Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg. Rihanna and Prince Harry. There are few things more tickling than seemingly unlikely celebrity friendships. (What did Ellen DeGeneres and Harry Styles talk about during this yacht hangout? Did they text about their hat choices beforehand?) Despite a 19-year age gap, actress Carrie Fisher and musician Sean Ono Lennon had been close friends for decades before the Star Wars icon passed away last year (Carrie gave him advice about navigating life as the child of a celebrity, and Sean once broke a lamp George Lucas had gifted Carrie — just a classic thing that can happen when you grow up in Hollywood). And to add a new friendship to the list: Willow Smith has recently been sharing photos of jam sessions with Sean.
So while a collaborative song by Carrie Fisher, Willow Smith, and Sean Ono Lennon may sound surprising at first, it actually makes sense. Like the time Nelly and Tim McGraw made beautiful music together.
Sean and Carrie wrote the lyrics to “Bird Song” together “years ago,” Ono Lennon explained today, when he posted the song on his SoundCloud. “When she died I just felt I had to record it,” he wrote, adding, “the lyrics she wrote with me I think are marvelous.” The friends would often stay up talking until dawn, and so the track is “a song about staying up too late and hearing the birds sing.”
Ono Lennon went on to explain his choice of backing vocalist: “Willow Smith is a prodigal angel and was generous enough to lend her golden voice to this little tune.” The youngest Smith child had also recently shared her own cover version of Ono Lennon’s track “Parachute.”
Credits
Text Alice Newell-Hanson