November 15, 2023 by Elias Prodger (‘26)
The Beatles’ impact on music history cannot really be overstated. It can be argued that no other artists have had such a vast influence on popular music like those in the classic Liverpool based group composed of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Since the band’s breakup in 1970, their music has crossed generations, soundtracked people’s lives, and they have been widely praised for having one of the greatest discographies of all time. As the years go on, more and more videos, unreleased demos, and songs have been released to the public, allowing the Beatles to be the most documented and recorded band in history. Most recently, the 2021 documentary “Get Back” showed the band’s highly sought after creative process in a time of high turmoil among its members. Hours of redone footage of Paul jamming on new ideas, Ringo smoking copious amounts of weed, and Yoko Ono staying as close to John as physically possible. Casual music listeners may have found it boring and repetitive but die hard and even mildly interested fans were engaged and fascinated by the band’s creative process. So when the band’s final unreleased song was announced, it’s fair to say fans were nothing short of elated…
First, we need to talk about how the song came about. In the 90s, over 10 years after John’s death, the Beatles anthology collection was released. This included compilations of old interviews, outtakes, and a film to follow. This collection also included new John Lennon demos recorded in the 70s that were worked out by the band and released as two new Beatles compositions, “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love.” One other demo was unearthed, the track “Now and Then.” This demo was never reworked due to George’s general distaste for the track, and the sloppiness of the demo recording, burying John’s voice. This made the remaining material unusable and left it to be leaked on the internet years later. But now 30 years later, music production technology has improved exponentially. Using AI, they were able to heighten John’s voice in the previously muddied demo, rendering it usable to add layers of bass, drums, and strings to accompany the baseline. As a result, the final “Beatles” song, “Now and Then,” could be released in 2023.
You may ask, why did I put “Beatles” in quotation marks. This song is of course credited to the band and considered an official Beatles release. But I’m not so sure I can truly consider it an official Beatles song. But before we get into that, let’s talk about the song itself. As someone who has grown up with this band knowing the ins and outs of their discography, this song was incredibly emotional for me. The four count at the beginning of the song from an 83-year-old Ringo Starr already provided a stark contrast from John’s age when this demo was created and present day. The song kicks into a piano forward ballad with John’s vocals being incredibly present in the mix, with a melancholy melody. The composition at its core is well written and provides a great accompaniment to John’s demo.
This song, in my opinion, is a beautiful testament to John Lennon as one of the greatest songwriters of all time. But in my heart of hearts, this song is not a testament to the Beatles’ greatness because I cannot honestly refer to this as a Beatles song. For one, this song sounds like it was made in 2023. That old more Lo-Fi charm of 60s records that made the Beatles records of the time so endearing and groundbreaking has completely disappeared. An overuse of compression and modern production techniques feels like it completely ruins the feel of what added to the special nature of their original songs. We are also missing the collaborative editing and writing that made the four of them such an iconic songwriting group. As much as we can refer to Beatles songs as Paul’s songs, or John’s Songs, or Ringo’s childish garbage (we love you Ringo), it is undeniable how much they fed off each other’s collaborative ideas. As involved as Ringo and Paul were in this composition, the absence of George and John in the studio to me is clear.
This song is beautiful and melancholic and emotional. I truly believe this is an amazing John Lennon song. But the absence of George and all the people that worked together to make the Beatles music so special leaves a giant void of untapped potential. This song, to me, cannot be truly referred to as a Fab Four song, only the Fab Faux.