2024-04-17 15:21:00
James McCartney’s acoustic ballad Primrose Hill, co-written with Sean Ono Lennon, was drawn from childhood visions in Scotland
Wednesday 17 April 2024 19.19 AEST
The most famous songwriting credit in history, Lennon-McCartney, has been resurrected – albeit for a song written by the Beatles’ sons.
Primrose Hill, a single by Paul McCartney’s son James, co-written with Sean Ono Lennon: an acoustic ballad with a haunting backbeat and rumbling guitar solos.
McCartney explained the song in an Instagram post: “I had a vision when I was a kid in Scotland, of a beautiful summer day. Letting go, I saw my true love and savior in my mind’s eye. Primrose Hill is about me getting the ball rolling and finding this person.”
His father Paul promoted him on social media, sending “lots of love” to Ono Lennon.
McCartney, who was born to Paul and Linda McCartney in 1977, released two solo albums in 2013 and 2016, and said he was “really hitting the ball now and I’m so excited to continue to some music with you”. Primrose Hill follows the release of a solo single earlier this year, Beautiful. He has previously co-written songs with his father and performed with him on albums such as 1997’s acclaimed Flaming Pie.
“It’s hard to live up to the Beatles,” he said in an interview with the Daily Mail in 2013. “When Wings went on tour they had a slate. Even Dad had a hard time living up to the Beatles. I started out playing under an alias because I wanted to start quietly. I had to spend my time as a musician and wait until I had a good body of songs and for a period when I and my music were ready. I don’t want to sit around. I want to earn my own living.”
Ono Lennon has also amassed his own music career since his mother Yoko Ono’s early appearances on albums. He joined the alt-rock band Cibo Matto, who then backed him – along with Ringo Starr’s son Zak Starkey – for their debut album Into the Sun in 1998. Lennon went on to collaborate with artists as diverse as Albert Hammond Jr, Soulfly, Mark Ronson and Jurassic 5, and has released more solo work along with film scores.
Meanwhile, activity remains brisk around the Beatles. Following the release of what was to be the Beatles’ final new song, Now & Then – which topped the UK charts in November – and the Peter Jackson-directed three-part documentary Get Back, a re-release of the 1970 film Let It Be. It has been announced will air on Disney+ in May. Directed by Michael Lindsay Hogg, it documented the creation of the album of the same name, and leftover footage from the piece created a Jackson documentary series.
“I am thrilled that … Let It Be has been restored and is finally being re-released after being unavailable for many years,” Jackson said in a statement. “I’ve always thought Let It Be is needed to complete the Get Back story.”
The open-top tour bus used by Wings in 1972, which is being auctioned on April 22. Photo: Car and Classic
Fans can also get their hands on a unique piece of McCartney memorabilia – the open-top bus he and Wings traveled in for their 1972 European tour.
“If we’re going to be in Europe in the summer going to places like the south of France, it’s silly to be in some little box all day blowing air,” McCartney said at the time. “So we came up with this idea of having an open deck, an upper deck. We’ve got some mattresses there so we can cruise, great, it’s great, lie around and get the sun.”
Fully restored and in working order, the Yellow Submarine-style double store is expected to sell for up to £200,000 at auction on April 22.
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