jesse jo

Interview with Julian Lennon (1984 or 1985) MUSICIAN: Are you and Justin on the same musical wavelength, or is there some creative tension between you? JULIAN: Well, we hate each other's work. (laughs) That's how it starts out: He comes up with something and I say, "No way!" Then I'll come up with some- thing and he'll say, "No, that sounds too corny," and we just argue and argue. Our other guitarist, Carlos, agrees with everything, so it's just Justin and I that fight, and somehow it helps things get worked out. His taste is slightly more hard-edged than mine, and I think that's a good thing. MUSICIAN: That tension may aid your creativity, but you rarely express any overt anger or frustration in your work. JULIAN: Well, yes, but you've only heard this one album. Two of the best songs we did didn't make it on this album, but we hope are going to be on the next. They're kind of political and they deal with…well, I don't want to explain them because I'd rather just have you hear them and see what effect they have, if any. One of them called "Wheel Of Fortune" started off when Justin had an idea and I said, "No way!" So I said goodbye and walked out on him, and he said to Carlos, "Listen, what am I going to do he's just being stubborn and not cooperating." Carlos said, "Just do it." Meanwhile, after I was out in the rowboat for about an hour I began to feel guilty about just leaving him like that. I came back and he had most of the song worked out but I didn't like the music. Then we got the idea of talking about the world situation and we jotted down various notes and suddenly the whole feeling of the song changed. So we did our "I hate this, you hate that" routine and eventually that became one of the best songs we'd ever done purely from being annoyed with each other. MUSICIAN: "Valotte" is also credited to the three of you. Was that another product of the "creative argument" school of songwriting? JULIAN: No, Justin had that lick, those first seven or eight notes, worked out on guitar and he didn't know what to do with it. So he kept playing it over and over and I sat down at the piano and worked the rest of the music out, but when we went to France we pulled it apart and put it together again from scratch. The actual chateau where we were recording was a beautiful old place, and we thought, "Wouldn't it be nice to live here?" That's why it starts off "Sitting on the doorstep of the house I can't afford…" At first we thought, "What a dumb line!", but I think it's great that it's so straightforward-it says what it is. MUSICIAN: you think you reminded him of his own pain so much that it was too much for him to deal with? JULIAN: I think it was, definitely. The thing that really upset me most was that whenever I had a holiday I could go and see him, but he never actually came over to see me, which is where I felt left out in a way. I had to make the effort. But I tried not to let it bother me too much and just got on with my life and tried to have a good time.

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