The Beatles during a photo session in London on July 28, 1968.Photo:Apple Corps Ltd.
Apple Corps Ltd.
On Oct. 5, 1962,the Beatlesreleased their first original song, “Love Me Do.” On Nov. 2, 2023, they will release their last, “Now and Then.” Before revealing details about the newly completed track featuring all four Fabs — a technological marvel nearly 45 years in the making — allow us to share an anecdote.
It’s February 1981.Paul McCartneyis busy recording at George Martin’s studios on the Caribbean island of Montserrat. Work helped dull the unimaginable pain ofJohn Lennon’s murder two months earlier, and the presence of the Beatles’ longtime producer was no doubt an added comfort. As the sessions evolved, McCartney invited rock pioneer Carl Perkins to join him. The man behind “Blue Suede Shoes” was an early hero to the Beatles, and McCartney gave him the VIP treatment during his stay. Grateful for the hospitality, Perkins channeled his feelings into a song. “I thought I might run short of words telling Paul how much I appreciated him having me down there,”he later said, “so I wrote down some words and put a little tune to them.” Called“My Old Friend,”he played it for McCartney and wife Linda as a farewell present. The tender ballad closed with these lines:
My old friend,
And if we never meet again this side of life
In a little while, over yonder,
Where it’s peace and quiet
Won’t you think about me every now and then
As far as Linda was concerned, it was a necessary catharsis for her husband. “Carl, thank you so much,” Perkins recalled her saying. “He’s crying and he needed to. He hasn’t been able to really break down since that happened to John. But how did you know? There’s just two people in the world that know what John said to Paul. Me and Paul are the only two that know that…” Perkins didn’t have an answer. It seemed to border on the supernatural. “McCartney really feels that Lennon sent me that song,” Perkins would say.
The limited-edition cassette of the new Beatles single “Now and Then,” with the label in Lennon’s handwriting.Apple Corps Ltd.
The exchange was part of 1995’sBeatles Anthology, the massive multi-media archival project that reunited McCartney with surviving band membersGeorge HarrisonandRingo Starrto work on three unfinished Lennon songs. Holed up at McCartney’s Hogg Hill Mill studios with Electric Light Orchestra maestro (and Harrison’s Traveling Wilburys' colleague) Jeff Lynne for a few weeks in early 1994 and 1995, the so-called “Threetles” managed to complete two tracks, “Free As a Bird” and “Real Love.” But the third, “Now and Then” was quickly abandoned. (In a press release, Harrison’s widow Olivia claims they quit after “several days.” Lynne has said they spent “one day — one afternoon, really, messing with it.” And Ringo Starrtold PEOPLEearlier this year, “we worked on it for 10 minutes.”)
The song languished for decades, though McCartney never forgot it. Over the years he referenced “Now and Then” repeatedly in interviews. “That one’s still lingering around,” he said in a2012 documentary on Lynne. “So I’m going to nick in with Jeff and do it. Finish it, one of these days.” But the technology lagged behind, and thedeath of Harrison in 2001made the possibility seem even more remote.
A crucial breakthrough came during the production ofPeter Jackson’s 2021 docuseriesGet Back. Perhaps fittingly, the film thatreframed the end of the Beatleswould bring them together one last time. Jackson’s audio team at Wingnut Films developed cutting-edge sound separation techniques, which removed stray guitar strums and other background noise that obscured much of the dialogue and music in the original film footage.
More than 40 years after it was begun, the song could finally be completed.
For a co-producer, McCartney enlisted Giles Martin. As the son of the late Beatles producer Sir George Martin, and the de facto steward of the band’s recorded legacy, he was the obvious choice. “It was Paul’s initiative to finish the song,” Martin tells PEOPLE, “as is the case with most Beatles things — even with my dad back in those days. Paul dipped in on his tour when he wanted to use John’s singing [onstage]. He worked with Peter Jackson for that. And then he sent Peter the tape [of “Now and Then”], which Peter worked on. Paul also started working on the track and played me what he had. Then we talked about it and that’s how I got involved.”
Though he’s spent the better part of a decade overseeing remasters and lavish box sets, Martin admits that contributing to a brand new Beatles song was something different entirely. “To be completely honest, I was more frightened doing this track than I had been doing remix projects, because you have to respect John and George. They aren’t with us now, but they play on the track. Your job is to help make this track as good as it can be,” he explained. “It was really interesting when we were doing the strings, I sat with Paul and he said, ‘Listen to George’s rhythm. We need to respect George’s rhythm guitar, because he’s playing a certain thing. We need to make sure the strings pick up on that.’ Paul’s very good at making sure that there’s cohesion between everyone’s ideas. He’s very good at actually going, ‘What was everyone trying to say here and let’s make sure it’s all together.’”
What’s widely believed to be the first photo of all four Beatles together, taken during a session at Liverpool’s Cavern Club on Aug. 22, 1962.Apple Corps Ltd.
The Beatles during one of their final photo sessions on April 9, 1969, in the London district of in Twickenham.Apple Corps Ltd.
“Now and Then” will cap off a newly remixed and expanded 50th anniversary version of the Beatles twin greatest hits set,1962-1966and1967-1970, due out Nov. 10.(Better known as The Red Album and The Blue Album, respectively.) The two covers famously mirror one another, as the band lean over the banister at their London record company headquarters and beam at the cameraman, six years (and several lifetimes) apart. The first photo was taken for their1963 debut LP; the secondintended for what would becomeLet It Be,the last album they released as an active band. It’s a visual representation of “now and then,” captured a decade before Lennon ever wrote the song that now closes the collection.
The twin covers for the Beatles' 1973 greatest hits compilation, commonly known as “The Red Album” and “The Blue Album.".Apple Corps Ltd.
The Beatles were always skilled at endings, though often it was accidental. While not planned as such, the final album they recorded, 1969’sAbbey Road, concludes with “The End” — a largely instrumental track that features solos from each member before fading out with a maxim on love. It’s the perfect musical curtain call. And every Aug. 22,Beatle Twitter reminds usthat the very first and very last photos of the Fab Four together were taken on that very day, seven years apart, in 1962 and 1969.
Many have theorizedthat Lennon was eyingsome form of reunion with McCartneyprior to his murder on Dec. 8, 1980.No one will ever know for sure, but the thought certainly makes the words of “Now and Then” extra poignant.
And now and then
If we must start again
We will know for sure
That I love you
The Beatles at a 1965 photo session.Apple Corps Ltd.
And in the end, what did the Beatles mean? “Friendship” is as good an answer as any. “Even inGet Back, which is meant to depict the acrimonious Beatles, you can see the love they have for each other, and theneedthey have for each other,” Martin continues. “The split needed to happen for various reasons, but you get a sense of how painful it had to be. I don’t think either one ever looked for another John Lennon or a Paul McCartney. They knew there wasn’t one. And so this does seem like a love letter to Paul to me.”
“It feels like this is the Beatles last song. It sounds like how the Beatles would do it now, had they all been alive. I think that makes it more real. I hope it touches people.”
source: people.com
