The Beatles enter the 21st century...
The last song "Now and Then" is all about their history...and ours.
The words ‘What do you think?’ buzzed through the real and online Beatles community this week. The question of course was all about the Beatles self-anointed last song “Now and Then.”
Being a Beatles nut myself, I get asked more often than others because my friends and relatives know I love the Beatles. I even wrote a novel about the group (under a pseudonym) wondering what it would be like to save John’s life.
The Beatles No. 1 single begins with the plaintive voice of John singing something new, words we’ve never heard him sing before, and the sound quality is pristine. You can hear John emoting. Thank you Peter Jackson who helped invent the machine capable of separating John’s voice from his piano.
What can I say, the song is fabulous but, at the same time, very sad. That voice, that personality of John’s was stolen from all of us by a violent criminal act and there’s no getting around that.
I can’t be the only Beatles fan who had a tear in his eye as he listened and watched the official video. The song simply cannot be heard for what it is. It’s impossible to listen without revisiting the history of John and the boys.
For me, I immediately thought of “A Day in the Life” perhaps the greatest of all Beatles songs and the way it begin with John strumming his acoustic and singing “I heard the news today, oh boy…..”
We all heard that news back in 1980 and it doesn’t help that that the horrible anniversary happened around this time of year. You just cannot separate “Now and Then” from the shattering reality of what ended the Beatles once and for all.
John and the boys always had a thing for the minor chords and those tend to be wistful all on their own. Here, in this new song, those chords reinforce the feelings of melancholy.
Thank God for Sir Paul. He truly came to play for this single, adding his own bass, Ringo’s drums and a slide guitar tribute to good old George who died of cancer in 2001. Add to that, the familiar Beatles strings that we know from “I Am the Walrus” and “Eleanor Rigby” and there it is—the alchemy of the Beatles transported back to the future.
I’ve heard some say they don’t like the record. To that, I can only throw up my hands up and say, you sir are not a true fan. Those of us who are, know magic when we hear it.