Music Monday: Now and Then
Billed as the last new Beatles song, “Now and Then” dropped onto streaming platforms, social media, and music retailers this past week. It’s the last Beatles song because it’s the last time John, Paul, George, and Ringo will ever be heard together on a new song, and by the band’s own definition, without all four of the lads, there is no Beatles. It may be Paul and Ringo, or Paul, George, and Ringo, or even John, George, and Ringo (all of these combinations have appeared together since 1970 when the Beatles split), but they are not the Beatles.
A little sidebar: You may have noticed that not all bands have this kind of scruple about their lineup. The Who has continued playing as The Who despite the fact there are only two original members currently in the band. A new album by The Rolling Stones dropped recently, yet Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are the only two original members of the band playing on it. There are many other bands we could name that have continued for years with different members under the same name. Not so with The Beatles, and I’m not sure why. Even when John was alive, and even though he had every right to claim the band’s name, he never did. For all four of them, there was something sacred about “The Beatles” that had to be and could only be John, Paul, George, and Ringo; not even their offspring could replace them.
Anyway, back to the song. The story about how this song came to be, from a lousy cassette recording of a John Lennon demo to a pristine modern-sounding production has been documented in this short film. The technology involved is truly remarkable, and the track is noteworthy for that alone. But what do I, having been a Beatles fan for over 40 years, think of it?
The song itself is not bad. It’s not Lennon’s best, and it is certainly improved with Paul, George, and Ringo’s accompaniment. Of the four tracks of John’s that Paul, George, and Ringo considered for the Anthology project back in 1994, this one was, at least in my estimation, not the strongest. They chose “Free As a Bird” and “Real Love” as the best, and were going to do “Now and Then” but the cassette recording was too bad to do anything with given the technology at the time. Paul flat-out rejected “Grow Old with Me” as being “too maudlin.” Personally, I much prefer that song over “Now and Then,” and the message–John’s desire to grow old with Yoko–sung only a few years before his murder I find particularly compelling. Perhaps it was too much for Paul to think about. Such reflections on the frailty of life are, however, a sobering necessity for us all.
The things I like about the song are more on the technology side. John’s voice sounds incredible separated from the piano, mains hum, and tape noise of the original. There’s still a bit of a compressed quality to it that could perhaps be overcome with some AI tampering, but I’m sure they were reluctant to do that, preferring to preserve as much of the original intact. Nevertheless, it’s clear and blends well with the other voices and instruments.
The backing vocals (oohs, ahhhs, etc.) were apparently pulled in from Beatles songs like “Because” and “Eleanor Rigby” which was clever. Octogenarians Paul and Ringo just can’t deliver those distinctive Beatle harmonies like they used to. They do add some original vocals to the track (one of the rare occasions Ringo sings backup on a Beatles song), and it’s obvious it’s them. But without either aging up John’s voice or de-aging their voices, a trick you can do these days with AI, there’s not much they could do about that. Perhaps under other circumstances, I might complain about how jarring it is to hear these 80+-year-old voices contrasted against John’s 37-year-old voice, but given this was their final opportunity to sing with John, I’ll give them a pass.
The string arrangement (by Giles Martin, Paul McCartney, and Ben Foster) is nice and appropriate, though not particularly gob-smacking. It’s not Eleanor Rigby, Yesterday, or Something, but it does the job. Paul’s slide guitar solo–his homage to George, who apparently didn’t get around to recording a solo back in 1994–is, again, good enough. Someone commented that it’s George-esque but doesn’t quite have his touch and I would agree. It does, however, help give the track that late Beatles feel, and is no doubt close to the kind of thing George would have done.
In the end, what makes this track special and a landmark in popular music is the fact it’s a tribute and a final farewell to The Beatles from The Beatles, a fact not lost on Peter Jackson as you can see in his music video (linked below). The title of the song is providentially fitting. (I say providentially because when Paul and Ringo revisited it in 2022, it was the only song left that could claim the “Beatles” name. They didn’t work on “Grow Old with Me” with George; “Now and Then” was the only song left to which both John and George contributed.) There will be no more new songs from the Beatles. All we have is this now, and what exists from then.
If you want to play along with the song, here’s a chord chart.
Here’s the official music video:
What are your thoughts on “Now and Then”? The best thing ever? A fitting tribute? Or do you wish they’d have left it alone? Share in the comments!
