The Latest and Last Beatles Song: “Now and Then”

The last surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr use recordings of John Lennon and George Harrison to create the final Beatles record, “Now and Then.”

The Beatles have released what will be their final song, “Now and Then.” The surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr finalized the track using old recording of John Lennon and George Harrison.

McCartney and Starr explain the origins of the song in the short documentary below. The track originated after John Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono gave the surviving Beatles three recordings of songs written by Lennon before he was killed. McCartney, Starr, and Harrison used two of the three songs earlier. They had created new Beatles songs in the 1990s to along along with the Anthology documentary about the Beatles. Those two songs were “Free As A Bird” and “Real Love.”

The third Lennon song that McCartney, Starr, and Harrison tried to turn into a Beatles song in the 1990s was “Now and Then.” But this Beatles track was not completed at that time, perhaps partly or mainly due to George Harrison’s disdain for the song. Or, according to McCartney’s more recent version of events, the song was not finished due to technical and time constraints. One of the challenges was that Lennon’s demo recording did not have a clear enough separation between his voice and the piano.

But a jump in time has made the new track possible. Director Peter Jackson, in creating the Beatles documentary about the making of the Let It Be (1970) album, The Beatles: Get Back (2021), used a new technology. It allowed him to separate out the voices of the Fab Four in the original film footage from that session. This technology would also allow the Beatles to separate out John Lennon’s voice from the piano on “Now and Then.”

Then, producer Giles Martin, son of Beatles producer George Martin, added in guitar parts that George Harrison had created when the three Beatles worked on the song in the 1990s. Ringo Starr recorded a new drum track, while McCartney added bass and other instruments, including a slide guitar track as a tribute to Harrison. McCartney’s voice joins Lennon’s voice in the background during the song, and McCartney also added the line “always to return to me” in the lyrics.

Now and then,
I miss you;
Oh, now and then,
I want you to be there for me,
Always to return to me
.

And so, we have what is likely the last Beatles song we will ever have created by the four actual Beatles. While it may not be a match for some of their masterpieces, it is great to hear John singing with the other lads again. Check out the official video for “Now and Then.” The video mixes old footage of the four Beatles with today’s Paul and Ringo, leading the viewer to imagine them all together again. It might even bring a few tears to your eyes.

What do you think of the new song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Roy Orbison Without the Sunglasses: “Only the Lonely”

    Roy Orbison began wearing his signature sunglasses onstage in 1963 due to something that happened while touring with the Beatles.

    Roy Orbison Without Glasses

    Roy Orbison, who was born on April 23, 1936 and passed away on December 6, 1988, was known for his amazing voice and his signature look. The image we have of him is dressed in black and wearing sunglasses. But he did not always wear his signature sunglasses, as shown by the below performance of “Only the Lonely” on Dick Clark’s Saturday Night Beechnut Show.

    Throughout the pandemic, I have been digging deeper into artists I have always loved.  Lately, one of my obsessions has been Roy Orbison.

    There are various stories about why Orbison wore sunglasses on stage.  One of the most popular legends is that Orbison was shy and the sunglasses helped him overcome stage fright.

    But in the book The Authorized Roy Orbison, Orbison’s sons Roy Jr., Wesley, and Alex explained the story behind the famous sunglasses.  While on tour with the Beatles in 1963, Roy Orbison left his regular glasses on an airplane.  Orbison had poor eyesight and was at a loss without his glasses, but he had a pair of sunglasses with him (apparently prescription sunglasses).  So he wore the sunglasses on the tour, creating what would become his iconic look.

    Prior to 1963, however, Orbison did not perform with the sunglasses.  So here, you may see Orbison perform one of the great classics “Only the Lonely” below in what appears to be from July 23, 1960 on Dick Clark’s show.  Check it out.

    What is your favorite Roy Orbison song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Ringo Starr Records a John Lennon Song (with a little help from Paul McCartney)

    On Ringo Starr’s new album What’s My Name, he includes a recording of one of the last songs written by John Lennon, “Grow Old With Me.” The touching track also features another Beatle, Paul McCartney, playing bass and singing backing vocals.

    Ringo Starr recently explained to Billboard how Jack Douglas, who produced Lennon’s Double Fantasy, approached him about a tape of demos Lennon had made in Bermuda in 1980. Starr said that listening to the tape was “very emotional” for him. And it was on that tape he found one song that Lennon had never released, “Grow Old With Me.”

    So Starr called McCartney, who agreed to help out. One final additional touch was that Douglas added a string section to the song. And unknown to Starr, Douglas added a brief musical riff from George Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun” (listen closely at around the 1:40 mark). Thus was created a bit of a Beatles reunion of sorts.

    The lyric video below for Starr’s recording of “Grow Old With Me” includes Lennon’s handwriting to help display the lyrics. Check it out.

    The recording touched Starr. As he explained to Billboard, “It moved me. I did my best and it’s very me, but you know, [Lennon] wrote those words and he’d written songs for me before, so I thought, ‘No, I’m gonna do it.'”

    If you listen closely, in addition to the Harrison reference in the music, you may hear Starr’s message to Lennon. At around the 3:02 mark, you can hear in the background, Starr saying, “God bless you, John.”

    John Lennon and Yoko Ono originally planned to include “Grow Old With Me” on Double Fantasy (1980). But the song was not ready when they wanted to release the album, so they saved it for what they hoped would be their next album.

    Lennon’s demo of “Grow Old With Me” with Ono was released after his death. Lennon’s version appears on the 2010 posthumous album, Milk and Honey. You may hear Lennon’s version below.

    Ringo Starr‘s album What’s My Name was released on October 25, 2019.

    What do you think of Ringo Starr’s take on “Grow Old With Me”? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    ATM Money, It’s a Gas

    Money SongsOn September 2, 1969, the first public Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) began giving out money to customers at Chemical Bank in Rockville Center, New York. This first ATM could give out cash, but it could not do anything else.  Two years later in 1971, ATMs were introduced that could do other functions we associate with such machines today.  Today, there are more than three million ATMs in the world.

    A number of people worked on developing the ATM.  But most credit Don Wetzel as coming up with the idea for the ATM while he was waiting in line at a bank.  Wetzel worked as an executive at Docutel, a company that developed baggage-handling machines.

    After the first machines appeared at banks, engineers continued to work on and improve the machines, which became more popular and common by the 1980s.  I first remember using an ATM at a bank around 1984.  It amazed me that I could access what little money I had in the bank so easily.  Today, I cannot imagine not having them, even as technology keeps changing.  The last time I deposited a check was the first time I did it through my cell phone.

    Money Sings

    There are a number of good songs about money or that reference money directly or indirectly.  Dire Straits had “Money for Nothing.”  The Beatles sang about not being able to buy love.  50 Cent reports, “I Get Money.”  The Steve Miller Band advises us just to “Take the Money and Run.”  And in “Price Tag,” Jesse J reminds us “it’s not about the money, money, money.”  Yet, as Cyndi Lauper notes, “Money Changes Everything.”

    But the first song about money that comes to my mind is Pink Floyd’s “Money.”  From the opening cash register sound of coins, it is one of the most recognizable openings in music.

    Roger Waters wrote the song, which features lead vocals by David Gilmour.  In the Pink Floyd song, the way Gilmour exclaims “Money!” and some of the lines like “Money is a gas” lead listeners to believe the song is in praise of currency.  But if one examines the lyrics closely, one sees the song is really about problems caused by money.

    Money, it’s a crime;
    Share it fairly but don’t take a slice of my pie;
    Money, so they say,
    Is the root of all evil today;
    But if you ask for a raise it’s no surprise that they’re
    Giving none away, away, away.

    “Money” was the opening track on the album Dark Side of the Moon, which was released on March 1 of that year. The song, which also uses unusual time signature changes and is one of only two songs on the album to feature a saxophone, was the first U.S. hit for Pink Floyd.
    “Money” was released as a single on May 7, 1973, less than four years after that first ATM appeared.  But money had been causing problems long before ATMs came along.  And it will continue to do so no matter what technology we use for the transfer of cash.
    What is your favorite song about money? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    James Taylor Live in Greensboro (Live Review)

    The following is a Guest Post by Brad Risinger, reporting on the James Taylor concert in Greensboro, North Carolina on May 18, 2018.

    James Taylor has told interviewers that he was “clinically nervous” in 1968 when he played an audition for Paul McCartney and George Harrison for The Beatles’ new record label, Apple. Returning to his North Carolina roots for a May 18 show at the Greensboro Coliseum in North Carolina, he just chuckled introducing the song he played for Sir Paul: “Something in the Way She Moves.” “I wish I could remember it,” he said of the Apple session, “but I’m told I had a good time.”

    Taylor Greesboro

    Playing a show so close to his beginnings in Chapel Hill – where a bridge south of town bears his name – any gaps in his memory are readily forgiven by an aging, but adoring, crowd. At 70, Taylor’s voice remains as soothing as a soft blanket on a cool morning. His longtime backing vocalists – centered around the charismatic Arnold McCuller – may cover small corners of his range that now elude him.  But their interlaced voices are so familiar and compatible that it is hard to think about them without each other.

    This tour is unabashedly fueled by memory as much as it is music. It was intended as a summer barnstormer with his old pal, Bonnie Raitt.  But illness forced her to back out of at least its early dates.

    The homey digital graphics package that accompanied most songs featured photos scattered across his more than 50-year career, both phases of his family life and his many band mates. He signed autographs for most of the intermission at the corner of the stage.  And he was tugged back for the second set seeming to enjoy the interaction almost as much as his fans.

    Stars, of course, play their catalogues.  And two robust sets got to most of Taylor’s critical and fan high-water marks. The applause for “Fire and Rain” in the middle of the second set was so sustained my daughter asked if the show was ending. But in a knowing nod to a loyal fan base, the tour of his discography is reminiscent but not reverent.

    James Taylor is comfortable with the chronology of a decades-long career, but won’t be the pop star who plays the same show he offered 30 years ago. He will give you what he has, from where he is, understanding where he and his fans have been together.

    He confides that “the old jokes are best, told over and over again.” He never fails to tell the story of his nephew James, and the “cowboy lullaby” he wrote for him driving south to see him for the first time (“Sweet Baby James”). But he’ll also offer differing arrangements that feature many of his stalwarts who share the stage, and truncated versions of classics like “Steamroller” that would seem out of place in their old, extended forms. Even a shortish “Steamroller” in Greensboro caused a slightly winded Taylor to offer “that got a little out of hand.”

    At a time when the country is foundering to find its way, Taylor has never been shy about his belief that music, and love, work hand in hand to show a path forward. Back in politically purple North Carolina, he uttered not a word of the socially conscious politics that have defined much of his public life. Instead, he offered what he always has in his lyrics: something to hang onto, for each listener in her own way.

    He introduced “Jump Up Behind Me” as a song about getting out of New York in the 1960s when his early band, “The Flying Machine,” had flown apart. He called his father, who sensed the moment, and told him not to move and drove to get him in 12 hours. “I was in trouble,” Taylor recalled.

    Taylor’s mellow, reflective folk rock has been so enduring in part for this ability to help listeners cope with what cards life deals you along the way. The Carole King mainstays in the show – “You’ve Got a Friend” and “Up on the Roof” – are hopeful and understanding. One of his best ‘80s songs, “Never Die Young,” is written from a bleaker viewpoint.  The song counsels that sometimes we are only managing setbacks to get to a better place, as we “cut up our losses into doable doses, ration our tears and sighs.”

    But 10,000 people singing “Shower the People” is at the core of the James Taylor experience. A background video board showed 100 or so video clips of Taylor’s friends and random fans singing along in little boxes that resembled the closing scene of the movie “Love Actually.” There are likely few large-scale tours left for Taylor. But it seems that Taylor, and his fans, are just fine with the legacy message of showing kindness to those around you. “Things are gonna be much better if you only will.”

    Photo courtesy of Brad Risinger. Leave your two cents in the comments.

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