Nov 12, 2022: Julian Lennon Chance Encounter With Paul McCartney
by Best Classic Bands Staff
“It’s Amazing who you run into in an airport Lounge! None other than Uncle Paul….” So wrote Julian Lennon on November 12, 2022, on his social media pages: the “Uncle Paul” that he referred to, of course, was none other than Paul McCartney. The pair were at London’s Heathrow Airport and bumped into each other unexpectedly. Lennon shared a selfie of the chance encounter.
“So, so lovely, and what are the chances,” Lennon added. “Thankful…. ❤️🙏🏻😘. ” See the photo below.
Lennon released a new studio album, Jude, his seventh, two months’ earlier, via BMG. It was his first since 2011’s Everything Changes and only his second since 1998’s Photograph Smile. (The first two tracks, “Freedom” and “Every Little Moment,” were released on April 8, his 59th birthday.) Listen to many of the songs below.
As for McCartney, two days before the impromptu meeting at Heathrow, he announced the release of The 7″ Singles Box, featuring 80 of his singles. The set, limited to just 3000 copies, was an instant sell-out.
It’s Amazing who you run into in an airport Lounge! None other than Uncle Paul….
So, so lovely, and what are the chances…Thankful…. ❤️🙏🏻😘 pic.twitter.com/OR2glVe7Gl
— Julian Lennon (@JulianLennon) November 12, 2022
Lennon made a splash in 1984 with his debut album, Valotte, released when he was just 21. The title sold over a million copies in the U.S. and yielded two Top 10 singles including “Too Late For Goodbyes.”
Julian Lennon (Photo: Robert Ascroft via BMG)
The Julian Lennon album title, Jude, was a nod to the legendary song “Hey Jude,” by The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney to comfort 5-year-old Julian following his parents’ separation. Originally written as “Hey Jules,” McCartney changed “Jules” to “Jude” because he thought it sounded better in the song. The tune became one of the band’s most successful tracks and remains a crowd-favorite in McCartney’s live shows.
Even though Lennon talks of having a love/hate relationship with the song, because it’s a reminder of an unhappy time in his life, he’s thankful for the support expressed through the lyrics, and over the years, the song has become part of his personal identity.
“Many of these songs have been in the works for several years, so it almost feels like a coming-of-age album,” said Lennon, born April 8, 1963. “With great respect for the overwhelming significance of the song written for me, the title Jude conveys the very real journey of my life that these tracks represent.”
Listen to “Not One Night”
Lennon and Justin Clayton shared production on the album. Lennon wrote “Freedom” with Tim Ellis and Grant Ransom. “Every Little Moment” was written by Lennon and Mark Spiro.
Listen to “Freedom”
Listen to “Every Little Moment”
In 2015, through The White Feather Foundation, Lennon launched The Cynthia Lennon Scholarship for Girls, a scholarship program for girls in Kenya. Since then, the Foundation has awarded over 40 scholarships to girls throughout Africa, and in 2021 expanded the scholarship to art students in the U.S. In 2020, Lennon was named a UNESCO Center for Peace 2020 Cross-Cultural and Peace Crafter Award Laureate.
Watch the music video for “Breathe”
As an author, Lennon has published several books including the New York Times best-selling trilogy Touch the Earth, Heal the Earth, and Love the Earth, completed in 2019; and the children’s graphic novel The Morning Tribe in 2021. His latest title, of his photography, is 2024’s Life’s Fragile Moments. [Many are available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.] That same year, Lennon was also honored with the World Literacy Award for his work to promote literacy through The WFF.
Related: Julian Lennon on Yoko, Cynthia, Ringo and Sean
4 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationActually both of these songs sound pretty good. Definitely John Lennon-esque
Julian is a great artist along with making his legendary father proud.
Just beautiful Jules! I always thought he should have kept going in music/song writing, his obvious talent is just there so clear and so beautiful! Well done, Julian, another hit and another brave Aries hits his mark!
It’s got to be difficult as an artist when your birthright has been both a blessing and a curse. On Julian’s first LP it was undeniable that he sounded much like his father. I don’t think that’s really true anymore. These songs are beautiful and deserve to be listened to on their own merit without the insistent comparisons that will inevitably come. I would imagine, in some ways, the weariness of these comparisons has likely tamped Julian’s creativity down some over the years. But I’m so glad he’s persevered, as this music is a beautifully mature portrait of this man.