I thought Tuesday was April Fool's Day....



'Lost' John Lennon-written Beatles song to be released?
The Beatles

Will Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr get together to finish the song?

     Apr 2, 2008


'Now And Then', a song written by John Lennon in the 1970s but never completed, could surface again as a tribute release to Neil Aspinall, the producer/record executive often described as 'the fifth Beatle', who died last month (March 24).

According to The Sun, the song, a home recording of which was made by Lennon, may see the light of day, although the tapes would require a lot of work on them to restore them to full quality.

The newspaper quotes an anonymous source who claims that discussions about releasing the song have been undertaken, but it is not clear whether Lennon's former bandmates, Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, have been involved in the talks or are interested in adding newly-recorded music to the song.

"There have been discussions about finishing 'Now And Then'," the source is quoted as saying: "It would be quite a task. It will need a significant amount of work to get it into a condition where it could be released."

http://www.nme.com/news/the-beatles/35605

It's a rumor that's coming back every now and then. There's been some discussing here: http://www.dmbeatles.com/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?m-1166523026/
It would be interesting to see if Paul and Ringo would really get it released. But I'm not holding my breath.

Sorry- should have gone digging for the old thread. I just saw that this morning and thought, one more time with the old story, eh, guys? "Anonymous" sources!

I wish Paul or Ringo would actually say something to quash the rumours, either way. Wasn't quite a lot of work already done to it? George's guitar for instance?

Found this in Wikipedia:

In January 1994, Paul McCartney was given two tape cassettes by John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono, which included home recordings of songs Lennon never completed or released commercially. The songs on the tape included the eventually completed and released "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love", in addition to two other songs "Grow Old With Me" and "Now and Then". In March 1995, the three surviving Beatles began work on "Now and Then" by recording a rough backing track that was to be used as an overdub. However, after only two days of recording, all work on the song ceased and plans for a third reunion single was scrapped permanently.

According to Paul McCartney, George Harrison "didn't want to do it," possibly because new verses would have had to been written. Producer Jeff Lynne reported that "It was one day – one afternoon, really – messing with it. The song had a chorus but is almost totally lacking in verses. We did the backing track, a rough go that we really didn't finish." An additional factor behind scrapping the song was a technical defect in the original recording. Like Real Love, a 60 cycles mains hum can be heard throughout Lennon's demo recording. However, it was much louder on the Now and Then recording, therefore making it much harder to remove.

Throughout 2005 and 2006, press reports speculated that McCartney and Starr would release a complete version of the song in the future. On April 29, 2007, it was reported in the Daily Express[1] that the song may be released to coincide with the Beatles catalogue being released for the first time via digital download. At the time of this writing, the only available recording of this song is Lennon's original demo(complete with the "electronic buzz" embeded in the recording). The overdubs added in 1995 by the other surviving members have yet to surface.

In 2007, reports circulated[2] that Paul McCartney was hoping to complete the song as a "Lennon/McCartney composition" by writing new verses, laying down a new drum track recorded by Ringo, and utilizing archival recordings of George Harrison's guitar work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Now_and_Then_(song)

There may be something about it in Keith Badman's The Beatles After The Break Up, too, but I'm not at all sure. The surviving demo, even leaving aside the loud tape buzz, doesn't strike me as being at all promising.

I thought today that Now And Then may have been optioned for inclusion on Anthology 3. I mean, Anthology 1 and 2 both contain a 'new' song, 3 does not. Or was that the plan all the way?

Quoted from Bobber

I thought today that Now And Then may have been optioned for inclusion on Anthology 3. I mean, Anthology 1 and 2 both contain a 'new' song, 3 does not. Or was that the plan all the way?

I think that was the plan, but the bits of news I heard about it at the time were pretty muddled: "Grow Old For Me" and a new George and Paul collaboration entitled (I think) "All For Love" were also reported as being intended for Anthology 3. They should have just issued "Come and Get It" or "While My Guitar gently Weeps" as a single.

The demo of "Now and Then" is here:

It is such a nice song....the video makes it so sad...i do wish they would release it...and make it a big release that would be so nice....another #1 single for The Beatles...now that would be amazing!!!!

Quoted from DarkSweetLady

It is such a nice song....the video makes it so sad...i do wish they would release it...and make it a big release that would be so nice....another #1 single for The Beatles...now that would be amazing!!!!

It may be the way to stay ahead of Mariah Carey.

I really hope they finish the song, but, if they are anything like me, itll never get done!

good song.
nice voice John at about 1:11

I really hope that this never sees the light of day. Some things should be left well alone, and this is one of them. What are we to call them now - The Twotles?

I don't know about that. I say let's have it. Why not? It looks like it's practically ready to release.

Quoted from Bobber

I don't know about that. I say let's have it. Why not? It looks like it's practically ready to release.

As far as I'm concerned The Beatles finished in 1970, and that should be that. I was all for Anthology, and anything else that's in the vaults to be released, and Love is a good excercise in bringing the music more up to date for a new audience. Although I thought Real Love, and Free As A Bird were OK, I think it's too much messing with the past. If all the band were alive, I'd say go for it, but from what I've heard they'd have to sample some of George's guitar from existing songs in order to finish it. Even taking into account that The Beatles is now a brand, and not a band, I happen to think that's an unnecessary travesty, and a cheapening of the name.

Quoted from BlueMeanie

I think it's too much messing with the past. If all the band were alive, I'd say go for it, but from what I've heard they'd have to sample some of George's guitar from existing songs in order to finish it.

Agreed. The contortions required are getting to be too much. Besides, exhuming half finished demos and now even guitar licks strikes me as being a rather ghoulish enterprise with vaguely Frankenstein-ish overtones. If Paul wants to do another John leftover, my suggestion would be to start from scratch and do the whole thing himself; maybe with Ringo's help, if that suits both of them.

i was never up on the free as a bird / real love thing anyway.  

Quoted from Andy Smith

i was never up on the free as a bird / real love thing anyway.  

Neither was I. Back when those came out, I used to make jokes about how the demand for Beatles reunions had finally evaporated.

those songs were good but...it wasn't really exciting.

Quoted from PaulieBear

those songs were good but...it wasn't really exciting.

I think they did a decent enough job with those two songs, but having to work with half finished (and badly recorded) demos really limited what Paul, George, and Ringo could do. They might have been better off recording a couple of Cavern-era oldies or something like that. George and Paul reportedly tried to write a new song called "All For Love," but nothing came of it if the song ever in fact existed.

there have been on going rumors since a year ago, but neither paul or ringo has commented on those rumors, but jeff lynnes manager has denied that the song is even being worked on.
i do love the fan remix on youtube.
a nice guy there sent me an mp3 version of the song, now i listen to it in the car.
i really love this song.