Julian Lennon made his musical debut at age 11 playing drums on his father’s first studio version of “Ya-Ya”. The 1974 recording would appear as the last track on John Lennon’s ‘Walls and Bridges’ album. This short, casual version of the song features just Julian on drums, and John on piano and vocals.
May Pang later recalled that Julian was disappointed when he found out the recording would make the ‘Walls and Bridges’ album, telling his father “If I’d known, I would have played better”.
“Ya-Ya” was originally performed by Lee Dorsey in 1961 and later covered again by John in a full length version on his “Rock ‘n’ Roll” album.
Click the Play button to hear the version with Julian:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
John Lennon was the first Beatle to marry when he wed Cynthia Powell on August 23, 1962, at the Mount Pleasant Register office in Liverpool. They decided to marry after finding out Cynthia was pregnant with Julian. For a while, John hid the fact that he was married and had a child, fearing there might be a backlash from female fans knowing their idol was “taken.” As it turns out, when his status as a family man was revealed it didn’t affect his popularity with fans.
John and Cynthia would later divorce in 1968.
