Even though Julian Lennon, the firstborn son of John, will turn a significant milestone in age next April, he is still only 2 years old.
This is due to the singer-formal songwriter’s name change to Julian Charles John Lennon in 2020. The musician was really born John Charles Julian Lennon to the late Beatles legend and his first wife Cynthia Lennon.
Lennon, 59, told, “I’d always take an issue with that, since I’d always been known as Julian — first and foremost to my mum. “And at airport security, I used to get a lot of flak for [having the name John. People would glance at my passport, might not recognize me, and exclaim, “John Lennon—ha, ha, that’s amusing.” After dealing with it publicly for over 30 to 40 years, I finally said, “You know what? For God’s sake, I want to be me, not Julian.”
And on Friday, this man officially known as Julian will release “Jude,” his first album in 11 years. The album is released 37 years after Lennon’s first two US singles, “Too Late for Goodbyes” and “Valotte,” both of which reached the Top 10.
And if the album name “Jude” piques the interest of Beatlemaniacs, then sure, it is a nod to the Fab Four’s No. 1 single from 1968, “Hey Jude.” The song was initially titled “Hey Jules” by Paul McCartney to console John Lennon’s young boy when his father abandoned his mother for Yoko Ono. The Beatles scion still has conflicted emotions about the sweetest of serenades that were performed to “make things better” for a young boy.
Lennon added, “I wasn’t old enough to know what it meant back then. Of course, it’s wonderful to have a song written about you, especially one that was composed out of compassion. But I believe that a large portion of the general public was unaware that, in many ways, it reminded me of the moment my father left the house. When he left my mother and I at that time, I was more concerned about my mother’s welfare and well-being than I was about myself.
“Jude” is the album’s title, and McCartney personally gave it a FaceTime thumbs up. The album’s cover features an impression of a youthful Lennon looking thoughtful. Paul has my utmost regard and love, and I can’t express my gratitude to him enough, remarked John Lennon.
When the thorough documentary “Get Back,” which showed the Beatles on the cusp of the largest band breakup in history, came out last year, Lennon got to watch the private inner workings between his father, McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. His 46-year-old half-brother Sean Lennon, whose mother is Ono, persuaded him to come up for the screening after he was initially hesitant to watch the movie for the first time in public.
I replied, “Okay, let’s go together. Lennon, who felt a stronger bond with his father after viewing the video, remarked, “We’ll go hand in hand and be brothers in arms. He strongly reminded me of our earlier times hanging out, back when I was younger. He was obviously very cynical, quick-witted, smart ass, and silly. He was there as I remembered him before he walked out the door, therefore I have to admit that I fell in love with that again.
“He claimed, “I had no plans to record or sing my father’s or the Beatles’ songs again.” They performed a fantastic job the first time, in my opinion.”
“I feel irritated about things, but I try to look at it from a more positive viewpoint with all the work that I produce, said Lennon, a Monaco-based artist who keeps his father’s utopian vision alive on “Jude.”
