2023-11-02 16:43:18
‘Now and then’, the song that, according to everyone involved, definitively closes the glorious catalog of the Beatles 61 years and a month after the publication of the group’s first ‘single’, ‘Love me do’, it has finally seen the light of day.
Written and sung by John Lennon in 1979, worked on and enriched by Paul McCartney, George Harrison i Ringo Starr in 1995 and completed by McCartney and Starr last year, ‘Now and Then’ is the last recording that can be said to have featured the four members of the Liverpool quartet. At the no other similar tapes remain in Apple’s archives, the company that manages the band’s legacy, the deaths of Lennon, in 1980, and Harrison, in 2001, make any other joint project impossible other than recreating their contributions from scratch using artificial intelligence . But that, of course, would no longer be the Beatles.
‘Now and then’ is released as a double-sided single with ‘Love me do’ on the reverse, a brilliant way to “close the circle” of a career that has marked the future of popular music in the last century like no other. The album cover is the work of the octogenarian American pop artist Ed Ruscha. The song will also be part of the new extended version of the legendary compilation albums ‘1962-1966’ and ‘1967-1970’ (the ‘red album’ and the ‘blue album’) which will be released on Friday 10 November.
“I miss you”
Originally recorded by Lennon in his apartment in New York’s Dakota Building with the sole accompaniment of a piano, ‘Now and Then’ is a minor ballad in which the musician expresses his anguish at moving away from a loved one (a lover or a friend). The presence of McCartney’s voice in the hearts of the definitive version gives a new and poignant meaning in the verses “now and then / I miss you / now and then / I want you back with me”.
The song’s release has been preceded by a 12-minute video directed by Oliver Murray which condenses the long and tortuous history of ‘Now and Then’, from when Lennon composed the piece in 1979 until the artificial intelligence technology developed by director Peter Jackson for the documentary series ‘Get back’ last year made it possible to eliminate the serious sound problems of the original recording and complete it with new tracks of vocals, guitar, bass, drums and piano and some string arrangements written by Giles Martinson of legendary Beatles producer George Martin.
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