Today's episode is dedicated to that new song that was released on November 2 by the Beatles. The Beatles. Yes. I said that. Right? The Beatles called Now and then.
The amazing thing about the song, for those of you who don't know, AI was used to take a demo cassette tape that John Lennon had recorded many, many years ago and remove all the hiss out. So, yes, they used AI. Wow. So that's another crazy use for that technology.
And if they're able to do this with the Beatles, who knows what they can do with all the classic rock bands, right? Just praying and hoping that all our classic rock bands that we love so much, Led Zeppelin, the who, Pink Floyd, have all these unused materials so that AI can come in and clean all that up and just grace us with some new songs. So who knows? Let's pray to the AI Gods, if you know what I mean. Sure a lot of you have heard the song by now, so I would love to know your thoughts. So please leave it in the comments. Did you like it? Did you not like it? What did you like about it? Me personally, I think it's a pretty good Beatles song.
It's not a fantastic, amazing Beatles song, but knowing what they went through to record it and listening to it over and over again, I think it's a pretty decent song. It obviously shows it was written by John Lennon. It has more of a melancholic, reflective, kind of sad tone to it, which John Lennon was always drawn to it. Find Paul McCartney wrote a lot of the happier songs, those beautiful melodies that harmonize together.
John Lennon was drawn towards kind of. He was more the darker side of the two, which probably was a great fit for both of them. Right. It was more like the yin and the Yang.
Love the fact that the song has a lot of layers in it. It has, obviously, violin, a lot of the strings, pianos, background vocals. I'm sure a couple of other instruments that I didn't really pick up,
I love it because I think a lot of those layers adds a lot of complexity to the song, yet it sounds very simple. And that was the magic about the Beatles. Those melodies sound so simple, but if you really take a deep dive in a song, there's a lot of complicated harmonies and a lot of instruments doing different things.
And that is the beauty and the magic about the Beatles, how they're able to do that, which is really hard to do.
A complex arrangement, but making it sound simple so that everyone in the world can sing along to it, is the magic of the Beatles.
The sound is a little weird to me. It doesn't really have a bridge if you listen to it. There's the intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus. And I guess if you want to call that solo part, which changes, I guess you call that a bridge, and then it actually ends in the verse part.
It doesn't really go back to the chorus. And I loved how it, like, it kind of ends abruptly with a succession of these little chords, which I think was really. Probably, because maybe John Lennon didn't come up with a bridge and they had to work with what they got, but I think they did a phenomenal job. Right, well, there's a diamond dozen videos out there about now and then already, reaction videos, people commenting on the song and all that. Want to put my own unique spin on this, and I want to bring you this article that I saw from the American Songwriter magazine called the meaning behind the very last new Beatles song ever. Now and then, when we listen to the song, we all have our own meaning of what the song is and relate the song to certain parts of our lives. But I thought it was really interesting that the author of this article, Al Melchior, tries to explain the meaning behind the lyrics. His interpretation of it. So maybe a couple of these lyrics or what he explains could hit you or could touch you a certain way. So let's get right into it,
Published November 7, 2023 at 08:55 a.m. Very specific
November 2, 2023, the Beatles released the single now and then, first new music since Real Love appeared on their anthology two compilation in 1996.
core of the song, three distinct verses and a chorus written and sung by John Lennon on a 1977 demo, is not New at all. However, much of the release version of the song does contain entirely new recorded material.
McCartney added piano, bass, vocals and a George Harrison esque slide guitar solo.
Star provided the song with a drum part, and McCartney and co producer Gils Martin,
of Beatles producer George Martin,
a string arrangement.
1995, the remaining Beatles began work on a finished version of the song that was intended to join Real love and Free as a bird from the same demo cassette that now and then was on. Oh wow. Same cassette. That's pretty cool.
speaking of Free as a bird. I love that song. If you haven't had a chance to listen to it, go check it out. It's probably my favorite of the newly released songs.
that stage, Harrison added electric and acoustic guitar parts, which are included in the final 2023 version.
Even though McCartney and Starr were the lone surviving Beatles when much of the song was put together, now and then has the feel of a true collaborative effort with a coherent sound.
Okay, meaning behind the lyrics. Now we get into the meat and potatoes.
message conveyed in now and then is not quite as coherent. And the unfinished nature of the original recording is partially responsible.
lyrics were written almost entirely by Lenin. The first verse is clearly about Lenin's deep love and appreciation for someone,
it's less clear who the intended target of the message is.
it's written four lines of the song. I know it's true, it's all because of you. And if I make it through, it's all because of you.
the second verse, we get a hint of there being some trouble in the relationship as Lenin sings and now and then, if we must start again. However, the details of Lenin's intent literally get muddled. In the remainder of the verse, he sings well, we will know for sure,
then the words in the verse's final lines are impossible to decipher. On the demo,
Lenin starts the line with that, I McCartney has to finish a sentence with his own vocal and lyric. We'll love you. Oh, wow,
Okay, I gotta listen to that. That's cool. I didn't notice that
insecurity in the relationship is underscored in the third verse, though, which ends with the lines and if you go away
know you'll never stay.
as a whole, the song appears to be a love song in which Lenin is trying to patch up a difficult relationship
could have written in about McCartney, Yoko Ono, or someone else entirely. Because Lenin sings now and then I miss you in the chorus, it's tempting to think he's directing a song at McCartney.
released version of the song omits a pre chorus that fleshes out the situation a bit more. It begins with the following lyrics before transitioning into some ad libbed syllables.
don't want to lose you oh no
you or abuse you oh no sweet darling but if you have to go away if you have to go
especially given that Lenin was performing these lyrics eight years after leaving the Beatles, it can likely be ruled out that the song was written about his friendship and musical partnership with McCartney.
now and then was completed,
not for Harrison, now and then could have been released 27 years earlier. After sprucing up Lenin's demo for free as a bird, McCartney, Harrison, and star briefly worked on now and then, but quickly abandoned it when Harrison expressed his dislike of the song. Whoa.
discussed his interest in finishing now and then in numerous interviews over the years, but it wasn't until 2022 that doing so became a realistic possibility.
sound quality of Lenin's demo had been an insurmountable obstacle to finishing the song, partly because the recording included background noise from a television.
Peter Jackson directed and produced the Beatles Get Back documentary, which was released in 2021, he and his team used AI technology to isolate individual sounds and instruments within the original recordings.
premise of that series is that the Beatles are getting together and working out a set list and jamming on the songs that they want to perform at their last concert ever on the rooftop. Actually, speaking of that,
guitar actually
a replica of the George Harrison
that he used, the Fender telecaster he used on the Rooftop concert, the very last Beatles concert ever. This is almost an exact replica. I wish I had the real thing, but you know how it goes.
back to the article. Subsequently, Jackson used that technology to separate Lenin's vocals from the piano and background noise in his demo, opening up the possibility for McCartney's star Martin to finally turn a song into a version worthy of an official release.
release details
and then debuted at number one on Billboard's Digital Song Sales chart based on just a single day of sales. It also entered Billboard's Hot Rock and Alternative Songs chart at number eleven and their Rock and Alternative Airplay chart at number 37
day before the official release of now and Then. The Beatles YouTube channel premiered a twelve minute documentary on the Making of the song,
included audio footage of commentary from George Harrison and Sean Lennon. One day after the song's release, an official music video for now and then was premiered. Directed by Jackson, the video intersperses contemporary footage of McCartney and Star performed in a song with archival images and footage of each of the Beatles, some of which had previously never been made public.
Conclusion
its release, now and then was promoted as the Last Beatles song. Given that it was the last song from the 1977 demo to get released, it very well could be the last time a new Beatles song is officially introduced to the public. If so, it's an intriguing way to close out the legendary band's discography.
There is still something magical about hearing all four members on the same recording, even though they weren't all in the same room together, or even in the same century.
if Lennon's lyrics weren't about his relationship with McCartney, they evoke memories of the duo's better days as friends, bandmates and the greatest songwriting partnership in popular music history. Amen to that.
I would love to hear what you think about the song. Again, there's probably 10 million opinions about the song out there, but definitely leave in the comments what you think and I'll respond back.
just think it's so cool that after all these years, the Beetle breaking up, some of the Beatles unfortunately passing away, we still get this amazing gem given to the world.
That's the positives about AI, for sure. The dark stuff about AI. That could be a whole other video. But
It really is a true gift from the Beatles
going to affect a lot of people in a positive way, especially those hardcore Beatles fans. I think this means a lot to them. Big time.
hey, thanks so much for sticking to the end. Fred Zed and I really appreciate your loyalty. If you're interested in this kind of stuff and want to do deep dives on your favorite artists, please go check out my other episodes. I've brought to you articles from Aerosmith, Iron Maiden, Brian Adams, Nita Strauss, what else?
Slash Billy Joel from Green Day, et cetera, et cetera. So go check those out and you'll be surprised how much you learn about your favorite artist just by reading some of these articles. It's amazing. So if you really dug this, thank you, like and subscribe and I'll see you in our next episode.