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

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful
Beautiful boy
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
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful
Beautiful boy

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

Before you cross the street
Take my hand
Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful
Beautiful boy
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

Darling, darling, darling
Darling Sean

(Goodnight Sean, see you in the morning)


Lyrics submitted by kevin, edited by Storminnorman

Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) Lyrics as written by John Lennon

Lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing

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Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) song meanings
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22 Comments

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  • +3
    General Comment

    John always felt he had neglected his first son Julian, but rather than trying to make that up to Julian, John spent every minute he could with his new son Sean.

    I love the line, "Life is what happens to you, while you're busy making other plans." and it's so true too but no one seems to notice. He even refers to "Getting Better" in that last verse. I miss John

    ChaosFluro24on September 28, 2002   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    Has a special place for my song who was born July 31, 2012. This is my first time being a father, and I can honestly say I feel exactly like this. My son means more to me than anything in this world.

    proghead81on September 11, 2012   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    Im sure that you all are right.. However, I kinda look at this song in a different way. (Sorry, ended up a little longer than I expected..)The way I see it,

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

    He is most likely talking to his son. Maybe he could be talking to us? We are in a time of war. A time of seperatness. A time with more borders than bridges. Hard times for sure, just as it was for them. Maybe he is saying close your eyes, and have no fear. The monster (this attitude, or feeling of seperatness which governs our reality) is on the run (as a peace activist, he believed what he was doing was making a change) and your daddy's here (maybe you could look at him as the father figure, trying to protect the world from war and hate.)

    Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful Beautiful boy

    Again.. I'm sure you are all right and he is talking about his son.. I interpret as he sees 1) the tremendous amount of beauty this world has to offer, 2) how much beauty is being ignored, and 3) he sees the unlimited amount of potential beauty. Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful (three times..)

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

    Out on the ocean sailing away.. I believe I heard somewhere that he had prophesized his own death? I'm sure the Nixon Administration and their antics had led him to believe that this was possible. I think, and again this is just my interpretation, he is saying that he may not live to see (sailing away) this world become a better place (or come of age), but he can hardly wait. So I guess we'll both just have to be patient, because it's a long way to go. This isn't going to be easy, and there's a lot of progress to be made (A hard row to hoe).

    Before you cross the street Take my hand Life is what happens to you While you're busy making other plans

    Again.. My interpretation.. Before you cross the street, take my hand. Maybe before people make rash, life altering, world impact decisions (like going to war, whether it be Vietnam or Iraq..) they should listen to what he has to say (take my hand), and "Give Peace A Chance". We are constantly drawing Battle Lines, (making plans) for war, or drawing borders (too keep people out instead of welcoming them in). We are too busy.. And what life could be is just passing us right by. I believe we get a glimpse every once in a while though. But somehow the people that understand this "pose a threat". I guess it lightens one too many pocketbooks for comfort...

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

    Maybe he is saying that once brought to light, we can fix the situation. Put in a little effort (say a little prayer), and every day in every way, it's going to get better and better...

    Just a thought..

    StlChefon June 23, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    It's all the more moving for the fact that he never did get to see his son grow up and spread his wings.

    Comrade_Liaron April 30, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    gee, i like the comments so much, I can't bring my self to even try to interpret this song...

    blood_victoron June 04, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I think this song is so simple. I don't usually think that about Lennon's songs.

    Anway, this song, to me, is simply and ode to his son, whom he quite music to spend time with. Now, if someone like John is going to quite their ultimate love in life for their son, then I'd expect that they write something about that person.

    LennonGenius!on June 05, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I think this song is so simple. I don't usually think that about Lennon's songs.

    Anway, this song, to me, is simply and ode to his son, whom he quite music to spend time with. Now, if someone like John is going to quite their ultimate love in life for their son, then I'd expect that they write something about that person.

    LennonGenius!on June 05, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    This song is so sweet and tender :-)

    borovon January 10, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I agree with ChaosFluro24!

    pJ ;p

    JOHN LENNON FOREVER!

    handsdown4dbeatleson February 13, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    This is such a sweet song and it makes me so sad whenever I listen to it---John loved Sean so much and like the song said, he couldn't wait to see him come of age, but unfortunately he didn't get to. :(

    SgtPepperGirlon March 14, 2006   Link

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