Sean Lennon stated in the short documentary that was released this Wednesday to heat up the atmosphere before the release of Now and Then that “it is genuinely a Beatles recording.” The words of John's son have their significance because his father was precisely the author of the aforementioned song, rescued now, almost forty-five years after its composition and until now unpublished for technical-sound reasons.
And we have to agree with him, that is, that the artistic magic and spirit of the fab four are unmistakable throughout the four minutes and eight seconds of a melodic, emotional song with a sometimes majestic sound dress with choirs and ropes. And hearing Lennon and McCartney together again continues to be a milestone... even if it is with the help of technology, as is the case.
The song was recorded by Lennon in 1979, and from the voice of that recording, the two surviving Beatles – Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr – have built a sound edifice where they have also included some acoustic and electric guitar parts that George Harrison had recorded in 1995. Specifically, McCartney and Starr finished and rounded off the piece last year in Los Angeles, where, in addition to their respective bass and drums, they added backing vocals, piano and a notable slide guitar solo by McCartney. Also worth noting is a string section arranged by producer Giles Martin, son of the legendary George.
The prominence that this song has acquired – which Sean Lennon, McCartney or the publishing label itself, Apple Records/Universal, present as quite possibly the last Beatles song – is largely due to the decisive presence of the current technique to give own entity to the voice of John Lennon. On the original cassette where he recorded the aforementioned song, back in the late seventies, his voice was so closely paired with the sound of the piano that until now it had been impossible to give it its own, clean entity to work with.
On that starting point, the added portions are very recognizable in their Beatle roots as well as in the essence of the original piece, since we must not forget that this was composed by the tragically deceased musician in his New York apartment, on a cassette tape and in a quasi-domestic plan. Specifically, he connected his piano to the Sony CF-580 model recorder and began to sing simultaneously and in direct recording. Result: everything was recorded on a single audio track, where ambient noise and even the hum of the recording device also appeared.
And, closing this circle, we have had to wait for technological evolution, but also for the person of the director Peter Jackson, who in his documentary Get back (released in 2021) demonstrated the art of his reconstruction of that chapter of the Beatlenian past with the use of a neural network called MAL, and with which they were able to clean the audio of many conversations in the film. But, the truth be told, in Now and then the AI does not have much presence.
The general respect for the piece and the legendary group is due to the driving character of Paul McCartney, responsible for this almost magical catharsis, in an initiative that some describe as personal and personalistic. In any case, it is also worth remembering that the song Now and then has several meanings beyond the strictly musical: according to Sir Paul, the last words that John Lennon said to him in life were “think of me now and then, old friend” (“ think of me from time to time, old friend"), so in his opinion those lyrics could refer to the two of them. An opinion that, once listening to the song, lacks foundation, since it is rather a melody of love and apology sent to Yoko Ono.
Anyway, the song of the return – and final goodbye? – of the Beatles' album sees the light in double A-side format, sharing the focus with Love me do, which is significantly the band's debut single dated 1962. The album cover is signed by the American Ed Ruscha. Also today a video clip of the already historic song will be released.
