by Prudence Farrow.

In the following video you can see and listen to Prudence telling us about the song, meditation and life in general.

Prudence Farrow Bruns | Conversations with Jeff Weeks | WSRE

LSD

LSD might well be a new post for this blog, a song also written by The Beatles in 1967: Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds released in the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band., and which either refers to the drug and its effects or describes  a magical world cartoon for toddlers. You choose:

Picture yourself in a boat on a river
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies.

Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly,
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes.

Follow her down to a bridge by the fountain
Where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies.

Listen to the song here:

The Beatles - Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

But when you hear the word LSD, what will come to most people’s mind is the hallucinogenic drug Lysergic acid diethylamide  or simply acid, whose effects include  increases of blood pressure and body temperature as well as the experience of delusion, this latter means that you see or hear things that do not exist, but everybody knows that you can get the same effects every time you watch the news on TV.

LSD was first synthesized in 1938 by Albert Hofmann. He was also the first to learn of his psychedelic effects. In the 1950’s, the CIA thought the drug could be used to control the mind of the people, so they launched a programme named MKUltra.

But it was also tested on British marines. We can enjoy some original footage here:

LSD - Testing On British Marines (1964) 

Some considered LSD a spiritual drug as it provokes out-of-body experiences in which a person seems to perceive the world from a position outside their physical body. One of this was Timothy Leary, the best advocate of the use of LSD for “spiritual” purposes.

In this video you can listen to his theory:

Timothy Leary - What Is LSD? 

Now if you want to see Paul McCartney on Acid, you should see this:

Paul McCartney on Acid

His stand brings up two relevant questions:

1. Whether to be honest or not as drug consumption is concerned. Would you tell your children that you have taken drugs at some time in your life?
2. The responsibilities of the media to spread private information that can damage the public image of celebrities and at the same time encourage young people to imitate their idols.

ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE: TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION

If you are one of those who are reluctant to try both old and new drugs and would rather another play the part of the guinea pig, you have the opportunity to attend part of a lecture held in Canada, in 1968 by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi himself.

Transcendental Meditation: Mechanics of the Technique (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi)

But if you want to go in depth in this discipline you should see this video:

 Transcendental Meditation Technique - A Complete Introduction

Now you need some relaxing music. I recommend this:

Within You Without You was written by George Harrison and inpired by his stay in India with his sitar teacher. 

The Beatles, WITHIN YOU WITHOUT YOU

Now you are ready to practice meditation.

 

But remember:

BE PRUDENT!

Thousands Are Sailing by The Pogues

Thousands Are Sailing is a song by Irish band The Pogues, released in their 1988 album If I Should Fall From Grace With God.

The song deals with the massive migration from Ireland to the USA caused by the Irish potato famine in the 1840s.

REFUGEES FROM FEAR OF PRIESTS WITH EMPTY PLATES

The causes that lead people to abandon their countries are multiple and varied. Most people are forced to leave their homeland and families behind due to the hazards of political persecution or armed conflicts. Sometimes, when your life is at stake, fleeing is the only way to survive. When you belong to a catholic culture, and you see people starve all around, even priests having to endure the shortage of food, then you know it’s time to seek for refuge elsewhere, otherwise, you are bound to perish.

The great Irish famine was the consequence of a potato blight that infected the crops and deprived the Irish poor of their staple food, the potato, thus causing massive starvation in a long period of Irish history, at a time when the whole island was still under British rule.

During this period, about one million people died and over a million more emigrated.

If you want to know more about the Irish Great Famine, you ought to see this documentary:

Ireland’s Great Hunger and the Irish Diaspora, narrated by Gabriel Byrne

ON A COFFIN SHIP I CAME HERE

In the lyrics video you can see a ship covered with skeletons. This ship is a bronze sculpture, part of the Famine National Monument in Murrisk, County Mayo.

The term coffin ship has two meanings; one refers to the overloaded ships that carried Irish immigrants away, often sick and always hungry.  The mortality rate during the voyage was between 20% and 50 %.

Hence they are sailing:

To a land of opportunity

That some of them will never see

The other meaning of coffin ship defines a vessel that is more valuable to its owner sunk than afloat and is, therefore, overinsured to provide a considerable benefit in case it sinks.

At the time of the Famine, some Irish coffin ships were both: they carried immigrants and were likely to sink, so that they were overinsured.

An example of this was the Hannah, a ship carrying Irish immigrants to Canada that sunk in 1849.  49 passengers died in the shipwreck, not the captain and the two officers, who took the only lifeboat and abandoned the sinking ship.

If we compare this historical shipwreck with the Titanic’s, either for implying a much smaller death toll  or for transporting only Irish farmers fleeing the Famine, made this story much less worth making a major motion picture.

The Dunbrody is the replica of a coffin ship found in New Ross, Wexford County; a tourist attraction that you should visit.

The Dunbrody - Irish Famine Ship

REFUGEES FROM GUILT AND WEEPING EFFIGIES

It’s quite unlikely that the effigies mentioned in the song are the same as the ones located on the Dublin quays, as these were not presented to the public until 1997 and the song was released in 1988.

The guilt may refer to the feeling produced by the need to leave family and friends behind: the weeping effigies saying goodbye on the quay.

DUBLIN, the spectacular and expressive IRISH FAMINE MEMORIAL, IRELAND

In the song we can find references to famous Irish immigrants or famous descendants of Irish immigrants who represent the spirit of Ireland migration.

And "the blackbird" broke the silence

As you whistled it so sweet

And in Brendan Behan’s footsteps

I danced up and down the street

BRENDAN BEHAN (1923-1964) was one of the greatest writers of all times, Irish Republican, heavy drinker, author of many witty remarks, such as: “If it was raining soup, the Irish would go out with forks.”

You can also visit his sculpture in Dublin, it’s located next to the prison where he spent some years, sitting on a bench and whistling to a blackbird, all of them in bronze.

Here, you can listen to his views on various issues:

Tipped our hats to Mister Cohen

Dear old Times Square's favourite bard

“Mister Cohen” is GEORGE M. COHAN (1878-1942). He was an American entertainer and composer, born to Irish catholic parents, considered the creator of Broadway American anthem due to his prolific career as songwriter.

You can know more about his work here:

AUDIO AND VIDEO:

George M. Cohan, 'The Man Who Created Broadway,' Was An Anthem Machine

Then we raised a glass to JFK

And a dozen more besides

JFK or JOHN FITGERALD KENNEDY (1917-1963), was the first catholic president of the USA; all of his grandparents were children of Irish immigrants.

THE ISLAND IT IS SILENT NOW,

BUT THE GHOSTS STILL HAUNT THE WAVES

Even though Ireland is an island, surrounded by a raging sea - perhaps populated by the ghosts of the drowned in the shipwrecks of coffin ships - some interpretations of the song identify the island of the song as Ellis Island.

Ellis Island was the gateway to the USA for immigrants from all over the world from 1892 until 1954. Here, the newcomers were “inspected” and “processed”. Quoting  Wikipedia; “Today, over 100 million Americans — about one-third to 40% of the population of the United States — can trace their ancestry to immigrants who arrived in America at Ellis Island before dispersing to points all over the country”

In this documentary, you can listen to testimonies of how immigrants’ health and capacities were tested.

Immigration Through Ellis Island Documentary 

Next to Ellis island is Liberty Island, where the newcomers could enjoy the view of the symbol of the USA, the Statue of Liberty. Inside the statue, you can read Emma Lazarus sonnet, The New Colossus, but you can also read it and listen to it here.

The New Colossus – Emma Lazarus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

If you want to know more about the writing of this poem and its current controversy you should watch this video:

"Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor": Trump Admin Attacks Emma Lazarus's Iconic Poem on Statue of Liberty

POSTCARDS WE'RE MAILING OF SKY-BLUE SKIES AND OCEANS FROM ROOMS THE DAYLIGHT NEVER SEES

These lines refer to the bad conditions some immigrants were forced to live after their arrival in their new countries. Very often it was difficult for Irish immigrants to find a job. This discrimination had started in the UK, where NINA signs were common. These were called NINA as they read: “Help wanted- No Irish need apply”.

If you have enough knowledge of the Irish idiosyncrasy, you certainly will know that they adore singing their joys and sorrows away, so, from 1860 on, songs like this could be heard:

No Irish Need Apply Song

DEBATE 

• Recently, there has been much public debate on the media related to the arrival of immigrants in Europe and the USA.
• People seem to have opposing stands on immigration. Some feel that all of them are entitled to seek asylum and governments of any country are ethically obliged to admit them.
• Others oppose strongly to this idea providing arguments such as they are enjoying financial and medical help without having paid taxes beforehand; or that they usually cause an increase in unemployment by reducing the native’s opportunities to find a job.

Mississippi Goddam by NINA SIMONE

Mississippi Goddam was written in 1964 by Nina Simone. It was a response to the upheaval brought about by the assassinations and threats carried out by white supremacists against Civil Rights activists in US Southern states.

Alabama's gotten me so upset

Tennessee made me lose my rest

The civil rights movement’s main aim was to ensure legal rights for African-Americans in the USA. During the 60s, the movement gained force by organizing protests based o non-violent campaigns and civil disobedience.

These activities were seen as a menace by the white supremacists and other racist groups, which took terrorist actions. The most outrageous ones took place in the Southern states. In the song, Simone mentions three examples:

Alabama: The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham. An act of terrorism which killed four girls and injured 22 others on 15th September 1963.

Tennessee: Civil Rights lawyer Zephaniah Alexander Looby died at the bomb attack of his house in Nashville on April 19th, 1960.

And everybody knows about Mississippi goddam

The most conspicuous of these acts was the assassination of Medgar Evers on June 12, 1963 by a member of the Ku Klus Klan.

Medgar Evers was a World War II veteran and a Civil Rights activist whose aim was to end segregation. He lived in Jackson, Mississippi, immersed in a white supremacist population and enduring constant threats of death.

For this very reason, both FBI and local police officers regularly escorted him home. However, on the day of his assassination, the police forces were inexplicably not present.

According to the sources, he was shot from his back, and when taken to the hospital, he was refused entry, as people of colour were not allowed to enter.

In the trial, an all-white jury could not agree on a verdict and, as a consequence, the accused was acquitted.

Not until 1994 was he convicted following a new trial based on new evidence and after Evers’s body had been exhumed for an autopsy.

In 1964, Bob Dylan released a more explicit version of this song, giving his personal interpretation of Medgar Evers’ assassination. The song is called "Only a Pawn in Their Game" and assumes how poor whites are manipulated by the rich whites to avoid responsibility.

Here you can listen to Dylan singing the song during a march in Washinton in  August 1963.

 but this whole country is full of lies
I don't trust you any more

Mississippi Goddam was Simone’s first civil rights song. According to her words, it was written “In a rush of fury, hatred and determination” and it was supposed to be “like throwing ten bullets back at them”. The single was boycotted in some Southern radio stations and in some cases they even destroyed the copies and sent them back to the record company.

From that moment on the American music industry was reluctant to publish her music. She became so disappointed and frustrated that she left the country in1970, first she flew to Barbados and then she lived in different countries for the rest of her life.

Yes you lied to me all these years
You told me to wash and clean my ears
And talk real fine just like a lady
And you'd stop calling me Sister Sadie

These lines referred to the relations between races in the USA during decades. The roots of the term Sister Sadie can be found in Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. Sadie was Slave Jim’s wife and Widow Douglas’ cook.

Sadie became the female counterpart of Jim Crow, a character used to portray African-Americans in an offensive way. What Simone is trying to say here is that the message they received was that if you looked like a lady and behaved like a lady, the whites wouldn’t call you Sister Sadie, but call you by your real name. In other words, what was the use of doing things according to the rules if you were not treated as equal?

This is a show tune
But the show hasn't been written for it, yet

This is an ironic remark aimed at an audience that was partially white. It’s supposedly meant to contrast the dramatic facts described but later on she says:

I made you thought I was kiddin'

What makes us realize that she’s really enraged and she’s talking in earnest.

Picket lines
School boycotts
They try to say it's a communist plot
All I want is equality
For my sister my brother my people and me

With these lines, Simone is addressing The COINTELPRO (Portmanteau word from COunter INTELligence PROgram), a programme launched by the FBI to discredit the civil rights movement by describing their members as communists.

Americans have never held communists under a high esteem, but you can imagine the public opinion  just in the middle of the Cold War era ad having into consideration the URSS-USA relationships (see 1960 Bay Of Pigs Invasion and  1962 Cuban Missile Crisis,  and maybe you will begin to understand why Kennedy’s assassination in 1963 was also considered a plot).

Desegregation ad reunification

The civil rights movement and the fight for equal rights was a long-term battle that lasted decades. The trouble and strife of the African-American population are reflected in music, cinema and literature.

The screen version of Medgar Ever’s assassination was released in 1966 and titled Ghosts of Mississippi, however, the plot is based on the story of the 1994 trial. Here you can see the trailer.

A much more successful depiction of the racist scenario is accomplished in 1988 Mississippi Burning. Set in a fictional Mississippi county and loosely based on the disappearance and assassination of three civil rights workers in 1964.

Here you can see the trailer of Alan Parker’s film starring Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe as two FBI agents investigating the case and meeting the hostility of both residents and local authorities.

As for literature, we can find an excellent example in Clock Without Hands, a novel published on September 18, 1961, offering a plausible plot which describes with mastery contemporary characters and situations from the point of view of a reliable eye-witness, the Southern novelist Carson McCullers.

Here you can read one of the few reviews of this book:

A Clock Without Hands Review

Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, 1960, is another example of a novel inviting to the  discussion of the right of a human being to kill or spare the life of another, apart from that, the author also tells us the story of the family of a lawyer defending a black man falsely accused of raping the daughter of a white family

Here you can read the original review published in the New York Times:

To Kill A Mockingbird Review.