Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)

"Beautiful Boy"
"Beautiful Boy"
Single by Celine Dion
from the album Miracle
Released	4 October 2004
Recorded	2004 Digital Insights Recording, Chartmarker Studios, Sony Studios
Genre	Pop
Length	3:53
Label	Columbia; Epic;
Songwriter(s)	John Lennon
Producer(s)	David Foster
Celine Dion singles chronology

"Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)"
"Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)"
Single by John Lennon
from the album Double Fantasy
A-side	"Watching the Wheels"
Released	11 April 1981
Recorded	1980
Genre	Pop rock
Length	4:02
Label	Geffen
Songwriter(s)	John Lennon
Producer(s)	John Lennon; Yoko Ono; Jack Douglas;
John Lennon singles chronology
Double Fantasy track listing
	show 14 tracks

"Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)" is a song written and performed by John Lennon. It was released on the 1980 album Double Fantasy, the last album by Lennon and Ono released before his death.

Paul McCartney has stated this is one of his favourite songs composed by Lennon, and when he appeared on Desert Island Discs in 1982 included it as his favourite in his selection, as did Yoko Ono as the only John Lennon song in 2007.^[1]^[2]

It was used as the B-side of "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" to promote the compilation album The John Lennon Collection in November 1982.

Lyrics[]

The song was for Lennon's son, Sean, his only child with Yoko Ono. 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 Lennon whispers, "Good night, Sean. See you in the morning. Bright and early."

The lyrics of "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)" contain the famous Allen Saunders 1957 Readers Digest quote "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans”.

Personnel[]

John Lennon – vocals, acoustic guitar, vocoder
Earl Slick – acoustic guitar
Hugh McCracken – lead guitar
Tony Levin – bass guitar
George Small – keyboards
Robert Greenidge – steelpan
Arthur Jenkins – percussion
Randy Stein – English concertina

Celine Dion version[]

"Beautiful Boy" was recorded by Celine Dion for her album, Miracle (2004). It was released on 4 October 2004, in North America and parts of Europe as the first promotional single.^[3]

The song reached number two on the Quebec Airplay Chart. "Beautiful Boy" was also popular on adult contemporary charts, peaking at number 18 in the US and number 23 in Canada.^[4]^[5] It also reached number 30 on the Hungarian Airplay Chart.

Dion performed this song on a few US TV shows, including Live with Regis and Kelly.

Charts[]

Chart (2004–2005)	Peak position
Canada AC (Billboard)^[5]	23
Hungary (Rádiós Top 40)^[6]	30
Quebec (ADISQ)^[7]	2
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)^[4]	18

In other media[]

In 2014, Lennon's version was played in the DreamWorks movie Mr. Peabody & Sherman as background during Mr. Peabody's journey through his memories of Sherman as he grew up. The song was also included as track 7 on the movie soundtrack.
US sitcom The New Normal used the song in its season one finale, "The Big Day".^[8]
"Beautiful Boy" is played by autistic character in the CBS show God Friended Me in 2018.
The line "Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans" is referred in the 2015 video game Life Is Strange.
The same line is referred in the song 'Right Side Of Wrong' from Bon Jovi, which was released on their Album 'Bounce' in 2002.
"Beautiful Boy" (2018) by Felix Van Groeningen was named after Lennon's song, his song is also sung by the main character to his own son.
In "Mr. Holland's Opus" (1995), the song is sung and signed in American sign language by the title character (played by Richard Dreyfuss) to his deaf son, Cole.

References[]

^ "Paul McCartney: Desert Island Discs". BBC. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
^ "Yoko Ono: Desert Island Discs". BBC. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^ "R&R Going for Adds" (PDF). Radio & Records. 1 October 2004. p. 20. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b "Celine Dion Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b "R&R Canada AC Top 30" (PDF). Radio & Records. 3 December 2004. p. 48. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
^ "Archívum – Slágerlisták – MAHASZ" (in Hungarian). Rádiós Top 40 játszási lista. Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
^ "Le Palmarès". ADISQ. Archived from the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
^ "Yoko Ono Approves Use of John Lennon Song in 'The New Normal'". Rolling Stone. 7 March 2013. Retrieved 16 September 2017.

External links[]

[1] "Paul McCartney: Desert Island Discs". BBC. Retrieved 4 August 2012.

[2] "Yoko Ono: Desert Island Discs". BBC. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

[3] "R&R Going for Adds" (PDF). Radio & Records. 1 October 2004. p. 20. Retrieved 2 September 2019.

[USAC-4] Jump up to: ^a ^b "Celine Dion Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard. Retrieved 11 October 2014.

[CanadaAC-5] Jump up to: ^a ^b "R&R Canada AC Top 30" (PDF). Radio & Records. 3 December 2004. p. 48. Retrieved 2 September 2019.

[sc_Hungary_-6] "Archívum – Slágerlisták – MAHASZ" (in Hungarian). Rádiós Top 40 játszási lista. Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége. Retrieved 11 October 2014.

[7] "Le Palmarès". ADISQ. Archived from the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved 11 October 2014.

[8] "Yoko Ono Approves Use of John Lennon Song in 'The New Normal'". Rolling Stone. 7 March 2013. Retrieved 16 September 2017.

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show v t Celine Dion English singles
Singles discography Albums discography
1980s	"Listen to the Magic Man" "Michael's Song" "Can't Live with You, Can't Live Without You"
1990s	"(If There Was) Any Other Way" "Unison" "Where Does My Heart Beat Now" "The Last to Know" "Have a Heart" "Beauty and the Beast" "If You Asked Me To" "Nothing Broken but My Heart" "Love Can Move Mountains" "Water from the Moon" "Did You Give Enough Love" "When I Fall in Love" "The Power of Love" "Misled" "Love Lights the World" "Think Twice" "Only One Road" "Calling You" "Next Plane Out" "Just Walk Away" "To Love You More" "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" "Falling into You" "Because You Loved Me" "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" "The Power of the Dream" "All by Myself" "Send Me a Lover" "Call the Man" "Make You Happy" "Dreamin' of You" "Tell Him" "Be the Man" "The Reason" "My Heart Will Go On" "Immortality" "When I Need You" "I Hate You Then I Love You" "Miles to Go (Before I Sleep)" "You've Got a Friend" "I'm Your Angel" "It's Hard to Say Goodbye" "The Prayer" "Treat Her Like a Lady" "That's the Way It Is" "Then You Look at Me"
2000s	"Live (for the One I Love)" "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" "I Want You to Need Me" "If Walls Could Talk" "Don't Save It All for Christmas Day" "God Bless America" "A New Day Has Come" "I'm Alive" "Goodbye's (The Saddest Word)" "At Last" "I Drove All Night" "Have You Ever Been in Love" "One Heart" "Stand by Your Side" "Faith" "You and I" "Beautiful Boy" "Miracle" "In Some Small Way" "Taking Chances" "Eyes on Me" "A World to Believe In" "Alone" "My Love"
2010s	"Loved Me Back to Life" "Breakaway" "Incredible" "Water and a Flame" "Hymn" "The Show Must Go On" "Recovering" "Ashes" "Flying on My Own" "Imperfections" "Lying Down" "Courage"
Other	"Voices That Care" "What More Can I Give" "Come Together Now" "Sing" "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" "How Does a Moment Last Forever"
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