2023-11-02 12:41:34
It seems unbelievable, but 53 years following having separated and with two of its members dead, the Beatle machine does not stop and today, Thursday, November 2, at 11 a.m. in Argentina, it will be known “Now and then“, the last song of Los Beatles made of John Lennon in 1978.
The history of this song and the process it was subjected to to achieve its final result was made known through a documentary released on November 1 where the entire process is told in detail. And on Friday, November 3, a video clip will be broadcast.
McCartney, 81, announced the song’s release in June in a promotional video that called it “the last Beatles song.” “It’s quite emotional and we all played on it. It’s a genuine Beatles recording,” he said in a YouTube video before the song’s release.
How Now and then was created
“Now and then” was a song that Lennon had recorded for McCartney in his New York home in the Dakota building in 1978. Yoko Ono was the one who gave a cassette to tape to McCartney in 1994.
On that same cassette there were two other songs, “Free as a bird” y “Real love“, which were arranged by producer Jeff Lynne and released in 1995 and 1996.
But with “Now and Then,” there were some technical issues because the technology at the time made it impossible to separate Lennon’s voice from the piano.
The Beatles “get together” in November on an unreleased song, “Now and Then”
McCartney had spoken several times that he wanted to finish “Now and Then.” With Harrison deceased, Paul McCartney stated that he would finish the song: “George didn’t want to fix it at the time because it wasn’t just regarding introducing some text, some bass and drums. We also had to build the song“Paul said in an interview.
Despite the expectations created, “Now and Then” was never completed as announced. McCartney said that at first he agonized over whether they should finish the song or leave it as it was. “Every time I thought regarding this I said to myself: ‘Wait a minute, let’s say I have a chance to ask John’ (…) I’m telling you. I know the answer would have been yes,” he explained.
Finally, following the making of the documentary “The Beatles, Get Back”, made by Peter Robert Jackson, Paul decided to get together with the director who managed to separate Lennon’s voice from the piano with new technology and thus be able to shape the song.
After processing the recording with this new technology, “there it was, John’s voice, crystal clear,” McCartney explained.
The two living Beatles finished “Now and Then” last year, including the acoustic and electric guitar part that George Harrison had recorded in 1995, who finally died in 2001. At the Capitol studios in Los Angeles they added the choirs, Starr’s drums and bass, piano and a guitar solo by McCartney inspired by Harrison’s style.
Ringo, 83, said the process “is the closest we will get to having him (Lennon) back in the room and it was very emotional for all of us.” “It was like John was there. It was fantastic,” he said. The Liverpool quartet broke up in 1970. They all began solo careers and never got back together.
Lennon was murdered in front of his building in New York in 1980, when he was 40 years old. Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001, aged 68.
“Now and then” will be released as a double A-side, featuring the band’s 1962 debut single “Love Me Do” and a cover by American artist Ed Ruscha.
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