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"Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)"
Single by John Lennon
from the album Double Fantasy
Released	November 17, 1980 (1980-11-17)
Format	7" single
Genre	Rock/Pop
Length	4:06
Label	Geffen Records
Writer(s)	John Lennon
Producer	John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Jack Douglas

"Beautiful Boy"
Single by Céline Dion
from the album Miracle
Released	October 11, 2004 (2004-10-11)
Format	Promotional recording
Recorded	Digital Insights Recording, Chartmarker Studios, Sony Studios
Genre	Pop
Length	3:53
Label	Columbia, Epic
Writer(s)	John Lennon
Producer	David Foster
Céline Dion singles chronology
"You and I" (2004) "Beautiful Boy" (2004) "Miracle" (2004)

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

The song was written 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 whispers "Good night Sean, see you in the morning."

The lines "Every day in every way/It's getting better and better" are repeated in the song. They are inspired by the mantra of French psychologist Émile Coué, who had 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.

It's also been suggested that the lyrics "Every day in every way/It's getting better and better" are something of a tribute to Paul McCartney, as Paul had written the famous song "Getting Better" on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which included the lyrics "It's getting better and better."

At the end of the song, John Lennon whispers "Good night, Sean. See you in the morning. Right again" in a similar fashion to what Ringo Starr whispers at the end of the Beatles song Good Night, which was a song written by John Lennon for his other son, Julian Lennon.

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." Sheryl Crow uses a similar line ("Life is what happens while you're making plans") in the song "Diamond Road" from her 2002 album, C'mon C'mon.

This song is not to be confused with "Beautiful Boys," a song by Yoko Ono that also appears on Double Fantasy.

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

Cover versions

Céline Dion version

"Beautiful Boy" was recorded by Céline Dion for her album Miracle. It was released on October 11, 2004 in North America and parts of Europe as the first promotional single.^[1]

The song reached number 2 on the Quebec Airplay Chart. "Beautiful Boy" was also popular on the adult contemporary charts, peaking at number 18 in the U.S. and number 32 in Canada. It also reached number 30 on the Hungarian Airplay Chart.

Dion performed this song on few U.S. TV shows, including Live with Regis and Kelly. There was no music video made.

Céline Dion also covered another John Lennon track "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" in 1998 for her These Are Special Times album.

Other versions

• In 1998, "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)" was covered by Japanese trio, Dreams Come True, as the B-side to their "Ahaha" single, which was later released on a 65th anniversary tribute album in 2005.^[2]
• In 2006, it was covered by UK rock band Feeder as part of a tribute album, given away with Q magazine, titled Lennon: Covered Vol 1.
• In 2007, it was covered by Ben Harper for the benefit album Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur.

References