Dear Boy

Album: Ram (1971)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Paul McCartney wrote "Dear Boy" about how lucky he felt to have Linda as his wife, but he also had her ex-husband, Joseph Melville See Jr., in mind. He told Mojo in 2001: "'I guess you never knew what you had missed.' I never told him that, which was lucky, because he's since committed suicide. And it was a comment about him, 'cause I did think, 'Gosh, you know, she's so amazing, I suppose you didn't get it.'"
  • Linda, who provided backing vocals on Let It Be," sang counterpoint on this. McCartney recalled in the liner notes for Ram's 2012 reissue: "On something like 'Dear Boy,' which was more complex – on 'Let It Be' it was basically one high note – on this there were more melodic lines so it was quite complex to do, but I could see that she could do it. So we just took the time. I put my part on, and then encouraged Linda to just take it easy, relax, put a good performance in, which she did. And years later, some of my really cool, professional friends who knew what was good and what wasn't, would listen to those harmonies and point them out and say, 'Those are really great harmonies.' I remember Elton John commenting on that, and I remember Michael Jackson commenting on that."
  • This is part of McCartney's second solo album, Ram, which took a bashing from critics. The NME review called it "an excursion into almost unrelieved tedium."

    Of course, he was being leveled against The Beatles, which isn't a fair standard. The album gained more fans in retrospect, and was re-released in 2012.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Is That Song Public Domain?

Is That Song Public Domain?Fact or Fiction

Are classic songs like "Over The Rainbow" and "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" in the public domain?

A Monster Ate My Red Two: Sesame Street's Greatest Song Spoofs

A Monster Ate My Red Two: Sesame Street's Greatest Song SpoofsSong Writing

When singers started spoofing their own songs on Sesame Street, the results were both educational and hilarious - here are the best of them.

Amanda Palmer

Amanda PalmerSongwriter Interviews

Call us crazy, but we like it when an artist comes around who doesn't mesh with the status quo.

Jello Biafra

Jello BiafraSongwriter Interviews

The former Dead Kennedys frontman on the past, present and future of the band, what music makes us "pliant and stupid," and what he learned from Alice Cooper.

Martyn Ware of Heaven 17

Martyn Ware of Heaven 17Songwriter Interviews

Martyn talks about producing Tina Turner, some Heaven 17 hits, and his work with the British Electric Foundation.

Charlotte Caffey of The Go-Go's

Charlotte Caffey of The Go-Go'sSongwriter Interviews

Charlotte was established in the LA punk scene when a freaky girl named Belinda approached her wearing a garbage bag.