Music
John Lennon’s son, Sean Ono Lennon, said Yoko Ono and his grandmother, Julia Lennon, inspired one of The Beatles’ songs. Another star might have penned a line from the tune.
Inspiration for The Beatles‘ songs came from every avenue imaginable. John Lennon’s son, Sean Ono Lennon, said his mother, Yoko Ono, and his grandmother, Julia Lennon, inspired one of The Beatles’ songs. Sean discussed how the song highlighted an aspect of John’s writing style. Another 1960s rock star said he might have penned a line from the tune in question.
John Lennon’s son said a Beatles song references Yoko Ono’s name
During a 2020 interview with Rolling Stone, Sean discussed his father’s songwriting style. “I do think that my dad sincerely wrote songs about many things at once,” he said. “I think that’s incontrovertible. Like the song ‘Julia’ is about my grandmother. But then he says ‘Ocean Child,’ which is what my mother’s Japanese characters are individually — Yoko is written as ‘ocean child.’ So that was definitely about my mom there. But it was about my grandmother.
“He wasn’t usually so specific that when he was inspired to write about something, he had to just stick to the theme exactly,” John added. “It’s more rare that he does that. I think the song ‘Mother’ is the best example. That song’s about his parents, period.”
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John Lennon was ‘eating lousy vegetarian food’ around the time he wrote the tune
The book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono features an interview from 1980. John made comments similar to Sean’s. “Julia was my mother,” he said. “But it was sort of a combination of Yoko and my mother blended into one.’
John gave fans insight into what The Beatles were doing when he wrote “Julia.” “That was written in India,” he said. “On The White Album. And all the stuff on The White Album was written in India while we were supposedly giving money to [the] Maharishi [Mahesh Yogi], which we never did.” John said the group wrote numerous songs during the period, all while saying mantras and “eating lousy vegetarian food” in the mountains. He also noted Paul often wrote and recorded tunes alone at the time.
Donovan discussed how he may have contributed to The Beatles’ ‘Julia’
John might not have penned “Julia” alone. During a 2008 interview with Goldmine, folk-rock singer Donovan spoke about his connections to The Beatles. Donovan is most famous for his 1960s hits such as “Sunshine Superman,” “Hurdy Gurdy Man,” and “Mellow Yellow,” as well as his album track “Season of the Witch.”
Donovan felt he might have contributed a line to “Julia.” Specifically, he thought the line about “Seashell eyes” might have been his. He noted how many of his tunes were influenced by the Victorian-era seaside of Great Britain.
On the other hand, the “Wear Your Love Like Heaven” said the line could have been John’s. Regardless, George Harrison once said Donovan had a tremendous influence on The White Album. The record certainly shares a lot of similarities to Donovan’s signature folky style.
Regardless of whether Donovan contributed to “Julia,” the tune gives fans insight into John’s mind.
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