Dear One

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"Dear One"
Song by George Harrison
from the album Thirty Three & 1/3
Released19 November 1976
Genre Rock, pop
Length5:08
Label Dark Horse
Songwriter(s) George Harrison
Producer(s) George Harrison with Tom Scott

"Dear One" is a song by English musician George Harrison, released in 1976 on his album Thirty Three & 1/3 . The song was inspired by, and dedicated to, Paramahansa Yogananda, whose 1946 book Autobiography of a Yogi was a great influence on Harrison. Aside from keyboard player Richard Tee, Harrison plays all the instruments on the recording.

Contents

History

Harrison wrote the lyrics to "Dear One" in 1976 during a vacation to the Virgin Islands, shortly before starting work on Thirty Three & 1/3 . [1] In his autobiography, I, Me, Mine , Harrison says that he believes the song is the only one he ever wrote in open A tuning. [1] The lyrics are directed to Premavatar Paramahansa Yogananda, [2] author of Autobiography of a Yogi , who Harrison called "a great influence on my life". [1] While in India in 1966, [3] Harrison was given a copy of Yogananda's book by Ravi Shankar's brother, after which, author Peter Doggett writes, Harrison "read every Indian spiritual text he could find". [4]

Apart from American musician Richard Tee on organ, Harrison played all the instruments on the recording: acoustic guitars, synthesizers and percussion (hi-hats). [5] As with the song "See Yourself", Harrison dedicated "Dear One" to Yogananda on the credits to the Thirty Three & 1/3 album. [6]

In his Encyclopedia of Popular Music , Colin Larkin describes the track as a song that "could have come straight off of The Beatles' Abbey Road ". He adds: "'Dear One' weaves a haunting, Indian-influenced melody with a big pop chorus to create an intensely moving song of devotion." [7]

Personnel

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Thirty Three & 1/3 (CD booklet). George Harrison. Dark Horse Records. 2004. p. 2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  2. Thirty Three & 1/3 (CD booklet). George Harrison. Dark Horse Records. 2004. p. 9.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  3. Gary Tillery, Working Class Mystic: A Spiritual Biography of George Harrison, Quest Books (Wheaton, IL, 2011; ISBN   978-0-8356-0900-5), p. 56.
  4. Peter Doggett, You Never Give Me Your Money: The Beatles After the Breakup, It Books (New York, NY, 2011; ISBN   978-0-06-177418-8), p. 22.
  5. Chip Madinger & Mark Easter, Eight Arms to Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium, 44.1 Productions (Chesterfield, MO, 2000; ISBN   0-615-11724-4), p. 454.
  6. Ian Inglis, The Words and Music of George Harrison, Praeger (Santa Barbara, CA, 2010; ISBN   978-0-313-37532-3), pp. 60, 62.
  7. "Harrison, George – Thirty-Three & 1/3: Encyclopedia of Popular Music", oxfordindex.oup.com (retrieved 8 March 2015).