Sean Lennon: Between Art & Legacy

If there were any doubts that Sean Lennon was acutely aware of who he is, starting a conversation with him dispels them within seconds.  From birth, Lennon’s last name has provided him with a legacy and a lineage ensuring him the platform he’d need to be a star in whichever domain he pursued – it just happened to work out that he was also an excellent singer/songwriter – but the double-edged sword of that same name and lineage also made sure that both the man himself and those around him would be both guarded and protective at all times.  “Now, can you please keep the interview limited to the new album, DVD and tour?” asked the publicist coordinating my interview, hopefully.  “You’re not going to ask about his family are you?”

“Of course I won’t,” I reassured the publicist.  “The news is that Sean is on tour and he has a new record and DVD out.  Unless something dramatic has changed, his family isn’t doing anything newsworthy at the moment.”

With that assurance in hand, I was forwarded to Lennon, who was relaxing in his hotel room in Albany, New York and, right from the outset, it became obvious that the protection that the singer has been afforded virtually since birth also means that he operates inside a bubble – totally removed from social pleasantries.  When your parents are two of the most recognized faces in pop culture from the last century, as John Lennon and Yoko Ono are, and your collection of family photographs include shots from Rolling Stone magazine covers, it could only be reasonable to assume that Sean Lennon’s upbringing was incredibly surreal as the man has been under a microscope since birth and each of his accomplishments, no matter how small or trivial, have been well-documented.  That said, while such a background makes Lennon’s conduct and elusive nature understandable, it doesn’t make it justifiable.  Lennon clearly has a better-than-healthy distrust of the press in conversation, but the artist also plays both sides of the street insofar as, while he picks and chooses the questions that he’ll answer and is brief in his responses to questions, virtually every word out of his mouth fairly smacks of privilege – the ‘I’m an indie artist and no one understands me’ shtick taken miles too far crossed with the ‘Do you know who I am?’ plaint that some more self-absorbed rock stars take when they don’t get their way.  For these reasons it’s very easy to dislike Sean Lennon on a personal level; to put it bluntly, the man comes across as arrogant.  During our brief conversation, he is laid back and condescending at the same time, and regularly evasive in regards to questions regarding his past recordings both as a solo artist and with bands including Cibo Matto.  He is the same in regards to future projects and presents himself as apathetic (audibly yawning intermittently during the interview to express his boredom) and terse in his responses; assuming that everyone should already know the answers to the questions that he’s being asked.  By the same token, however, while Sean Lennon illustrates that he is very much the product of the environment in which he was raised, he’s also a byproduct of his own accomplishments in spite of his name.  Unlike his half-brother Julian, who made his name in the music business on the basis of a song that his father wrote for him but had nothing in his own repertoire to follow it, Sean has charted his own course through his career and hasn’t banked on his name to ensure him an audience of curiosity seekers.  The intellectual dichotomy of a man that could be written off as a spoiled brat and a man clearly working earnestly to live outside the shadow of his father’s name makes for an interesting interview – if not a particularly easy one.