Julian Lennon’s “Now You’re in Heaven” Lyrics Meaning
As clearly noted in the bottom section of this post, Julian Lennon is a musician who, despite descending from musical royalty, was never quite able to take his own career to lofty levels.
That probably has something to do with the fact that he dropped songs like this one (“Now You’re In Heaven”) which, despite being relatively-well received, can be a bit challenging to understand or truly appreciate.
For instance, closer to the beginning, in hastily trying to make sense of the lyrics one can be led to believe that he is referring to literal “heaven”, i.e. the addressee perhaps being deceased.
But later, again somewhat confusingly, it’s rather revealed that the titular location is actually a metaphor. And what it apparently points to is an idea like the strength of Julian’s love. In other words, when the addressee, his romantic interest, is with him it’s like she’s “now in heaven”, or something like that. So we’ll proceed with the analysis of this song with that understanding serving as a premise.
Analysis of the Lyrics of “Now You’re in Heaven”
Thus at the beginning, i.e. the first verse, looking at the wording more closely it would actually appear that the singer is trying to pick the addressee up, i.e. convince her that they should become an item.
In fact he is apparently convinced that he is the “only” one who could make her “happy”. And no, it doesn’t read like the vocalist is trying to achieve a quick score or is using some barstool pickup lines. Instead he really wants to go full-in with this lady, i.e. ‘spending his life’ with her. So now it’s like if only she’s game, then they can get it on.
In the second verse the singer relies more on touting his lovemaking skills, if you will, in an effort to convince this lady to get with him.
Indeed in the chorus that follows, it is revealed that the “heaven” he is selling her is twofold. For one, it represents her having the potential to achieve actual happiness. And secondly, part and parcel of the deal is she being the recipient of some good lovin’.
And all she has to do to capitalize on this opportunity is ‘take hold of his hand’, i.e. agree to be with the vocalist.
Meanwhile the third verse takes us a bit into the future, as in the aftermath of her actually agreeing to do so. And we see that now, just as the singer promised, the addressee is in fact “happy” and less “distracted”. Or put otherwise, now she is “in heaven with” the singer, just as he had put forth.
Finally…
So conclusively this is a somewhat-innocent love song, with a perhaps what can be deemed as a deceptively-deep sexual undertone.
Part and parcel of ‘being in heaven’, as the singer advertises, features the intended recipient of this message also enjoying what the vocalist deems as his grade A lovemaking skills.
The insinuation is that he’s so invigorated amorously due to his strong feelings for the lady at hand in general. For at the end of the day, despite this song possessing what some may deem as borderline-cheesy metaphors, Julian does, even if only as somewhat of a secondary sentiment, let it be effectively known that verily he cares of the addressee.
Julian Lennon
As his name implies, Julian Lennon is in fact related to the late, great John Lennon (1940-1980), one of the former members of The Beatles. More specifically he is the son of John Lennon and his first wife, Cynthia Powell (1939-2015).
It is said that a couple of very-famous Beatles’ songs were directly inspired by Julian. These songs include the following:
- 1967’s “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds“
- 1968’s “Hey Jude“
Having been born in 1963, Julian was just a small child at the time the aforementioned classics were composed. And for the record, John Lennon only had two children, Julian and Sean, the latter of whom was born to Yoko Ono in 1975.
As indicated by the fact that you probably never heard of Julian Lennon before, despite enjoying a somewhat lengthy music career, he never got close to the heights of stardom his dad enjoyed.
He has released six studio albums between 1984 and 2011, with the first, “Valotte” (1984), being the most-successful. This was probably due to the fact that he dropped it not too long after John Lennon had passed, in addition to emulating his father’s well-recognized sound.
And with that in mind as far as singles go, all around Julian’s best-received was “Too Late for Goodbyes” (1984), his debut release.
Success of “Now You’re in Heaven”
However “Now You’re in Heaven” also holds a place amongst his notable hits. For instance, it topped Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart. This feat aside, it also charted in a handful of other countries. It also received a gold certification in Australia.
Release Date of “Now You’re in Heaven”
This track is derived from Julian’s third album, “Mr. Jordan”. It is the lead single from the project and, as implied earlier, its biggest hit.
Its release date was during February of 1989, on the 20th in the UK and the 24th in the US. And in that regard the song’s labels are respectively Virgin Records and Atlantic Records.
Writing Credits
Julian Lennon co-wrote this song alongside John McCurry, a musician who has worked with a number of top-notch acts. And the track was produced by Patrick Leonard, who has made a name for himself primarily as a regular collaborator of Madonna’s.
