Sean Ono Lennon Says Reconnecting with Dad John's Music Filled a 'Void': 'Like Getting More Time with Him' (Exclusive)

As Ono Lennon assumes the role of managing his family’s musical legacy, his innovative projects have earned him attention from the Oscars and the Grammys

Jack Vartoogian/Getty Sean Ono Lennon in New York City in July 2014
Jack Vartoogian/Getty Sean Ono Lennon in New York City in July 2014
  • Sean Ono Lennon has assumed the mantle of managing his family’s singular musical legacy

  • A deeply moving 11-minute animated short called War Is Over!, earned an Academy Award in March

  • The flurry of archival activity continued this summer with a lavish reissue of John’s 1973 album Mind Games

The Beatles may be part of our cultural DNA, but for Sean Ono Lennon, their songs are the key to understanding his actual DNA. Learning to play guitar through those tracks was an act of communion, every strum bringing him closer to his father John Lennon, who was killed in December 1980. John was 40 and Sean was 5. “I never played music because I was good at it,” he tells PEOPLE. "I lost my father and I didn't know how to fill that void. Learning how to play his songs on guitar was a way to process the loss with an activity that made me feel connected to him. When you’ve lost a parent, things like that motivate you — because you're trying to find them. Making music always made me feel like I was getting to know him better. ”

Now 49, Sean has spent the last three decades building a rich career as an accomplished artist in his own right through a string of acclaimed solo records and inventive musical projects with the likes of Primus bassist Les Claypool, alt-rockers Cibo Matto, longtime girlfriend Charlotte Kemp Muhl, and his mother, Yoko Ono. In recent years, after Ono, 91, stepped back from public life and retired to the rural estate she purchased with John in 1978, Sean has assumed the mantle of managing his family’s singular musical legacy. More than just an administrative figure, he channels his formidable creative energy into innovative ways to present his parents’ timeless art to new generations. To call it “the role he was born to play” ignores the tremendous effort required to conceive and craft these productions, but there’s certainly a kernel of truth in the clichéd line. “I definitely feel like I was making music and art before I thought about it as a choice,” he says.

Bob Gruen John Lennon showing Sean Lennon the mixing table at The Hit Factory in New York City in August 1980

Bob Gruen

John Lennon showing Sean Lennon the mixing table at The Hit Factory in New York City in August 1980

Under Sean’s leadership, the simple suggestion of a new music video for his parents’ Yuletide peace anthem “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” morphed into something far more imaginative and compelling. “My idea was, ‘It's such a famous song; maybe we need a short film that uses it as a score. We can re-contextualize the music in a way that’s refreshing.'” It's a concept borrowed from Martin Scorsese, who knows the value of a skillful needle-drop. “Think about when you’re watching one of Scorsese’s movies and a song comes on that you've heard a million times. In the context of a story you're engaged in, suddenly it's like rediscovering the music for the first time. That's kind of what I was hoping for [with “Happy Xmas” (War Is Over).”]

The result, a deeply moving 11-minute animated short called War Is Over!, earned an Academy Award in March. The “surreal” occasion afforded Sean the opportunity to both hang with Nicolas Cage (“I'm such a big fan. He’s so charismatic and fun to watch.”) and wish his mother a happy U.K. Mother’s Day from the podium. “A lot of people thought that I was being overly ambitious,” Sean, who co-developed the story with director Dave Mullins, sheepishly admits. “And I thought I might be as well! But then we won the Oscar, and that sort of validated the whole project for me.”

The flurry of archival activity continued this summer with a lavish reissue of John’s 1973 album Mind Games. Part fine art, part time capsule, the limited edition Ultimate Collection Super Deluxe box set boasts revealing remixes produced by Sean himself, plus a treasure trove of puzzles, maps, replica art pieces, and a coffee table book — all contained in a 40-pound, 13-inch cube. “It’s a monumental object, let’s put it that way!” Sean offers with a self-deprecating laugh. “I think a lot of people didn't understand why we wanted to make something so physically big in a digital world. But for me, it was really about making a monument to an album that I personally think is a masterpiece.”

Some fans were baffled by the almost comically elaborate treatment for an album that garnered a tepid response upon its initial release, contributing to its (largely unfair) reputation as a minor entry in the Lennon canon. But for Sean, it’s a matter of passion over prestige. ”I grew up listening to all my dad's music as a child, and at that age no one is telling you about reviews. I just loved the album. Some of my favorite songs are on it. I didn't even realize until working on the box set — and quite late in the process — that Mind Games had not been as well-reviewed as other albums he'd done.”

Obviously these reviews were written before anyone could know just how finite John’s creative output would be. With only seven “traditional” solo albums completed during his lifetime (one of which is a covers album of ‘50s rock standards), it’s easy to argue  — as Sean does —  that there’s no such thing as an inessential Lennon record. All told, Mind Games was long overdue for a reappraisal. The expansive interview-laden liner notes and fly-on-the-wall session tapes provide illuminating context, and Sean’s mixes render tracks originally made for the muddy mono of AM radio in vital clarity for the AirPod era.

This gloriously obsessive enterprise could only stem from the enthusiastic fervor of a fan — which Sean very much is. It's a crucial component of his complex relationship to the music. He hopes that this deep dive will help fans discover what he’s always loved about Mind Games. “I went at this thinking, ‘My dad only has a handful of solo records. So if we're going to re-release them, my job is to treat them with as much love and intention and thoughtfulness as humanly possible.’ Like I was saying about wanting to re-contextualize the music with the War Is Over! short film: If we're going to put this music out again, we have to treat it in a new way.”

The gargantuan collection, which snagged Sean and art director Simon Hilton a Grammy nom earlier this month for best boxed or special limited edition package, has revolutionized the very notion of reissues through its use of interactive apps, immersive games (some requiring a UV light, thoughtfully included), and “meditation mixes” of album tracks that put the listener into a trance-like state through the use of binaural beats. “The initial concept for me was 'mind games’ — games of the mind,” says Sean, who served as creative director. “So I thought we would play with people's minds a bit.  We have illusions in there, we have some secret things, and we've got some games. It’s all to do with the theme of ‘mind games.’ Meditation is a mind game. Even thinking is a mind game.”

Sean teases that more details hidden in the Super Deluxe set will be coming imminently. “The whole thing is intertwined in a way that eventually will reveal itself.” Despite these assurances, there seems a very real possibility that all of the secrets contained in the Mind Games box will never fully be known.

The multimedia nature of the project harkens back to an idea he absorbed through Ono. “She showed me that art is conceptual. The essence of concept art is that it doesn't matter what medium you express yourself in because it starts in your mind. That influenced me a lot. For better or for worse, I've made films, I've made oil paintings, I've done rock records. I've even done a jazz record this year. So, for whatever it's worth, my philosophy about being creative completely originates with this Yoko mentality of ‘art is conceptual.’ The medium is secondary. So that's why I have this arrogance that I think I can make films or do whatever I want!"

Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock Yoko Ono and Sean Ono Lennon in New York City in September 2018

Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock

Yoko Ono and Sean Ono Lennon in New York City in September 2018

Ono is a quiet yet strong presence on Mind Games. The songs bear traces of her playful avant-garde artistry  — most notably “The Nutopian National Anthem,” which consists of three seconds of silence. In the session tapes, Ono can be heard alongside John in the studio offering insightful feedback, evidence of what intimates have always known: she was John’s inspiration and a collaborator every bit his equal.

While the couple would briefly separate not long after the record’s release, the ardent lyrics on Mind Games could only come from the open heart of a deeply devoted husband. On “Out of the Blue,” he sings:  I was born just to get to you / Anyway, I survived / Long enough to make you my wife.

“The whole album is about my mom,” says Sean. “My dad declared to the world that ‘John and Yoko’ were one word. I think he always had his heart set on her. He was so in love with her. They had a legendary love and I think that this album is infused with that love. You can hear it.”

bob gruen/universal music John Lennon and Yoko Ono in New York City in April 1973

bob gruen/universal music

John Lennon and Yoko Ono in New York City in April 1973

If the original record is a love note from John to Yoko, the box set is an expression of love from Sean and John. Though his time with his father ended at an age when memories are hazy for most, Sean’s recollections are unusually vivid. “Going through something very traumatic when you're a child can basically freeze the memories of that time period in your brain,” he says. “For me, they're etched in stone.” Some are snapshots — making paper airplanes, watching the Muppets, swimming in the ocean — while others more impressionistic: the smell of burning incense, the scratchy stubble on his father’s chin, the boney outline of his ankle, and the cold metal of his guitar strings.

Related: John Lennon’s Son Sean Says He Refuses to Let His Father’s Music Be ‘Forgotten’ Ahead of What Would Have Been His 84th Birthday

Mediapunch/Shutterstock Yoko Ono Sean Lennon and John Lennon in 1977

Mediapunch/Shutterstock

Yoko Ono Sean Lennon and John Lennon in 1977

For Sean, overseeing these projects transcends family duty. Sifting through the archive helps him make a mosaic of the man he barely got to know from the work he left behind. “You're constructing somebody out of fragments,” he explains. Listening to the raw session tapes is tantamount to time travel as John can be heard making jokes and comments to his fellow musicians. “I grew up mostly knowing my dad through pictures and recordings, because he wasn't around,” Sean continues. “So whenever I hear my dad saying anything that I haven't heard before, even just a little moment, it means so much to me. It’s like gold. It’s precious because it's like getting more time with him.”

For more from Sean Ono Lennon, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands everywhere Friday.