Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)

Facts about the song:

• Lennon wrote this for his second son, Sean, who he had with Yoko Ono. Sean was born in 1975.


• It was released on the 1980 album Double Fantasy, the last album Lennon released before his death.


• It begins with John comforting his son from what is presumably a nightmare and develops into John passionately describing the love he has for his son and the joy Sean gave him. At the end of the song, John whispers "Goodnight Sean, see you in the morning.


• The line, "Every day and in every way I am getting better and better" is a self-improvement mantra. It was popularized by a French psychologist named Emile Coue, who made his patients repeat the lines "Day by day, in every way, I am getting better and better" (Tous les jours à tous points de vue je vais de mieux en mieux) over and over again as part of therapy.


• The lyrics of "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)" also contain a famous Lennon quote: "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."


• It is featured in the movie Mr. Holland's Opus featuring Richard Dreyfuss.


• "The song 'Beautiful Boy' was written for, or about, me. It was also just a story of a father. It was a father-not particularly John, any father-talking to his son, saying, before you cross the street, take my hand. Don't worry because the monster's not there and you can sleep, there's no turtle under the bed trying to eat you up. It was just a beautiful song written about all the things that fathers say to their little boys before they go to sleep." - Sean Lennon

Lyrics

Close your eyes,
Have no fear,
The monsters gone,
He's on the run and your daddy's here,

Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy,

Before you go to sleep,
Say a little prayer,
Every day in every way,
It's getting better and better,

Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy,

Out on the ocean sailing away,
I can hardly wait,
To see you to come of age,
But I guess we'll both,
Just have to be patient,
Yes it's a long way to go,
But in the meantime,

Before you cross the street,
Take my hand,
Life is just what happens to you,
While your busy making other plans,

Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy,
Darling,
Darling,
Darling Sean.