Sean Ono Lennon was only a toddler when his father’s tragic death sent shockwaves emanating from the front steps of the Dakota in New York City all around the world. Decades later, as an adult himself, Lennon found a poignant silver lining in the harrowing experience that changed his and his mother Yoko Ono’s lives forever: stewarding his father’s music.
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In a 2024 interview with AP News, Lennon revealed the small positives he’s been able to identify in his grief.
Sean Ono Lennon Finds Silver Lining In Tragedy
On December 8, 1980, Mark David Chapman killed John Lennon outside of the former Beatle’s Dakota apartment in New York City. Sean Ono Lennon, Lennon’s child with his second wife, Yoko Ono, was only five years old. Sean’s memories of his father were susceptible to the foggy haze of childhood recollection and colored by his late father’s global reputation as an iconic rockstar.
Sean has now surpassed his father in age and has taken on the responsibility of maintaining his predecessor’s artistic legacy. While this cause certainly can’t compensate for the pain and loss Sean suffered due to Chapman’s criminal act, the “Primrose Hill” artist has found a silver lining in the hurt.
“I think I would have rebelled more against my dad’s and my mom’s music if I had grown up with my dad in the house, and I had been angry at him or rebelled against him,” Sean told the Associated Press. “Because he wasn’t around, I’ve always really cherished the music as a sort of a living part of him.”
He continued, “What else can I do in this Earth to express my love and reverence for my father than to do an incredibly meticulous job of taking care of his music? I can’t actually think of anything else other than taking care of my mother, which I try to do as well.”
The Musician Calls His Stewardship As “Forensic”
Part of Sean Ono Lennon’s pursuit to honor his father John Lennon’s legacy included a short film based on the 1971 song “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” and a box set of his father’s 1973 album Mind Games. Critics offered scant praise for the reissue, partially for the distaste for the original and partially because of the changes Sean Lennon made.
“There are some people who feel that it’s taking liberties, and I guess it technically is,” Sean said of the Mind Games criticism. “The way I look at it is, if I’m going to do the best job I can, the only way I can do that is to follow my heart and make it sound the best that it can sound. If that means maybe turning down an instrument a lot in a certain section because I don’t think it’s helping, then I’m going to do that.”
“It’s very forensic work,” he continued. “I’m not worried about what someone else is going to think. I’m just in there trying to do good by my dad, and I really feel that I know how to do good by him because I know his music better than I know anybody else’s music.”
Photo by Lionel Hahn/Getty Images
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