For Millennials. By Millennials.
This weekend, the world celebrated what would have been the 80th birthday of John Lennon. So, his son, Sean Ono Lennon, decided to listen to his father’s music while talking to Strombo. He also talked about the various stories behind those songs, that most fans do not know of. He especially explained how listening to John Lennon’s final album, Double Fantasy, is difficult for him.
The journey of the Beatles came to an end in 1970, when Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr decided to break up the most successful band in history. However, it was not the end of their individual musical journeys. However, John Lennon’s career was cut short because of his assassination by Mark David Chapman on December 8, 1980. Last weekend, many celebrities and fans around the world celebrated John’s 80th birthday, remembering his legacy.
Sean Ono Lennon remembers the trauma behind John Lennon’s last album
And so, his son Sean Ono Lennon sat down and listened to his father’s music, while talking about behind the scene stories that no one had heard of. During an interview with Apple Music’s George Stroumboulopoulos, Strombo, Sean focused on one particular album. This album was Double Fantasy, John Lennon’s fifth and final album before his death, released in November of 1980.
Double Fantasy has a number of love songs, that John Lennon dedicated to his wife, Yoko Ono. After his death, this album won the 1981 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Sean also recently undertook a new song collection of his father, named Gimme Some Truth: The Ultimate Mixes. And while listening to that, Sean says:
When we got to ‘Double Fantasy’, it was difficult for me personally because I remember (John and Yoko) making that record, and that was the record he was making when he died. So, I have a lot of trauma associated with that period, but a lot of nice memories too, obviously. And I wasn’t worried about that going in because I wasn’t thinking about that.
It was really difficult for Sean to work on that mix while recalling those troubled times. He further said:
I was just worried about f*****g it up … I’m really proud of it and, yeah, by the time we got to ‘Double Fantasy’, I was like, ‘Whoa, I better get a sip of water.’ It was pretty intense.
Despite the trauma, Sean remembers the good times
Despite the trauma associated with that music at the time, Sean admitted that part of the experience was beautiful too. After all, he is remembering the beautiful memories related to John Lennon. He further said:
It was beautiful too. Just hearing how much love my dad had for my mom and vice versa. And music is I think one of the best memory triggers. And frankly, ‘Double Fantasy’ is not an album that I get up every day and like, ‘Hey, you’re going to listen to that’. So, I hadn’t heard those songs in a long time, and it was really beautiful and it was deep, but it’s not something that I would want to go through over and over again. It was all so emotional for me.”
