"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.

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

• George Harrison – vocals, acoustic guitars, synthesizers, hi-hat, shaker, backing vocals
• Richard Tee – organ

References

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