JOHN RE‘IMAGINED’
Lennon’s son revisits famed dad’s music
Sean Ono Lennon’s first experience reworking his father’s catalog was terrifying and intimidating, but he had two main goals in mind to keep him on track: Preserve his father’s message in the songs and help the late icon’s music reach a younger audience.
On Friday, which would have been John Lennon’s 80th birthday, “GIMME SOME TRUTH. THE ULTIMATE MIXES” was released, with 36 tracks handpicked by Yoko Ono and Sean Ono Lennon, who served as executive producer and producer on the project. The duo worked closely with engineer and mixer Paul Hicks to maintain the essence of the songs, which were completely remixed.
Ono Lennon, who shares the same birthday as his father and turned 45 on Friday, came out stronger at the end of the at-times heavy process.
“I knew that it was going to be kind of introspective for me, obviously. I was scared going into it to be honest. I had a fear of messing
everything up or not being helpful or it being too emotionally difficult to just listen to my dad’s voice over and over again,” Ono Lennon said. “Especially ‘Double Fantasy.’ It
triggers a whole period of my childhood that was tough because that’s when he died. I had a lot of resistance working on that record actually.”
“Ultimately it was very healing. It was like therapy. It was very therapeutic in the end. I’m very glad that I got to do it. I would not have revisited those songs on ‘Double Fantasy’ without having this project. It turned out to be kind of a cathartic thing.”
“GIMME SOME TRUTH” includes Lennon’s post-Beatles songs, from “Imagine” to “Woman” to “Whatever Gets You Thru the Night,” and it will be released digitally, on CD and on vinyl.
“For me, the real motivation is this music can’t be forgotten. Especially ‘ Gimme Some Truth,’ for example, which is the track we chose to lead with. I’ve never felt like my dad’s music was more needed in terms of message than literally this week, like right now,” Ono Lennon said of the protest song.
“I think a lot of people who are cynical assume that, ‘ Oh everyone knows those songs.’ No, they don’t. There are a lot of kids who don’t know the difference between Ringo [Starr] and Paul [McCartney]. There’s a lot of kids who don’t know the difference between Mick Jagger and my dad.”