John Lennon and Yoko Ono's message and legacy is being carried forward by their son Sean Ono Lennon, a musician, producer and artist.
The younger Lennon, who also has a half brother through his late father's first marriage to Cynthia Powell, Julian, is also an active proponent of their activist selves.
John and Yoko, already in controversy over the former's unceremonious exit from The Beatles, drew criticism upon their move to New York City in 1971 for their activism and outspoken views against the nation's political decisions, including the Vietnam War.
The couple were leading proponents of the "flower power" movement of the '60s that had lingered into the following decade, which will be captured in the upcoming documentary film One to One: John & Yoko.
Sean spoke with Mojo4Music about listening to some of the unearthed tapes featured in the film, including conversations John and Yoko had with others who were part of their circle at the time, and reflected on his own upbringing soon after (Sean was born in 1975).
"I was completely floored," the recent Grammy winner told the publication of listening to the tapes. "I think maybe not everyone [realizes] how special it is for me to hear my dad talking or to see him."
© Getty Images"I grew up with a set number of images and audio clips that everyone's familiar with. So to come across things that I've never seen or heard is really deep for me, because it's almost like getting more time with my dad," he noted. John was murdered by Mark David Chapman five years after his birth.
Sean describes his own early childhood growing up in an environment, both personal and political, he described being filled with "paranoia," spanning from his initial years with his father and the way it continued into life with his single mom.
"My early childhood was very chaotic," he noted. "It was a very strange time. It felt like it was on the heels of this chaos that they had been going through in the early '70s."
© Getty Images"There were characters hanging around and things that happened that were sort of the echoes of that time when they were being harassed and monitored," Sean continued. "There was this FBI agent named Doug MacDougall who came to, quote-unquote, 'protect' my mom and me, after dad died."
"Later, we wound up finding out that he had been stealing things from us – my dad's glasses, some guitars, things like that. And it turned out that he was, like, a bad guy. In fact, he had been working for Nixon to deport John and Yoko. It was really creepy."
© Getty ImagesHe hopes the film can help convey some of that, and shine a light on their political stance given the shift in perspectives on the political climate of the time post-war and post-Nixon.
"To me, ultimately, the message of the film is that they were very brave, John and Yoko, to go from singing songs to hanging out with the Chicago Seven, hanging out with the Black Panthers, and becoming real radical activists," he said.
© Getty Images"But you see that it goes too far. And you can feel that my dad is scared. I think a lot of people today remember my dad's activism as aligning with Jerry Rubin's. But he moves beyond that when he realizes that they're violent too, or they want to be violent. And it's a cold splash of water in the face."
