The Real ‘Dear Prudence’ on Meeting Beatles in India
In January of 1968, a then-20-year-old Prudence Farrow finally fulfilled a dream of hers that had been in the making for two years: to study meditation under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Rishikesh, India. Accompanied by her sister, actress Mia, Farrow was later joined at the Maharishi’s retreat by none other than the members of the Beatles and their significant others. The Fab Four’s stay in India has been well-documented — aside from seeking spiritual enlightenment through the Maharishi, they wrote songs that later ended up on their self-titled two-record set, better known as the White Album, released later that year.
But Farrow didn’t get caught up in the buzz surrounding the Beatles‘ presence at the retreat. Rather, she was more preoccupied with meditating for long hours in her room. Her single-minded devotion to meditation inspired John Lennon to compose “Dear Prudence” (number 63 on Rolling Stone‘s 100 Greatest Beatles Songs), which later appeared on the White Album. Discussing the song in an interview with Playboy, published posthumously in 1981, Lennon remarked that Farrow “wouldn’t come out of the little hut we were living in… We got her out of the house — she’d been locked in for three weeks and wouldn’t come out. She was trying to find God quicker than anyone else. That was the competition in Maharishi’s camp: who was going to get cosmic first.”
The daughter of director-screenwriter John Farrow and actress Maureen O’Sullivan, Prudence Farrow led a tumultuous life during her teen years; her desire to seek spiritual meaning eventually led her to meditation and the Maharishi. Now married with children and a teacher of transcendental meditation in Florida, Prudence Farrow Bruns recently published her memoir, Dear Prudence: The Story Behind the Song, which covers her Hollywood childhood through the visit to India. She talked to Rolling Stone about her memories of the Beatles at the retreat, the first time she heard “Dear Prudence” and what the song has meant to her over the past half-century.
What made you decide to write the book?
My grandson invited me to his high school to meet his friends. I forgot about “Dear Prudence,” and I thought, “Why does he want me in his high school?” So I went. The kids wanted my autographs; they wanted stories. And I was amazed how well versed they were in the Beatles music and history. As a result of that, I went on to the middle school and lower school where there was also an interest to meet me.
I think besides being great musicians, [the Beatles] really resonated on the level that they were going through and saying what we were all feeling, so they were kind of a voice [for] a lot of us. So the fact that all these young kids now were interested in the Beatles meant that to me that voice was still resonating and still being heard.
The Real ‘Dear Prudence’ on Meeting Beatles in India, Page 1 of 4