Julian Lennon revealed he’d watched Peter Jackson’s in-depth Beatles documentary Get Back, admitting the film helped him “appreciate” his father again.
Released in 2021, Jackson’s film featured more than six hours of unseen footage, chronicling the Beatles during the occasionally contentious sessions for Let It Be.
Julian, the eldest of John Lennon’s sons, admitted the documentary was “a lot to process,” but noted it ultimately helped him remember his father.
“It really reminded me of the way Dad used to be,” Julian explained to Yahoo Music. “You know, when we were together, when I was a kid, he was funny, goofy, sarcastic, talented, moody, broody — but fun. And that was all the things that he was to me when we lived together. And it made me fall in love with him again, which was really lovely. It made me appreciate him again, and reminded me of how he was before everything went a bit pear-shaped.”
Julian and his famous father had a strained relationship. Julian’s mother, Cynthia, was John’s first wife. The couple divorced in 1968 after John had an affair with Yoko Ono, whom he’d later marry in 1969. For many years, John had no contact with Julian, but the Beatle made an effort to reconnect in the mid-’70s and the relationship between the two had reportedly gotten much better prior to John’s tragic murder in 1980.
“Certainly we tried to embrace each other’s company and tried to learn about each other again before he passed,” Julian recalled. “And it was an enjoyable experience. It was great. And I was longing to hang out with him even more, but you know, sadly what happened, happened. … So, [Get Back] was just a way of remembering who he was and seeing the human side of him again. And that inspired me, and I loved that.”
Julian’s new album — his first since 2011 — is called Jude, a nod to the famous Beatles track written for him by Paul McCartney. “It just felt like the right title and the right thing, and owning it,” Julian explained. ”It’s about also breaking through any fear and anxiety I used to have about the Beatles, about Dad, about everything.”
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