Remixing dad’s music ‘therapy’ for Ono Lennon
Son aims to preserve late icon’s message and help those songs reach younger audience
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 what would have been John Lennon’s 80th birthday, “GIMME SOME TRUTH.
THE ULTIMATE MIXES” was released Friday and includes 36 tracks hand-picked by Yoko Ono and Sean Ono Lennon, who serve 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, 45, 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. ...
“For me, the real motivation is this music can’t be forgotten. ... 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 and Paul. There’s a lot of kids who don’t know the difference between Mick Jagger and my dad.”
This interview with Ono Lennon has edited for clarity and length.
Q: What was it like to work on this project?
A: It was really deep and heavy and beautiful. I’d never listened to the original, multitrack tapes before. Just getting to hear my dad’s voice or even mute the vocals, just hearing what the instruments are doing was amazing for me. It was really fun. It was a little daunting, I guess. I’m still nervous because when you’re messing with music that’s so loved and so classic and immortal, there’s kind of a pressure there.
Q: What was it like working with your mother on this project?
A: I was in the studio when I was young, so I learned things like how compression works, how delay works, how reverb works, how to
EQ vocals — all from her. I actually know very much what her philosophy is. Her main priority with all mixing is to make sure that the voice is clear.
She said my dad famously didn’t love his vocals. He would turn it down a lot. When she was producing “Imagine,” the album, he would go to the bathroom, and she would turn it back up, and he would come back and turn it down. She really believes that baring the vocal is the worst thing you can do. She really wants people to hear the lyrics, and she thinks that the music has to serve the vocal.
When it comes to mixing my dad’s stuff, that’s her priority. I think she’s right.
Q: Your dad wrote “Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)” about you — what was it like reworking that song?
A: Honestly, it was my least favorite experience. It’s just kind of awkward. That song makes me feel like I’m infantilized or something. People always play that song and look at me with a smile like, “Isn’t that sweet?” I’m like, “Oh God, I’m an old man. I’m not some smiling baby in a baby food commercial.” To be honest, that song is touching to me, but as a musician and a songwriter and a producer, it’s sort of my least favorite song musically, because it’s so saccharine. It’s great. I love it. Maybe it’s impossible for me to be objective about it.
“Beautiful Boy” is a very sort of family-friendly sound. It’s not my aesthetic. Having said that, it was a privilege to help work on a mix of a song that was about me and is very touching. And yes, I was very touched by hearing my dad say my name. He’s like “goodnight Sean” at the end. That always reminded me of him putting me to bed. He had a sort of ritual, the way he put me to bed. He would flick the lights sort of in rhythm with his voice, so it felt like his voice was controlling the lights. Then they’d go out.
I have memories, so it was nice.
Q: Has working on your dad’s songs inspired your own music?
A: It’s interesting because, first of all, the easiest songs to cover for me are my dad’s, vocally especially. Whenever I try to sing one of his songs, I feel like I can sing them great. I do share a lot of the same chords. My voice isn’t as tough as his, but it’s easier to sing his songs than anyone else’s. It does teach me something about how to sing great.
I think I’ve had a lifelong struggle with finding my own voice. I’ve had a lifelong struggle with finding my own voice because every time I would try to sing great, I would sound more and more like my dad. Actually, I hate my first few records because I was always trying to not sing like my dad, and it actually took a lot of effort. I wound up singing in this very kind of whispery, whiny way that I don’t like. That was actually kind of unnatural to me. Listening to this record, all of his records, the compilation we put together, has helped me realize that I just need to stop trying to avoid singing in a way that I just sound better. I think it’s going to help me with the vocals for the album that I’m working on now. To just not hold back. To just sort of sing. I have this fear that when I push my voice, I sound too much like him, but what’s the point of singing if I’m not going to sound good?