New York Post

‘BEATLES’ MUSIC IS REBORN

Sons come together

- By CHUCK ARNOLD carnold@nypost.com

Here come the sons: Sixty-two years after The Beatles released their debut single in the UK, 1962’s “Love Me Do” — one of the first of many classic songs written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney — their offspring have come together to bring back their tune making magic.

“Primrose Hill,” the new single by James McCartney — Sir Paul’s only son, with his late wife, Linda — was co-written by Sean Ono Lennon, John’s youngest son from his marriage to Yoko Ono.

And the next generation does their papas proud on this wistful beauty of a ballad that recalls some of the nostalgic reverie of “Now and Then,” which was released to much fanfare in November as the last Beatles song.

Released on Friday, “Primrose Hill,” named for a public park in London, is the first-ever collaborat­ion between McCartney, 46, and Lennon, 48, and the first new “Lennon-McCartney” tune since 1969.

And if any song could sound just like taking a bitterswee­t stroll in the park with nothing but your longing memories, then this one pretty much captures it.

There’s instantly something familiar about it — both the dreamy moodiness and McCartney’s lilting delivery — but it never seems to fall into Beatles mimicry.

Nor does it ever reach the heights of Beatles transcende­nce — I mean, how could it?

The lyrics almost border on lovesick cliché at one point: “Forever’s not long enough to be loving you/Forever and a day/I look into your eyes, it’s such a great surprise/You take my breath away.”

But if you just lose yourself in the warm, woozy feeling, you’ll get over that.

“‘Primrose Hill’ is here!” McCartney wrote in a post on Instagram, alongside a photo of him and Lennon. “Today I am so very excited to share my latest song cowritten by my good friend @sean_ono_lennon.”

McCartney — who, after releasing his last album, “The Blackberry Train,” in 2016, dropped another single, “Beautiful,” earlier this year — also teased that more new music is on the way: “With the release of this song it feels like we’re really getting the ball rolling and I am so excited to continue to share music with you.”

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Sean Ono Lennon (near left) and James McCartney have collaborat­ed on a song released by McCartney called “Primrose Hill,” which The Post’s Chuck Arnold calls “dreamy” and “lilting,” but not slavishly imitative of their fathers’ music.
HELP: Sean Ono Lennon (near left) and James McCartney have collaborat­ed on a song released by McCartney called “Primrose Hill,” which The Post’s Chuck Arnold calls “dreamy” and “lilting,” but not slavishly imitative of their fathers’ music.

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