Yoko Ono has further endeared herself to The Beatles fanbase by granting permission for the use of footage of her late husband in an ad for the French car model Citroen. The ad – just aired in the UK – is for the company’s ‘anti-retro’ DS-3 model in which Lennon is supposedly shown criticising people that rehash their own work. (Free As a Bird Anyone?)
In footage completely taken out of context, Lennon says: “Once a thing’s been done it’s been done, so while this nostalgia — I mean for the ’60s and ’70s, you know, looking backwards for inspiration, copying the past — how’s that rock ‘n’ roll?” … Do something of your own. Start something new, you know? Live your lives now. Know what I mean?”
Lennon’s son Sean has taken to Twitter [http://twitter.com/seanonolennon ]– the modern celebrity’s version of passing nasty notes around the school playground – to defend the ad, saying about his Mum: “She did not do it for money … Has to do [with] hoping to keep dad in public consciousness. No new LPs, so TV ad is exposure to young.”
Ummm, Sean, the straw poll we conducted from Tone Deaf HQ with our little cousins assures us that they all are big Beatles fans along with their parents and grandparents, and if you’ve been enjoying the royalties from The Beatles Rockband or the recent Beatles remasters, you were never in doubt about the need to keep your old man in the public consciousness anyway.
Watch the ad below
