Some Beatles fans might be surprised to know that John Lennon’s mother, Julia Lennon, did not raise him. Instead, he was raised by his aunt, Mimi Smith. John had some major issues with his parents and he worked them into his music.
John Lennon never adulated his mother
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The book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono features an interview from 1980. During the interview, the “Imagine” singer had quite a lot to say about parents. “Some people cannot see that their parents are still torturing them, even when they are in their forties and fifties — they still have that stranglehold over them and their thoughts and their minds,” he said.
“I never had that fear of and adulation for parents,” he added. “Well, that’s the gift of being a so-called orphan — which I never was at all. My mother was alive and lived a fifteen-minute walk away from me all my life. I saw her sporadically off and on all the time. I just didn’t live with her.”
John would say meaningful things about parenthood when he was young. “I would infiltrate the other boys’ minds,” he said. “I could say, ‘Parents are not gods because I don’t live with mine and, therefore, I know.’
“I could say to Paul ‘If you want to wear tight pants, Paul, tell your father to screw himself,’” he added. “His father knew I would say that to him. And it went for all my friends … That was the gift I got of not having parents.”
The Beatle’s mother inspired 3 of his songs
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John wrote three songs about his mother. The first was “Julia” from The White Album, a folk ballad named after John’s mother. The tune is one of the most haunting songs on the record. It’s an eerie song, but it doesn’t express any anger toward his mother.
Another was “My Mummy’s Dead,” a bizarre, dark nursery rhyme based on “Three Blind Mice.” The most famous is called “Mother.” That track is a cross between a pop ballad and a shriek of grief. While it discusses John’s father, Freddie Lennon, John’s mother is the focus.
How John Lennon’s ‘Mother’ performed
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“Mother” appears to have been too upsetting to appeal to the masses. “Mother” reached No. 43 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for six weeks. The track appeared on the album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. That record peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 and stayed on the chart for 34 weeks.
The Official Charts Company reports that “Mother” did not chart there at all. John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band peaked at No. 8 in the United Kingdom, lasting on the chart for 11 weeks.
While “Mother” was not a big hit, it inspired covers. Barbra Streisand and Christina Aguilera, two of the most talented vocalists in the history of pop music, recorded the track. While the tune isn’t poppy, it has a certain power to it that works with diva vocals.
John had some negative attitudes toward his mother and his emotions sometimes came out in his music.
