Julian's "Photograph Smile" album

This interview seemed to come from the same period. It's kind of a tough read-- Julian is not a happy camper, here.

Interview with Julian Lennon 1999

These excerpts are from an interview with Ken Sharp for the June 4,
1999 issue of "Goldmine."

Sharp: When "Photograph Smile" was released (in Europe) at the same
time as Sean's album it made me angry that it was turned into this
Julian vs. Sean thing in the press. The hipper-critics were saying,
"Sean's the real artist. He's doing this avant-garde stuff." I wanted
to ask you to share your thoughts on that.

Julian: Yeah, well, there was a lot of mess that went down in England
which was nothing to do with him Sean, but I'll tell you where all
that came from. That comes from having a mother with a lot of money
who tried to squash my career in England.

Sharp: Is that true?

Julian: Absolutely 100 percent. It's absolute truth. I have
documentation of letters that were signed by Yoko. I'm not shy about
saying this. There were letters that she wrote to major publications,
one of which is a licensee from one of the major music papers over
here, that basically stated that if Sean was not seen as the shining
light, as the genius and I was put in the place of the useless has-
been, then, and this was a veiled threat basically, number one, either
she would buy up all the publications, which she could probably afford
to do, or that she would bury this guy's career. I mean, along those
lines. Not only that, with some of the labels that we were tied in
with the distribution deal, which was the same as Sean, she had a lot
of power and a lot of say-so. I mean, she's got a lot of shares in
certain labels we were working with. The moment that it was known when
my album was coming out, that, number one - and I don't think Sean
knows anything about this - that Sean's album either should be
released a week before or on the exact date of my album. Number two,
that my album should be dropped from all priority lists, which it was.
This is factual. This is absolutely factual.

Sharp: That's sad.

Julian: That's beyond sad. Because you know what it does? It just
backlashes onto Sean and eventually onto her, too. He shouldn't be in
the middle of that...There was some heavy manipulation going on. To
the general public it wasn't obvious. It was all nicely set up. The
other thing, the one really bad thing that happened that ticked me off
was that the night before my first ever full-blown European press
conference in seven years, it was just too much of a coincidence that
Sean - and again, it wasn't Sean, it was Yoko's people that work for
her as the front, released a statement saying that Sean thought Dad's
death was a part of a conspiracy, etc. And by the way, Sean's
releasing his album at the same time. That was news cable networks all
'round the world. So immediately everybody knew that Sean's album was
being released as well as his comments about Dad's death. And, of
course, what does that do to me? What are they going to ask me? Not
about the album. "What do you think about Sean's statement?"

Sharp: Do you think he said that?

Julian: He might have said that in passing, but I'm sure it was taken
way out of context and used as a ploy to squash me.

Sharp: It seems with some of the Lennon releases such as "Anthology,"
you're the disappearing person and Sean is kind of pushed to the
forefront.

Julian: Well, there was a great deal of manipulation that went on. As
far as the media are concerned, Yoko would very much like it to be
seen in the books of history and the film footage that she and Sean
are the only Lennon family alive. It's quite obvious to anybody who
grew up with The Beatles and knew that Mum was around and knew that I
was around, that in like the "(Beatles) Anthology", Mum and I are
nowhere to be seen. Not even approached. Weren't even talked to. That
happens with anything and everything to do with The Beatles or Dad
because Yoko has everything, has all of it, has the rights to his
name, his likeness, you name it. So there's not much we can do in that
respect. But the one thing she'll never have is the blood and the
talent of the Lennons. She can have everything else but she won't have
(that).

Sharp: Did it sadden you that on the "Lennon Anthology" there's these
audio clips with Sean?

Julian: Yeah, but I'm not around. That's for sure. That's why.

Sharp: You think that's on purpose?

Julian: Absolutely. Everything is manipulated down to the finest point
with Yoko. Publically, initially, she wanted it to be seen that we
were all one big happy family, but that was just a manipulative state
of play.

Sharp: Were you ever friendly with Yoko?

Julian: Yeah. I mean, being young and naive you have to be enveloped
by that to a certain degree. But thank God, with these past seven
years that I've had to myself in order to work my life out and figure
out what else was going on around me, it enabled me to clear things
up.

Sharp: Did she ever try to get in contact with you?

Julian: We organized the settlement, which basically was I had to
agree to whatever I could get. I mean, there was a bit of negotiation
in which, I mean there was not a lot of money up front. The most
important thing I felt I had to get was at least some percentage of
the copyrights of his work so that at least I could put that in a
trust for my kids and for the rest of the Lennons, because there's
still a lot of his family left in England which have nothing. There's
stories about what Yoko's done...One being, this is what Yoko's truly
like, which no one publicly gets to see...I was on Howard Stern the
other day. Now, I didn't specifically say anything. Howard did all the
talking and I would um and ah and I would protect Sean and I would
tend to agree with Howard on most of the other points, because he had
such a fondness for Yoko. But a day later, my office got a call from
her lawyer saying that she was most upset because I had been talking
about her and Sean and the manner in which I was talking about her.
She's got to realize now that I'm not under her thumb any more, and
I'll speak my goddamn mind and I will speak the truth and the facts.
But back to this point, I've started to learn a lot of my history and
my mother and Julia (John Lennon's half-sister) and so many other
Beatle, sorry, Lennon relatives. This is just one scenario. Now, when
Julia was growing up and had her family around her, obviously there
was a great fondness and link between Dad and her. They spoke on the
phone quite often, whenever Yoko wasn't around. When Mum and Dad were
together, he bought Julia and her family - or part of his family, I
should say - a house to live in. They lived in that house all their
lives. But the problem was, because you don't think of things at the
time, it was never transferred into her name. So when Dad died, Yoko
realized that was part of the Lennon estate. And so she threw Julia
and her family out of the house, took the house back and gave it to
the Salvation Army. Julia and the family have been up in arms about
this...and so, Yoko, in her almighty kindness, said basically that
well what was the market value back then? £30,000? Well, here's
£30,000. It's like you just don't have a heart, basically.
Unbelievable. And there are other stories like this.

Sharp: Do you think in the '70s when Paul and different friends tried
to reach your Dad and had difficulty getting through do you think that
was because...

Julian: Absolutely. I believe he was totally manipulated. Because
there were times where not only that I couldn't get through to him
sometimes. But even past that point, when I was getting close to Sean,
and every time I saw him in New York and we got real close that he
would have my personal number and I would have his supposed personal
number and we always talked about keeping in touch and I would always
call and leave a message and I would never hear a return phone call. I
don't think he ever got the messages.

Sharp: Have you ever talked to Sean about it?

Julian: No. Not yet. He's got to find things out for himself. Because
it is his mother. He loves her. But she has done some very nasty
things in her lifetime which have been covered up very nicely by the
wealth from Dad.

Sharp: About Fred Seaman's book...you told me one that your mom said
that was the closest to how it really was.

Julian: Well, the thing was, when I left England and flew to America
when Dad died to go see if it was real, because I couldn't believe it,
I came to the Dakota and couldn't see Sean. Sean didn't know what was
going on. All the shutters were closed. I wasn't allowed to see her
for a while, and I was kept in the room next door. Not only did Fred
Seaman, but many others came in to me who used to work for Dad and
said be very, very careful of Yoko, watch your back, watch your step.
She's not out for your best interests, that's for sure. At that
particular time and place, I just didn't think about it. But obviously
a lot of things have come to light since then. It's a real shame. And
this poor heartache story that Yoko keeps coming up with in the papers
about how she found it so difficult to tell Sean...she asked me how to
tell Sean and I was sitting in the room with her when she told him. Unbelievable how she likes to take the glory. And then I used to have to go through (Sam Havadtoy) if I wanted to speak to her about anything. For the decorator to now be living where Dad lived and spending his wealth, I definitely think there's something up there...

Sharp: Fred Seaman at one point gave you some of your Dad's demos. Did you record them?

Julian: Yeah, I did actually...He sent me these cassette demos, and
then we went into the studio and cut them. "I Don't Wanna Face It,"
"Steppin' Out." Yeah, I mean, I was still young at that point and that
was very much a scenario where the people around me thought it
was...and I didn't see any harm in it.

Sharp: What were the tracks like?

Julian: They weren't bad. But Yoko caught wind and there was some
serious problems and she actually bought the tapes back. Which was
okay because it was a really awkward, a very strange situation. I
don't remember exactly what was going on, but someone else was owned
the rights to the tapes because I wasn't financing it. They were owned
by someone else and then Yoko came in and bought them out. I mean,
that was sort of a position where I actually was in trouble and that
was probably the first and last time she ever helped me.

Sharp: Were they similar...

Julian: They're very close to the finished product.

Sharp: Is it also tying in with everything you've been saying, the
situation where a lot of your Dad's possessions that were supposed to
get to you didn't get to you and you're buying a lot of them?

Julian: Well, yeah. I got a couple of guitars. There were so many
things that I used to play around with and on, his instruments and
some of his belongings, and as far as I could see a lot of them were
sold off after his death. Her reasoning was there's two of you,
there's you and Sean, so I can't really split the guitar in half, so
it's staying here. That was the logic. And so maybe there was one or
two guitars that I got, but a lot of the other stuff was sold off to
auction for her charity, the Spirit Foundation, the reasoning behind
this, as I was told, was because death tax was such a great deal, they
couldn't afford it. So (we) had to sell off Dad's belongings, although
I think a lot of his really important stuff is probably locked away in
a basement somewhere just in case. It's true that with the settlement
that we did reach, which I'm not allowed to talk about, a lot of the
money I had from that I've been spending on buying back some personal
items of his and some of the Beatles stuff, too. I got the original
afghan coat from "I Am The Walrus" which I remembered seeing as a
kid.

Sharp: I heard that you didn't know it and Paul didn't know it but
sometimes you were actually bidding against each other.

Julian: Oh, yeah. We know these days. We talk quietly behind the
scenes to know exactly what he's going for and what I'm going for. And
I actually gave him the gold single of "Yesterday" this Christmas as a
present 'cause he didn't have it.

Sharp: That's sweet that he wants some of that stuff, because
obviously he loved your Dad...

Julian: Absolutely. In fact, the first time Paul and I sort of broke
the ice as an adult, from my point of view...which was at the
beginning of last year, before Linda's passing...I went down to see
him because he wanted to show me his studio in England. He literally
gave me a guided tour of this studio, all the instruments that they
used on The Beatles' albums and started playing some of the original
songs on the original instruments - which freaked me out - and he
started singing as well and I was going, "Bloody hell, if the rest of
the world could get in on this one!" But actually when we broke the
ice was when we sat down in the kitchen to have a sandwich and he
started talking about Yoko stories. Which I found very funny. We've
been a lot closer since.

Sharp: You're going to be at The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame as Paul's
guest.

Julian: Yeah, absolutely.

Sharp: It was at the one where The Beatles were inducted.

Julian: Yeah, well, being there with Yoko and Sean at that stage was
weird. It just felt uncomfortable because it was part of this family
that I was not a part of, so to speak.

Sharp: George has always been real good to you. Do you still see him?

Julian: Yeah, occasionally, once in a blue moon. George, I've always
loved a great deal. Ringo I see...God knows when. A quiet "Hello." But
George I'm much closer to. And Paul also. I think if there are any
comparisons to be made with The Beatles, I think my songwriting's more
like Paul's to some degree because Paul was very much in the melodic,
gentler voice. Dad was the raw, hard-edged stuff.

Sharp: He obviously had a love for you at a young age when your Mom
and Dad's marriage was breaking up (he wrote "Hey Jude" for Julian).

Julian: Exactly. That's another thing Yoko does, also is try to credit
Dad with being The Beatles. And that's wrong. Because without Paul and
without the other guys and without George Martin, they wouldn't have
been The Beatles. I mean, Dad may have made something of himself
separately from that but certainly not The Beatles. When Linda died
and there was the whole funeral service - and everybody knew there was
not much love lost between Paul and Yoko. Probably Linda, too. But
without a doubt she had her publicist set this up, the connections she
has are pretty great in the media, because what happened in the next
day's newspapers in England was a huge picture of Yoko saying how
she'd been shunned by Paul and that Yoko had tried to offer or give
sympathy, etc. I mean, it was about Paul and his wife, who had died,
for Christ's sake! And she had to get her fucking boot in by saying
how it was so offensive to Yoko. Get the f*** out of there, this is
not your place not your time. How dare you try and take this away,
that moment away from them?!