Sean Ono Lennon says the only reason he decided to learn to play music was to get closer to his late father, The Beatles‘ John Lennon, who was killed in 1980 when Sean was only 5.
“I never played music because I was good at it,” he tells People in a new interview. “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.”
He adds, “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.”
Sean continues to learn more about his dad by managing John’s legacy, being involved in things like the recent Mind Games box set and more. And the more he works on these projects, the more connected he feels to his dad, especially since many of the archival tapes include John interacting with his fellow musicians.
“You’re constructing somebody out of fragments,” he explains. “I grew up mostly knowing my dad through pictures and recordings, because he wasn’t around. 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.”
He adds, “It’s like gold. It’s precious because it’s like getting more time with him.”
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