Seán Lennon and his mother Yoko Ono

Seán Lennon and his mother Yoko Ono

Interview transcript

Yoko: Hi, my name is Yoko, Yoko Ono, Yoko Ono Lennon. My age is 77, location is in New York City, and relationship to partner, I am his mom.

Sean: Hi my name is Sean Lennon, or Sean Ono Lennon, or Sean Taro Ono Lennon. Taro being my Japenese name. And I’m her son.

So, I get to ask you the questions today, and I’m so often, and you’re so often asked about the Beatles and John Lennon, which is interesting, but I think it would be really nice if we could talk about your life. So how is it that you were born?

Yoko: I was born from my mother who is a Yasuda, and my father who is an Ono.

Sean: And, you were essentially disowned from the Ono family right, because of…

Yoko: Having a very kind of, outlandish life.

Sean: Right, because they’re such a posh, conservative family.

Yoko: Yeah, well you know my father was a banker but he was an independent spirit. He was a very good pianist, and uh, very much into music.

Sean: And he taught you piano, or did you have a piano teacher?

Yoko: I had a piano teacher, because I was born when my father was already in San Francisco.

Sean: Your dad was banking, here? Ok. Wait, so you’re saying you hadn’t met him before?

Yoko: Oh yes.

Sean: And you remember meeting him? How old were you?

Yoko: It was big. I was two and a half years old. And, the time that I met him, my mother and my father were kissing, and I looked like this, like, well maybe he’s going to kiss me too.

*Laughter

Sean: And he hadn’t seen Grandma in two and a half years?

Yoko: Yeah.

Sean: She must have been so lonely.

Yoko: Well, probably, but you know the thing is, my mother was a beautiful, beautiful woman from a very rich family, and my father, that just upset him, you know?

Sean: So he felt sort of, insecure a little bit?

Yoko: But you know what happened? So my mother didn’t mean it badly, but, a chauffeur would take him to the bank every morning. He said “I don’t want to do that because they’re going to see me, in the Rolls Royce.”

Sean: That’s so funny because remember I would really be upset when you would make me go to school in a limo.

Yoko: Yeah yeah yeah, I know. So the thing is, he insisted that the car would stop two blocks from the bank.

Sean: That’s exactly what I did remember?

Yoko: And he walked…

Sean: Wait, but do you remember, I would make the, well maybe you don’t know but I used to make the limo driver stop two blocks from my school so I could walk to school because everyone else took the bus, and you wouldn’t let me take the bus. Because it was a dangerous time —

Yoko: Dangerous time.

Sean: –a lot of people trying to like kidnap me and stuff.

Yoko: I know.

Sean: But it’s just funny that I had the exact same experience.

Yoko: Isn’t it amazing? So it’s probably kind of like a DNA memory or something. Isn’t that interesting?

Sean: Yeah. Well, that was a really fun talk mom, thank you so much. I wish more interviews were like that.