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5.00pm
31 March 2008
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‘Dear Friend’ is the penultimate song on Wings’ debut album Wild Life. See more…
The song was written for John Lennon, at a time when he and Paul McCartney were conducting a public argument in their albums and the pages of the UK music press.
Often I would think of John, and what a pity it was that we’d argued so publicly and so viciously at times. At the time of writing this song, in early 1971, he’d called the McCartney album ‘rubbish’ in Rolling Stone magazine. It was a really difficult time. I just felt sad about the breakdown in our friendship, and this song kind of came flowing out. ‘Dear friend, what’s the time?/Is this really the borderline?’ Are we splitting up? Is this ‘you go your way; I’ll go mine’?
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3.03am
17 January 2013
Offline .. as in the song from Wings “Wild Life ” album… like so many others, is it true if this one was written for John? Ugh, what a beautiful song. So many feels.
If it’s truly written for John, that’s some strong McLennon game… 
"Please don't bring your banjo back, I know where it's been.. I wasn't hardly gone a day, when it became the scene.. Banjos! Banjos! All the time, I can't forget that tune.. and if I ever see another banjo, I'm going out and buy a big balloon!"
5.30am
Reviewers
17 December 2012
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“Dear Friend was written about John, yes. I don’t like grief and arguments, they always bug me. Life is too precious, although we often find ourselves guilty of doing it. So after John has slagged me off in public, I had to think of a response, and it was either to be [to] slag him off in public—some instinct stopped me, which I’m really glad about—or do something else. So I worked on my attitude and wrote Dear Friend, saying, in effect, let’s lay the guns down, let’s hang up our boxing gloves.” — Paul McCartney
@LongHairedLady
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The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966
2.55pm
Reviewers
29 November 2012
Offline I love both guys but How Do You Sleep? vs. Dear Friend tells you all you need to know about their approaches to their disagreements. At least they patched it up by ’73/’74.
"I know you, you know me; one thing I can tell you is you got to be free!"
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3.00pm
8 November 2012
Offline DrBeatle said
I love both guys but How Do You Sleep? vs. Dear Friend tells you all you need to know about their approaches to their disagreements. At least they patched it up by ’73/’74.
I never got the feeling they really patched it up. It felt like an uncomfortable truce.
parlance
3.20pm
Reviewers
29 November 2012
Offline parlance said
DrBeatle said
I love both guys but How Do You Sleep? vs. Dear Friend tells you all you need to know about their approaches to their disagreements. At least they patched it up by ’73/’74.I never got the feeling they really patched it up. It felt like an uncomfortable truce.
parlance
True, it was never like it had been pre-1970, although it was certainly close enough that they’d hang out with their wives and exchange cards and letters. Not to beat a dead horse but I attribute a LOT of that to Yoko. By all accounts, Paul’s, Linda’s, May’s, Jagger’s, Clapton’s, anyone else who knew him, etc…John was SO DIFFERENT, in a good way, during the 2 years he was with May vs. the years he spent with Yoko.
"I know you, you know me; one thing I can tell you is you got to be free!"
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3.26pm
1 November 2013
Offline DrBeatle said
parlance said
DrBeatle said
I love both guys but How Do You Sleep? vs. Dear Friend tells you all you need to know about their approaches to their disagreements. At least they patched it up by ’73/’74.I never got the feeling they really patched it up. It felt like an uncomfortable truce.
parlance
True, it was never like it had been pre-1970, although it was certainly close enough that they’d hang out with their wives and exchange cards and letters. Not to beat a dead horse but I attribute a LOT of that to Yoko. By all accounts, Paul’s, Linda’s, May’s, Jagger’s, Clapton’s, anyone else who knew him, etc…John was SO DIFFERENT, in a good way, during the 2 years he was with May vs. the years he spent with Yoko.
The thing I never got about that is why Yoko sent Paul to bring John back?
3.41pm
Reviewers
29 November 2012
Offline More than that, why did Paul do it? He KNEW John was happier with May and his relationship with John was better when he was with May. It’s almost an act of self-sabotage and after what Yoko had done to his and John’s friendship, ANYONE ELSE in his position would’ve told her to f**k off and enjoy her life as John’s second ex-wife. Yet Paul did the nice thing and helped them get back together.
Still doesn’t mean I agree with it!
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5.37pm
8 November 2012
Offline DrBeatle said
More than that, why did Paul do it? He KNEW John was happier with May and his relationship with John was better when he was with May. It’s almost an act of self-sabotage and after what Yoko had done to his and John’s friendship, ANYONE ELSE in his position would’ve told her to f**k off and enjoy her life as John’s second ex-wife. Yet Paul did the nice thing and helped them get back together.Still doesn’t mean I agree with it!
I get the impression Paul reunited them because was he hearing reports of John’s drunken, destructive behavior, and there was a genuine concern that John would die if he kept it up. It seemed to be the general consensus that, for better or worse, Yoko would have more control over him than May.
parlance
6.12pm
Reviewers
16 December 2013
Offline ^ I have to agree with @parlance on that matter. For a while, I did believe that Yoko might had manipulated Paul into convincing John to get back to her, but now I believe that Paul did it because he thought it to be the right thing to do.
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Richard7.00pm
Reviewers
29 November 2012
Offline And just another reason to admire Paul. It’s too bad that John was so self-destructive then, though, because in terms of his emotional health and love life, May seemed to be infinitely better for him than Yoko. His friendships were actually allowed to breathe when he was with May during that period, too.
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7.31pm
Reviewers
17 December 2012
Offline I just don’t see how a question about whether a song Paul wrote around 1970/71 was about John becomes another excuse to complain about Yoko’s supposedly “malign” effect on John, and Paul’s role in reuniting them several years after the song was written.
That broken record is so very tiresome. I hate how it is always dragged out and jammed into conversation after conversation. The Yoko complaints crammed in Here, There And Everywhere just bore me!
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The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966
7.50pm
Reviewers
29 November 2012
Offline Sorry, mja/Ron! It seems we got sidetracked when the discussion about the song turned to their feud and eventual making-up. Steering it back on course now! 
"I know you, you know me; one thing I can tell you is you got to be free!"
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11.14pm
17 October 2013
Offline Ron Nasty said
I just don’t see how a question about whether a song Paul wrote around 1970/71 was about John becomes another excuse to complain about Yoko’s supposedly “malign” effect on John, and Paul’s role in reuniting them several years after the song was written.That broken record is so very tiresome. I hate how it is always dragged out and jammed into conversation after conversation. The Yoko complaints crammed in Here, There And Everywhere just bore me!
I think the connection flowed naturally from the bitterness of John and Paul’s dispute. As you know, all threads evolve as the discussion moves on and eventually this one too will run out of steam or derail.………All Things Must Pass .
Yoko’s emotional manipulation of John, and then when it suited her, the triggering willingly, or unwillingly of Paul’s protective feelings and fondness for John; in order for him, (and irony) to play a part in her machinations, is in my opinion still relevant……….. Well as relevant as all the other ‘broken records’ and topics done to death here and elsewhere in the last 50 years………..
………..Topics that you and I are still absorbed in.
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Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
Offline It might flow naturally (personally i don’t think it did here but hey ho) but its incredible tedious at times reading the same things over and over in multiple threads.
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12.26am
5 February 2014
Offline Whose Yoko? 
12.30am
1 November 2013
Offline cra said
Whose Yoko?
@C.R.A.
Yoko Ono is John’s Second wife here is a picture of her modern day
12.48am
Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
Offline cra said
Whose Yoko?
I don’t think Yoko belongs to anyone.
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12.59am
1 November 2013
Offline 4.36am
1 August 2013
Offline “Dear Friend” is an interesting song. Musically, it’s unique in Paul’s catalogue. And I love the subtle changes in his singing: the first time through the verses, he sounds forlorn and regretful; when he repeats them, there’s an edge to his voice — some anger, and almost a taunting or sarcastic tone. The lyrics fit both moods perfectly and take on different meanings (and double meanings) in each.
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