Julian Lennon’s favourite songs of the 1960s: “It’s always stuck with me”
We can’t seem to shut up about ‘nepo babies’ these days. This isn’t a problem, as a concerning amount of oppurtunities to make music for a living seem to be going to folks with a famous lineage rather than any earth-shaking talent. With that in mind, it’s something of a surprise that the curious case of Julian Lennon isn’t talked about more within this particular conversation.
After all, there is an argument to be made that he sums up both the positive and negative sides of being the child of one of the planet’s most famous people better than just about anyone else. On the one hand, he’s John’s son. That undeniably gives you a level of clout and influence that few people ever earn, let alone are born with.
The fact that he’s lived a decent amount of his adult life in Monaco, of all places, alludes to living a one percenters’ life off the back of his famous dad. On the other hand, one only needs to take a cursory look at his relationship with his dad to see that it wasn’t all sunshine and roses. Born in 1963 to Lennon and his first wife Cynthia, John himself would have been the first to tell you he was a total failure as a father to Julian.
It’s also a little unfair that the whole “John’s Boy” aspect overshadows his legacy so much that most people today will never know that Julian Lennon actually had a shockingly successful music career. His first two albums were both major hits, with two singles from his debut album Valotte reached the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. Hence, it begs an interesting question.
What influenced the music of Julian Lennon?
In an interview conducted by The Line of Best Fit, Julian Lennon offered a list of ten of his favourite songs, two of which are from the 1960s. The choices he makes speak volumes about the kind of music he makes and what inspired him from an early age. The first is Procol Harum’s masterpiece ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’, a song that he casually mentions first heard while on the set for The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus. Y’know, like it’s absolutely nothing.
In the interview, he says, “I recall walking into this open doorway and there was a shaft of purple light coming through, angled on the end of the corridor and the ceiling. And ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’ was playing. It’s always stuck with me, and it’s a song I’ve always enjoyed listening to because of the chord changes. It’s probably why I like playing, and writing and recording the way I do.”
His other choice is his old man’s band. No matter your relationship with your dad, some creations are undeniable, and ‘A Day in the Life’ is absolutely one of them. Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is clearly a big deal for Julian, and its closing track is the high point for him. Interesting that he picks the one song in The Beatles’ back catalogue that, musically, is split almost down the middle between the work of his dad and the work of the man he refers to as ‘Uncle Paul’ to this day.
Of the track, he says it “made me realise that rather than just listening, you can go into another world. You can switch everything off and be inside the song. And that was a revelation, because until then I’d only listened to songs like anybody else, but this was a full immersion… It was a key track for me moving forward and trying to bring people into the dream that you’re delivering.”
Putting aside the discourse, it is always important to recognise the humanity in anyone, notwithstanding the circumstances surrounding their birth. No matter where Julian Lennon came from, he was still moved by two of the best songs of the 1960s, and that’s something all of us can relate to.
