Bret Harding
Hello gentle reader and welcome to another week of musical musings. Julian Lennon is turning (gosh) 51 this week – which I find hard to believe. For years whenever Mr Lennon (Junior’s) name was mentioned one’s mind flashed back to a doleful sad faced child of about 3-4 years of age sitting on his Dad’s famous knee (now I think about it, all of him was famous, not just the knee).
Extraordinary to think Mr Lennon (Junior) has been around for so long, very little of it spent as a 3-4 year old. Mr Lennon (Junior) had a worldwide hit in the early ‘90’s with the Saltwater song (which we will share shortly; please don’t be so impatient). However, he has done many other things betwixt age 3-4 and now, and in reviewing the interweb’s version of his last 47 years, a ‘thought’ occurred to me:
- Mr Lennon (Junior) is the inspiration for 3 Beatles tunes; Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds – a picture Mr Lennon (Junior) drew and which was seen by his famous father; Hey Jude – originally Hey Jules, the song was written by Paul McCartney as a result of visiting Mrs Cynthia Lennon and Mr Lennon (Junior) at or about the time of the final breakup between Mr Lennon (Senior) and the aforementioned Mrs Lennon; and Goodnight, from the 1968 album The Beatles (widely known as the White Album). It is sung by Ringo Starr, the only Beatle to appear on the song. The music is provided by an orchestra arranged and conducted by George Martin.
- Aside from being an inspirational offspring of sorts, Mr Lennon (Junior) has had a go at the music business himself and has entertained with some significant success, particularly with his early work. Arguably his biggest hit remains the Saltwater song which to the top of the charts right around the world in 1991 (okay I’m going to include a link so you can play it just give me a minute!)
- Friends with his half-brother Sean for many years (although less consistently with his step mother, according to unsourced media reports), Mr Lennon (Junior) (okay they are both that but let’s just assume we remain with JL for the moment – work with me people), discovered more than a knack for photography and went on to show his work in galleries (there will be a link for that too).
- Film played a part in his world, including a 1985 documentary film produced by Mr Sam Peckinpah which detailed the story of young Mr Lennon (Junior’s) life up to that point. There were other films in which he featured including Leaving Las Vegas (ok I’ll see if I can find it but I’m not promising anything).
- In 2009 he developed and opened for charitable purposes the White Feather Foundation. He described the background to the name of the charity thusly; “Dad once said to me that, should he pass away, if there was some way of letting me know that he was going to be okay – that we were all going to be okay – the message would come to me in the form of a white feather. Then something happened to me about 10 years ago when I was on tour in Australia. I was presented with a white feather by an Aboriginal Tribal Elder, which definitely took my breath away. One thing for sure is that the white feather has always represented peace for me.”
Here’s the thing – I visited each of the sites I have referenced in this article. I have seen pictures and listened to music and something dawned on me, it stands out from all of this underlying detail (stand by for the aforementioned ‘thought’). Regardless of how powerful the old photo image may have been, this kind and gentle soul has achieved so much more than just being a bit player in the back story of the band who arguably ruled them all (at least for a period of time). I n all of this, it occurred to me that Mr Lennon (Junior) has grown up – and because of (or in spite of) his experiences in life, he is a good man who does good things that help a lot of people. I think he should be called Mr Lennon now. Just sayin’. I commend this man and his work to you.
www.whitefeatherfoundation.com
“1963, born on this day, Julian Lennon, first son of Beatle John Lennon and the only child of Lennon’s first wife Cynthia Lennon. His godfather was Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein. Julian Lennon had the 1991 UK No.6 single ‘Saltwater’. Had a cameo role in the 1995 film Leaving Las Vegas, as a bartender.” Source: www.thisdayinmusic.com/
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