Julian Lennon, the elder of John Lennon‘s two sons, says watching his late father in the acclaimed Disney+ docuseries The Beatles: Get Back made him feel close to his dad, who was murdered in December 1980 at age 40.
Julian, who was the only child John had with his first wife, Cynthia, didn’t see his father very often after the famous Beatles co-founder left Cynthia for second wife Yoko Ono in 1968.
Julian tells ABC Audio that when he first watched an abbreviated version of Get Back at a screening in Los Angeles last year, it helped to remind him of the positive aspects of his father that he experienced when John was still regularly part of his life.
“[W]hat I was seeing was Dad how I knew Dad before we separated, before … he went off,” Julian notes. “So, that just brought back all the warm, funny, great, loving memories that I have up until the age of around 5 … I mean, obviously, I saw him a few times later in life, as a teenager, but that was him … before everything changed. … I just remember that warmth, the comedy, the cheekiness.”
The 59-year-old singer/songwriter says the docuseries also helped demonstrate what “phenomenal players” The Beatles were. He marveled at watching how they were able to create a set of great originals songs so quickly leading up to their famous rooftop performance.
“I mean, you were sitting in the theater going, ‘How can they do this?'” Julian says. “And yet, they were ultimate professionals in every way, shape or form. And … that again reminded us of why they … were so successful, because they were just, they were really on it.”
Julian is preparing to release his seventh studio album, Jude, on September 9.
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