Julian Lennon - Too Late For Goodbyes (Atlantic Records 1994)

"Too Late for Goodbyes" is the first single (second in the U.S.) from Julian Lennon's 1984 album Valotte. It featured the harmonica of Jean "Toots" Thielemans, and it was a top-10 hit in the U.K. and U.S.

"Too Late for Goodbyes" peaked at #1 on March 16, 1985 at the U.S. Adult Contemporary chart, spending two weeks at the top of this chart. The music video for the song was directed by Sam Peckinpah, and produced by Martin Lewis. To date, it is the most successful song of Lennon's career.

John Charles Julian Lennon is an English singer, musician and photographer, son of The Beatles member John Lennon and his first wife Cynthia.

He is half-brother to Sean Lennon. He has produced a number of albums starting with Valotte (1984), as well as a documentary film WhaleDreamers on an environmental theme. Lennon has also held exhibitions of his photography.

Julian Lennon was born in Liverpool. He was named after his paternal grandmother, Julia Lennon. The Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, was his godfather.

Lennon inspired one of his father's most famous songs, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", whose lyrics describe a picture the boy had drawn, a watercolor painting of his friend, Lucy O'Donnell, from nursery school, surrounded by stars. Another composition of his father inspired by him was the lullaby "Good Night", the closing song of The Beatles (also known as The White Album). In 1967, he attended the set of the Beatles' film Magical Mystery Tour.

When Julian was five years old in 1968, his parents divorced following his father's infidelity with Japanese multimedia artist Yoko Ono. John Lennon married Ono on 20 March 1969, and Julian has a younger half-brother, Sean Lennon, and a stepsister, Kyoko Chan Cox.

Paul McCartney wrote "Hey Jude" to console him over the divorce; originally called "Hey Jules", McCartney changed the name because he thought that "Jude" was an easier name to sing. After his parents' divorce, Julian had almost no contact with his father until the early 1970s when, at the request of his father's then short-term girlfriend, May Pang (Yoko Ono and Lennon had temporarily separated), he began to visit his father regularly. John Lennon bought him a Gibson Les Paul guitar and a drum machine for Christmas 1973, and encouraged his interest in music by showing him some chords.

Following his father's murder on 8 December 1980, Julian Lennon voiced anger and resentment towards him, saying,

"I've never really wanted to know the truth about how dad was with me. There was some very negative stuff talked about me ... like when he said I'd come out of a whisky bottle on a Saturday night. Stuff like that. You think, where's the love in that? Paul and I used to hang about quite a bit ... more than Dad and I did. We had a great friendship going and there seems to be far more pictures of me and Paul playing together at that age than there are pictures of me and my dad."

Lennon chafed at hearing his father's peace and love stance perpetually celebrated. He told the Daily Telegraph, "I have to say that, from my point of view, I felt he was a hypocrite", he said, "Dad could talk about peace and love out loud to the world but he could never show it to the people who supposedly meant the most to him: his wife and son. How can you talk about peace and love and have a family in bits and pieces—no communication, adultery, divorce? You can't do it, not if you're being true and honest with yourself."

Lennon was excluded from his father's will. However, a trust of £100,000 was created by his father to be shared between Julian and his half brother Sean. Julian sued his father's estate and in 1996 reached a settlement agreement reportedly worth £20 million.

By 2009, Lennon's feelings toward his father had mellowed considerably. Recalling his renewed contact with his father in the mid-1970s, he said,

"Dad and I got on a great deal better then. We had a lot of fun, laughed a lot and had a great time in general when he was with May Pang. My memories of that time with Dad and May are very clear — they were the happiest time I can remember with him."

Ever since you've been leaving me
I've been wanting to cry
Now I know how it feels for you
I've been wanting to die
But it's much too late for good-byes
Yes, it's much too late for good-byes

Time has gone since I've been with you
And we've been starting to die
Now it seems you don't care for me
And I don't understand why
But it's much too late for good-byes
Yes, it's much too late for good-byes

Ever since you've been far away
I've been wanting to fly
Now I know what you meant to me
I'm the one who should cry
And it's much too late for good-byes
Yes, it's much too late for good-byes

Ever since you've been leaving me
I've been wanting to cry
Now I know how it feels for you
I've been wanting to die
And it's much too late for good-byes
Yes, it's much too late for good-byes