The Beatles - Julia

"Julia" is a song by The Beatles. It is the final song on side two (and disc one, in the CD era) of the band's 1968 album, The Beatles (often called The White Album).

"Julia" was written by John Lennon, and features Lennon on vocals and acoustic guitar. It was written during the Beatles' 1968 visit to India, where they were studying under the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It was here Lennon learned the song's finger-picking guitar style (known as 'Travis-picking') from the Scottish musician Donovan. No other Beatle sings or plays on the recording. While Paul McCartney made several "solo" compositions attributed to the group, dating back to his famous song "Yesterday", this is the only time that Lennon played and sang unaccompanied on a Beatles track.

"Julia" was written for John's mother Julia Lennon (1914-1958), who was knocked down and killed by a car driven by an off-duty police officer when John was still only 17 years old. It was also written for his future wife Yoko Ono, whose first name, which literally means "child of the sea" in Japanese, is echoed in lyrics such as "Oceanchild, calls me." An alternative theory suggests that the song was written for Julian Lennon, John's son.

The first two lines of the song "Half of what I say is meaningless/ But I say it just to reach you, Julia" were adapted from the poem "Sand and Foam," by the Lebanese poet Kahlil Gibran. The original line is: "Half of what I say is meaningless; but I say it so that the other half may reach you." The line, "When I cannot sing my heart/I can only speak my mind" is taken from the line, "When life does not find a singer to sing her heart she produces a philosopher to speak her mind," from the same work.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• the
• beatles
• john
• lennon
• paul
• mccartney
• gorge
• harrison
• white
• album
• julia
• liverpool
• rock

[KianaIsKool]

my name is julia  but my friends call me hoolia!!

[smilinstevie88]

My name is Wayne. I'm pretty sure that this song was written for me. : P

[tishhead]

@peony70 thank goodness you made it all the way to the last track. otherwise your daughter might have been rocky raccoon.

[BennyBoop036]

ha my name is julia and i used to hate it but its beautiful after you listen to this

[avk64]

Love this song!!!

[AwsomeJullia]

@KianaIsKool my maths teacher cant say Julia and she call me hoolia too xD

[coliter]

My name is Valerio and I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with the song

[RockinRobert19]

This song is so beautiful and peaceful...

[shadeofthetrees]

This song somehow hits me on a level not too different than being an infant again, curled up in my mother's arms, and being rocked to sleep. Powerful stuff, Mr. Lennon.

[actioncock]

@mrsbieber422 damn girl, why is your account name 'mrsbieber' ?

[zanniluvdove]

their are lots of julia`s and i'm one of them