Dear Boy (song)

"Dear Boy" is a song from the Paul McCartney album Ram. Credited to Paul and Linda McCartney, the song was written during the couple's lengthy holiday on their farm in the Mull of Kintyre. The lyrics were written by Paul about how lucky he was to have Linda.

"Dear Boy"
Song by Paul McCartney
from the album Ram
PublishedMPL Music Publishing
Released17 May 1971
Recorded1 March 1971
GenreArt pop
Length2:12
LabelApple
Songwriter(s)Paul and Linda McCartney
Producer(s)Paul and Linda McCartney
Ram track listing
12 tracks
Side one
  1. "Too Many People"
  2. "3 Legs"
  3. "Ram On"
  4. "Dear Boy"
  5. "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey"
  6. "Smile Away"
Side two
  1. "Heart of the Country"
  2. "Monkberry Moon Delight"
  3. "Eat at Home"
  4. "Long Haired Lady"
  5. "Ram On"
  6. "The Back Seat of My Car"

Background

"Dear Boy" was written as an autobiographical song about his relationship with his wife, Linda. He says in a 1971 interview,

Dear Boy was my attempt at an autobiography about myself and how lucky I was to have Linda. I never realized how lucky I was to have her until I began writing the song.[1]

"Dear Boy" was also written as a message to Linda McCartney's ex-husband, Joseph Melville See, about how See missed out on Linda. In the 2012 RAM Special Edition Documentary, McCartney describes the song as written about Linda's former husband, Joseph Melville See Jr., and the things he hadn't seen in her. He said on the topic in 2001,

Dear Boy was actually a song to Linda's ex-husband: "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.'[1]

— Paul McCartney, Mojo, 2001

McCartney's former partner John Lennon, however, thought that the song was about him. Certain lines such as "She was just the cutest thing around" could have referred to McCartney as being the cute Beatle. He may have changed the gender to conceal his identity and Lennon mentioned in subsequent interviews that the Ram album had subtle allusions to himself and Yoko Ono. Since then, however, McCartney has said that the song was not about Lennon.[1]

Covers

Singer-songwriter David Cloyd released a cover of the song on 13 September 2011.[2]

Personnel

References
  1. "Dear Boy". beatlesbible.com.
  2. "David Cloyd: "Dear Boy"". Allmusic. 13 September 2011. Retrieved 28 December 2011.


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