Sean Lennon Reflects on Yoko Ono’s Life After John Lennon: ‘She Never Has Moved On’

Sean Lennon has reflected on the impact that John Lennon’s passing had upon his mother, Yoko Ono.

On Sunday (Dec. 8), Sean and the rest of his family will mark the 44th anniversary of father John’s death in New York City in 1980. Viewed by many as another example of ‘the day the music died’, Lennon’s untimely passing has had an impact on countless individuals throughout the world. No more have felt that impact, Sean says, than his mother.

Speaking to BBC Radio 6 Music about the recent Grammy-nominated expanded box set of John’s 1973 Mind Games album, Sean touched on his parents’ relationship around the record’s creation. At the time of Mind Games’ writing, John was in the midst of the 18-month ‘lost weekend’ period in which he was separated from Ono.

“A lot of people said like, ‘Yoko wasn’t around for this record, why are they featuring her in the booklet’ or something,” Lennon began. “And I think there’s a lot of history, there’s a lot of assumptions made about that time period because they were sort of on their way towards that famous separation that people called The Lost Weekend.

“But the truth is, even when they were apart they were always talking, so I don’t think they ever really broke up, all his stuff was still in the apartment with my mum, it’s not like they had a real separation. And on top of it, all my dad was thinking about was her.

“You look at the album cover, it’s a collage of my mum literally the size of a mountain, and he’s this little tiny thing sort of fading into the background” he continued. “And I think it’s clear what his view of my mum was in his life. She was monumental, obviously. And the whole album is about her.”

Speaking about his mother directly, Sean claimed that she “never has moved on from that relationship” since John’s passing, but agreed that the recent Mind Games release was something of a “love letter” to his parents.

“I’ve never put it that way but I would say it’s my best effort to try to be a good son,” Sean replied.