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Dear Friend Lyrics
Dear friend, what's the time?
Is this really the borderline?
Does it really mean so much to you?
Are you afraid, or is it true?
Dear friend, throw the wine.
I'm in love with a friend of mine.
Really truly, young and newly wed.
Are you a fool, or is it true?
Are you afraid, or is it true?
Is this really the borderline?
Does it really mean so much to you?
Are you afraid, or is it true?
I'm in love with a friend of mine.
Really truly, young and newly wed.
Are you a fool, or is it true?
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It seems a lot more of a reconciliatory song to me. Since it was written when tensions between him and John were past the peak and the "borderlines" of friendship seemed to have only the options to fade or come back to sight.
He seems to me like the music apologizes for him while the lyrics say, "be happy for me, and we can be happy together. Unless you're so stubborn that your envy/hatred won't fade."
The words Dear Friend seem to cry out for good times past.
Someday it will all come out, till then, how many 100% straight guys write songs for and about each other like Lennon/McCartney did? They were each others muses, get over it. :) Is it really such a horrible thing if they were in love?
Care to elaborate what makes it a stab at John Lennon? I've always heard that, but the lyrics are vague enough that it could be about anything or anyone. What do all of the questions in the song mean?
The second verse "Dear Friend throw the wine, I'm in love..." seems to say "be happy for me, I'm in love".
I’m so surprised that anyone reads this as “a stab” at Lennon, when to me it so clearly feels like a sad olive branch. He’s asking if it’s really over, and he sounds torn up over it. Some words about it from McCartney:
“With ‘Dear Friend,’ that’s sort of me talking to John after we’d had all the sort of disputes about the Beatles breakup,” McCartney explained in 2018, after he released two raw demos of the song as part of an album reissue project. “I find it very emotional when I listen to it now. I have to sort of choke it back. I remember when I heard the song recently, listening to the roughs [remastering works in progress] in the car and I thought, ‘Oh God.’”
This song was no doubt a direct stab at John Lennon.
I just want to add this just because there is a common misconception that this was written for the Wild Life album, it wasn't. It was recorded during the RAM sessions so any reference to a fight between friends happened before John Lennon's HDYSleep.
With “Lyrics” published, we’ll learn a lot more about the background and meaning of this song - and of many more marvelous Macca songs!