Julian Lennon Was ‘Shocked’ by Paul McCartney’s Duet

According to Julian Lennon, he felt uncomfortable the first time he heard his father John Lennon’s voice and saw his likeness utilized in a “virtual duet” with Paul McCartney.

During his most recent tour, McCartney sang the Beatles’ “I’ve Got a Feeling” alongside video and audio of the late John Lennon delivering his part of the duet. The Beatles: Get Back, directed by Peter Jackson, served as the inspiration for the content.

“I watched it on YouTube — and I kind of went, ‘Errrr … I don’t know if I’m comfortable with that.’ It shocked me,” Julian Lennon recently told Mojo, noting that it was somewhat difficult to see his father “brought to life” in that way.

However, he eventually grew to love the spectacle and witnessed it live when McCartney gave a performance at the Glastonbury Festival in June. He admitted, “I genuinely enjoyed it.

Earlier this year, Jackson disclosed that he was originally uneasy about pitching the idea of a virtual duet to McCartney. “I’d gotten cold feet because I thought, ‘How many harebrained suggestions like this has Paul gotten over the years? I don’t want to appear too geeky,'” he stated. “Finally, I thought, ‘I’m going to regret this for the rest of my life if I don’t even suggest it.’ I sent him a text. I didn’t send him the mock-up version, just a text trying to describe it to him. Within 10 minutes, he replied to me: ‘Yeah, this is a fantastic idea; let’s go do it.’ Then it was a frantic rush to restore frames that were missing from that long shot of John from Let It Be. But Paul was thrilled by it.”

Julian Lennon is preparing for the release of his seventh album, JUDE, which takes its name from “Hey Jude,” the classic song McCartney wrote for him when he was 5 years old. “Many of these songs have been in the works for several years, so it almost feels like a coming-of-age album,” Lennon said in a press release for the album, which comes out on Sept. 9. “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.”