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:

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?
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.