Credited to Paul and Linda McCartney, the song was written during the couple's lengthy holiday on their farm in the Mull of Kintyre.
"Dear Boy" was written as an autobiographical song about his relationship with his wife, Linda.
In the 2012 Ram Special Edition Documentary, McCartney describes the song as written about Linda's former husband, Joseph Melville See Jr., and the things he hadn't seen in her.
He said on the topic in 2001, Dear Boy was actually a song to Linda's ex-husband: "I guess you never knew what you had missed."
He may have changed the gender to conceal his identity and Lennon mentioned in subsequent interviews that the Ram album had subtle allusions to himself and Yoko Ono.