If you pay attention to the music world you've probably heard that The Beatles have released a new single called Now and Then. Didn't they break up long ago you might ask. Yes in 1970. Where did this song come from then? It was originally a demo John Lennon did around 1977 during his self-imposed leave of absence from the music world after his youngest son Sean was born. He didn't fully give up music though. His love of making music could only be kept quiet for a short time. In Ken Womack's book "Lennon 1980" it mentions that during this quiet period of 1975-80, John would spend time alone writing music on a piano or guitar in a separate apartment at the Dakota building where he and his family lived in New York City. It was in this period that "Now and Then" was born.
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| Now And Then - The Beatles (12" vinyl single) |
I had preordered mine through The Beatles' official website (U.S.) and first ordered the 12-inch black vinyl with a 2023 remix of "Love Me Do" as the B-side. It took about 6 long days for it to arrive. In the meantime, social media is buzzing with the release. Even if the cover is analyzed, many hate it cause it just seems unworthy of such a highly anticipated song. Even when I first saw it online I thought it might be just a placeholder cover that would be updated upon release.
Some have even claimed it's not even a real Beatles song. It's such silliness.
The lyrics and music denote a nostalgia that seems to fit the Beatles story so far. John and George are no longer with us but in this song, we get them both back for a moment. We get the late 70s John harmonizing with his much older bandmates over 40 years later. Paul and Ringo's voices worn over the years provide a now-and-then counterpoint to John's young voice which fits perfectly with the theme. I can't think of a better way to punctuate the Beatle's last song.
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| Now And Then - The Beatles (CD Single) |
