Sean Ono Lennon was interviewed by Chris Hawkins on 6 Music where he discusses awards, his parents’ legacy, working with James McCartney and a the collaboration potential with other musical Beatles children.
What was it like working with your good friend James McCartney?
Sean Ono Lennon - Well it was really special for me. It actually happened quite some time ago, so I wasn't sure if the song was going to come out or not. He had made another record since we’d worked on that song. And so I was very surprised when he gave me a text and said “Hey, can we put Primrose Hill out?” and I was like “Well, it's about time I was hoping you would put it out!” So yeah, I was thrilled you know. I thought he had forgotten about it or whatever.
But it happened very naturally. I think a lot of people, I’ve been seeing just the comments section (which I guess one should avoid) but I’ve noticed that people kind of assume we’re trying to start something or we were doing it in order to fulfil something for the Beatles fans.
But actually it came about very naturally. I was just at his flat in London and he was telling me about a girl he had a crush on, and he was sort of writing a song about it and he kind of wanted me to help him. And so all I really did was say “Well hey, where did you guys go on your first date?” and he was like “Well we went and had a picnic on Primrose Hill and we sat on Primrose Hill” and I said alright and I just wrote that down “we sat on Primrose Hill”, “Next what happened next?” and I just sort of took a dictation really of him telling me the story about his memories and his feelings. So that's all I really did. I didn't do much. I just sort of helped him get his ideas down, you know?
Asked about collaboration potential with other musical Beatles children
Sean Ono Lennon- That seems like it would take a lot more planning than we’re probably able to deal with. But we all like each other and we’re all friends and I do support what they do. I mean I love Zac’s new band Mantra of the Cosmos, it's really cool. It's really cool, what I've heard so far.
And James, he’s just, I would say, he was born with this magical voice. I mean he just has this incredible gift. His pitch is incredible, his expression is incredible and I would say he was born with that, you know. He’s also born with an incredible talent on the guitar.
And you know Danny and I are very close because we’ve been working together indirectly I guess through Beatles stuff and I really love his last album and the one he did with [inaudible] that Mongolian band. But yeah, I mean it's unlikely that we would do something, cause the only reason we would do that is because of the Beatles and it's a bit too much. It would be a bit weird I think. But I'm not against playing with anybody that I like. I’m very open, you know. I write a lot of songs with a lot of people and I produce a lot of records so when James wanted help with the song I wasn't going to say no to that because it felt natural and basically I'm open to working with people with whom I feel a natural affinity. but I'm not gonna do it because of some expectation or some other idea, if that makes sense.
