The new (and final) Beatles song “Now and Then” came out yesterday, and it will be followed by the music video today at 10am ET. Directed by Peter Jackson, the music video features never before seen footage provided by Pete Best (former Beatles drummer before Ringo Starr), Olivia Harrison (George Harrison’s widow), and Sean Ono Lennon. Yahoo Music Editor in Chief Lyndsey Parker has a lovely article with a lot of poignant commentary from Giles Martin, producer of the new track and son of the Beatles longtime manager George Martin. Whatever you feel about the song having an assist from AI to access John Lennon’s vocals, it’s quite apparent that the new song has the blessing of the Beatles family, by virtue of how many of them have pitched in to usher in this moment. I’m excerpting here what I thought was a particularly moving section from Giles Martin:
It seems McCartney had been chasing “Now and Then” since 1995, but Martin doesn’t believe its release, three decades after it was shelved and four whole decades after Lennon recorded the demo, brings any closure for either McCartney or Starr — because that was never the point. “I think they have closure anyway. I don’t think they’re paralyzed; they certainly don’t act like they are paralyzed by any sense of loss from what they’ve done. I think that’s a different thing from just missing someone you love,” Martin explains. “And I just hope that ‘Now and Then’ makes [listeners] love and miss whoever they love and miss. I think as a song it’s deeply bittersweet, and I just hope people enjoy it. It’s as simple as that.”
“And I just hope that ‘Now and Then’ makes [listeners] love and miss whoever they love and miss.” Reading that quote was the first time it hit me that there is now a Beatles song that my father will never know. My father was 22 when the movie of A Hard Day’s Night came out, and one of his favorite stories to tell was about seeing it in a packed theater in the height of Beatlemania. He said he heard the first iconic chord of the title song, and then nothing else — the audience screamed for the entire film. Twenty years later my father was at a record store in the Bay Area. He saw a kid pull out a Beatles LP, turn to his friend and say “Hey look, Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings!”
Giles Martin describes the song as bittersweet and melancholic, and I felt those qualities in both the lyrics and the plaintive, yearning music. The simple dichotomy of considering what exists now versus what existed then, really lets you fill in the blank. It also feels quite prescient coming out of the upheaval of the pandemic, a time that starkly established a now and then, a before and after, and that left everyone with a person to love and miss. It may be cliche, but I’m gonna leave the last words to the Fab Four: “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.”
The slide guitar part was what I was most curious to hear. Paul added it as a tribute to George Harrison. It was very subtle and didn’t take away from the piano and strings vibe. Very sweet.
Thanks for this–I was wondering how they worked George into the song. Glad to hear this.
I think there’s also some guitar work that George himself played, recorded back when the three of them were first trying to bring this song to life, before they decided the recording of John was of too poor quality to work with.
It’s a lovely song, and I’m glad that Ringo and Paul and the rest were able to finally bring this track together.
Thanks, North of Boston. I watched the 23-minute documentary yesterday but forgot that part!
According to an article in the Guardian, George had original recorded a slide guitar part while they were working on the song in the 90s; purportedly, Paul re-recorded it as he felt the original was too reminiscent of My Sweet Lord (https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/nov/02/the-beatles-now-and-then-review). If that’s the case, wish Paul had left it alone, as I would have liked to hear more of George on the cut. Parts of it are lovely, but I do think the vocals become a bit muddy when Paul’s voice is mixed in.
Oh cool!
It’s a nice song, and it’s definitely a mood. I was swaying dreamily to it last night listening to it.
Agreed. I’ve been going through some thangs lately, and it was nice to hear John Lennon’s voice when I listened to the song yesterday.
Awww, the boys are back for a visit <3
They also just released an official music video that made me cry like a baby: https://youtu.be/Opxhh9Oh3rg?si=ZpwimpyU3uchlGXa
The juxtaposition of John’s clear, relatively youthful voice from 40-odd years ago against Paul’s modern-day elderly man-voice singing in harmony adds a truly melancholy vibe to the song. I like it for that reason alone.
Aww! My parents, therefore me and my brother, are HUGE fans. In fact, my brother is named after James Paul McCartney and goes by “Paul.” I have fond memories of my dad playing his acoustic guitar and he always knew Rocky Raccoon made me light up as a kid!! I also had the pleasure of seeing Ringo Starr last fall. Love every minute of it…
The song is lovely, as are the videos — which I’ve already watched and listened to several times.
It’s a perfect song for my “today”.
Watching the videos made me wonder if the Beatles were the first group to be publicly playful? I haven’t seen their movies, but it was a joy to watch them interacting in the videos.
Here are the links to the ones I’ve watched. I think the top one is a dupe of the one @Hillary already posted above.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opxhh9Oh3rg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kibP6KXa6Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sxQfGBpci0
Beautiful song. Feels simple but brilliant. Such a Beatles song.
I can feel John missing Paul in this song. It is gorgeous and lovely that we hear John at 40 and Paul and Ringo in their 80s singing all together. I dislike the video bc its zany vibe goes completely against the song’s vibe. But all the videos that the Beatles themselves made did that — the videos never had anything to do with the songs, so it’s fine. But Beatles fans should check out the recent animated videos done for I’m Only Sleeping and Here There and Everywhere, they are truly beautiful.