"Dear Friend" or "Here Today"

Which song is the better song, for John?

"Dear Friend" was written to John while he was alive.

or

"Here Today" was written after John passed.

Dear Friend is not For John

Music critic Ian MacDonald used "Dear Friend" as a counter-argument to the caricature of McCartney as an emotional lightweight.

Along with "Dear Friend," the album's powerful title track proved to be quite solid, being one of McCartney's stronger political songs, in this case in support of animal rights.

Dear Friend
© 1971 MPL Communications (P.& L.McCartney)

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?

I'd have to go with Here Today, personally. Actually, it's one of my favourite McCartney songs in general.

Dear Friend is beautiful yes, and even more so because it was a reconciliation song (and they did get their friendship back a bit later), but Here Today is so much more personal. It's really poignant and emotional and full of love for his old friend.

always liked george's tribute to john the most, but they all are great...

" all those years ago..."

gk.

"Here Today"says what we all would say about a departed loved one. Great song; I remember holding back a tear or two first time I heard it.

Originally Posted by Loony_leo

I'd have to go with Here Today, personally. Actually, it's one of my favourite McCartney songs in general.

... as good and poignant that song is, it's made doubly so by George Martin's touching string arrangement (one of his best !)

i never thought here today was a great song, although its a nice tribute.

All those years ago is fantastic

Here Today

Originally Posted by ABCKO

... as good and poignant that song is, it's made doubly so by George Martin's touching string arrangement (one of his best !)

Oh, most definitely!!

Its really lovely that they collaborated for this particular song. It was probably a cathartic thing for George Martin to write the string arrangement, he too had lost a dear friend.

Originally Posted by Badgirl66

Dear Friend is not For John

When I first heard the song a year or two ago (and heard that it was supposedly about John) I found it a little hard to believe.

But, in a recent interview with Clash music from October of this year, Paul admitted that "Dear Friend" is about John.

Many people thought "Let Me Roll It" was a wink at John because of the re verb Paul uses on his vocals (John was always masking his vocals with effects because he didn't like the sound of his own voice. Crazy to think that the man who belted out Twist N Shout wouldn't like his own voice, but I digress).

How much of the feud between you and The Beatles was actually spiteful? On the album there’s ‘Let Me Roll It’, which was apparently a response to Lennon, but the lyrics sound like a plea to be friends...

Well, no, there was other stuff that was more like that. ‘Let Me Roll It’ wasn’t to John, it was just in the style that we did with The Beatles that John was particularly known for. It was really actually the use of the echo. It was one of those: ‘You’re not going to use echo just cos John used it?’ I don’t think so. To tell you the truth, that was more [about] rolling a joint. That was the double meaning there: “let me roll it to you”. That was more at the back of mind than anything else. ‘Dear Friend’ [from 1971’s ‘Wild Life’], that was very much ‘let’s be friends’ to John.

http://www.clashmusic.com/feature/th...paul-mccartney


I think "Dear Friend" is a truce song. Paul, on his album Ram, came out with "Too Many People" and "Three Legs" with snarky lines geared at John and Yoko. John began to thing the whole album was a dig at him, so he came out with the mean and biting "How Do You Sleep?"
They'd also been going through legal troubles and complaining and moaning about each other in interviews.
Paul came out with "Dear Friend" as a kind of an Olive Branch.

Originally Posted by Zimmerman The Gnome

i never thought here today was a great song, although its a nice tribute.

All those years ago is fantastic

I'm with Gnome, here.

I really love Dear Friend, though. I love the whole sound of the song, tempo, all that.

I'm with Leo above. My vote is for "Here Today," although both songs are quite good.

They both are emotional songs for Paul. He seldom sings about personal things, but he does in these two beatiful songs about and for John. I have an preference for "Here Today", especialy hearing it live I choke up.

I do like "All these years ago", but I find " Here Today" a more emotional and personal song.