John Lennon’s son Julian reveals the ‘frustrating’ Beatles song that drives him ‘up the wall’
nypost.comJulian Lennon, the son of Beatles guitarist John Lennon, revealed Tuesday that he hates the song “Hey Jude” because it reminds him of his parents’ bitter divorce in 1968, when John left her for Yoko Ono.Julian, 60, remarked that Sir Paul McCartney penned the song to comfort both Cynthia Lennon and himself following the split. “It’s a beautiful sentiment, no question about that, and I’m very thankful — but I’ve also been driven up the wall by it,” the Beatles scion told Esquire. “I love the fact that he wrote a song about me and for Mum, but depending on what side of the bed one woke up on, and where you’re hearing it, it can be a good or a slightly frustrating thing.” Despite the slew of bad memories it conjures, Julian did explain that “there’s not a bad word I could say” about the song itself.
According to the musician, people have often quoted the song to him, not realizing all the pain behind the lyrics. “Every time you quote that,” Julian said, “it reminds me of my mother being separated from my father, the love that was lost, the fact that I rarely saw my father again ever.” “I saw him maybe a couple of times before he died,” Julian added of his father. “A lot of people don’t quite get how intense, how emotional, and how personal that is.
It’s not just a ‘pick yourself up and dust yourself off and be happy.’ There’s deep emotional pain. I can celebrate it — but also it’s something that’ll always be dark to me.”Before his murder in 1980, John was reportedly aware that his former bandmate McCartney, 81, had written the classic tune for his son, but said in an interview that he always thought the song was also for him.
Read more on nypost.com