Sean Ono Lennon has had a varied career as a musician, producer and songwriter. When asked what part of the music-making process he enjoyed most, Lennon replied: “It's easy: I love writing and recording and I hate finishing.”
Along with his mother Yoko Ono, now in her 90s, he has added a new job: guardian of his father's legacy. “Yes, technically,” he said, “but obviously the world is also the custodian of his legacy, I would say. I'm just doing my best to help the younger generation remember The Beatles, John and Yoko. That's how I look at it.”
– Do you think this is even possible? I asked.
“Forget about it? That's actually what I do,” Lennon said. “And I've never done this before.”
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For his parents' classic song “Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” Lennon sought new ways to get it heard. “I wanted to see if I could feel like maybe it sounded like you were hearing it again for the first time, or at least in a new context, so that you would pay attention rather than, 'Oh, there it is on the radio again.'
Lennon collaborated with former Pixar animator Dave Mullins to produce the short film The War Is Over! “We came up with the idea of two soldiers playing chess on opposite sides of a war,” Lennon said. “I also read an article about the heroic carrier pigeons of World War I and World War II.”
The 11-minute film, now available on YouTube, won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film last year. “It was like the Miss Universe pageant or something,” Lennon said, “and I just stood there and cried.”
He took the moment to shout out to his mom, “So, could everyone please say, 'Happy Mother's Day, Yoko!'”
“This is a personal matter”
Lennon said: “My parents gave me so much that I think this is the least I can do to try to carry on their legacy while they are alive. I feel like I just owe them. This is a personal matter.”
What does he see as their legacy? “Peace and love,” he said. “But it’s not just peace and love. It’s an attitude toward activism that comes out with humor and love.”
That attitude is evident in the new HBO documentary “One to One,” about John and Yoko's 1972 benefit concert at Madison Square Garden—the only concert John and Yoko performed together. “The only proper concert,” Lennon said, “and certainly the only concert I think where he also played a Beatles song (‘Come Together’) because I think he was just in a good mood.”
To watch the One on One trailer, click on the video player below:
The concert took place during Lennon's early years in New York, when he was fighting a bitter deportation battle with the Nixon administration, in part due to his anti-war activism.
In the film, Lennon said, there were recordings he had never heard: “They found these phone conversations that my parents had recorded about themselves, which, interestingly, were in response to the FBI wiretapping their phones. So they thought, “Well, we need to tap our own phones. Because if they try to say we said something we didn't say, we'll have our own record of it.”
The documentary captured John and Yoko at a critical time in their lives. “Yeah, and you know, that’s actually my origin story,” Lennon said. “If you think about it, they came to New York and that's the only reason I exist.”
I asked, “Are you seeing something that perhaps you haven’t seen before? Or have you seen it all before?
“I haven’t seen all the home footage of One on One,” he said. “I haven’t heard these phone recordings before. It's like an opportunity to spend more time with my father. So it actually means a lot to me on a personal level.”
Sean produced the music (also released as a box set). He's also working on his own new album, his third with Claypool Lennon Delirium, which he describes as “kind of a quirky prog-rock, experimental psych band. It's fun!”
Claypool Lennon Delirium performing “Blood and Rockets”:
Lennon and James McCartney (Paul's son) also worked on a new song with Zak Starkey (Ringo's son), raising hopes that the Children of the Beatles might team up.
When asked if they had been approached to perform together, Lennon replied: “Of course. I think people ask for this a lot, but I really think it would be funny. But you know, the reason Zach, James and I wrote the song together isn't because we're trying to remake The Beatles, it's just because we like each other. We're not going to do this because of any expectations or to, for example, live up to someone else's expectations of what we should do. It should be natural.”
Sean Lennon takes his new responsibilities very seriously: “I think the music of the Beatles and the legacy of John and Yoko is something important to the world that needs to be cherished and remembered. That's how I see my work.”
Asked how his mother was doing, Lennon replied: “She’s good. I mean, she's 92 years old, so she's slowed down a lot and is retired. That's why I'm trying to do the work she used to do. And I think my father was less like that. You know, he had Paul to write with, and then he hoped that my mom would be sort of a writing partner. And I just think it's really funny that, you know, there's probably only one person in the world who would turn down John Lennon as a writing partner, and that's my mom, you know?
“That’s probably why he liked her,” I said.
“Yes, that's right. No, that’s absolutely true!” Lennon laughed.
WEB EXCLUSIVE: Watch the extended interview with Sean Ono Lennon (Video)
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The story was produced by Amol Mhatre. Editor: Jason Schmidt.
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