Reconstructed, Remastered 4K Video Of John Lennon’s ‘Mother’ Released

The John Lennon Estate has released a newly-updated video for “Mother,” the track that provided the stark and arresting opening to Lennon’s first post-Beatles solo album, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. It’s newly available on the 107th anniversary of the birth of John’s mother Julia, and ahead of Mothering Sunday in the UK this weekend.

“Mother,” in its new Ultimate Mix, is the first preview of John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band – The Ultimate Collection, to be released on April 16 via Capitol/UMe as an eight-disc super deluxe box set and in multiple physical and digital configurations.

The video has been remastered in 4K and upgraded with the new Ultimate Mix of the song. The clip has also been completely reconstructed using original photographs that take the viewer through the fractured memories of Lennon’s childhood and key moments in his life. It portrays his relationships with his mother and father figures, including not only Julia and his father Alfred but his Aunt Mimi and Uncle George Smith, who raised him during most of his childhood and teen years, and Beatles manager Brian Epstein.

In the clip, we also see John with his wife Yoko Ono Lennon (whom he nicknamed “Mother” in 1980, five years after they became parents together with their son Sean). John is depicted as a father with Sean Ono Lennon and Julian Lennon, before the video addresses John’s own absence, missed sorely by his wife, sons, extended family and the world.

The video was produced by Yoko Ono Lennon and directed and edited by Simon Hilton with 3D compositing by David Frearson. It was first created in 2003 for the DVD release, Lennon Legend: The Very Best of John Lennon and features photographs by Bob Gruen, Stanley Parkes, Geoff Rhind, Robert Freeman, Jack Mitchell, Iain Macmillan, Paul Goresh, Joyce Ravid, and many others.

John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band – The Ultimate Collection is released on April 16. Pre-order it here.