Dear One

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]

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