# "Now and Then" - the last Beatles song being debuted {2023-11-02} **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [November 2, 2023, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-and-then-the-last-beatles-song-being-debuted-2023-11-02/992460 "2023-11-02T05:27:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-and-then-the-last-beatles-song-being-debuted-2023-11-02/992460/101 "2023-11-06T16:30:09Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Actually, he (I assume it was mostly he) composed an entirely new bridge (middle eight). John’s original demo had a very different one that the final product omits altogether.\* figuratively speaking … :-p he did not “add value” to the song … that was my message … and the fact that they blew up a 2:30m to a 4:00m+ song does not help when your ideas are a little anemic. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-and-then-the-last-beatles-song-being-debuted-2023-11-02/992460/102 "2023-11-06T16:32:17Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Actually, he (I assume it was mostly he) composed an entirely new bridge (middle eight). John’s original demo had a very different one that the final product omits altogether.\* That’s quite an interesting analysis. Thanks for sharing it! ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-and-then-the-last-beatles-song-being-debuted-2023-11-02/992460/103 "2023-11-06T16:36:40Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > You were around when they released “Real Love” and “Free As a Bird.” I think Real Love is a great Beatley sounding song that felt very natural. Free as a Bird not so much, though it got more airplay. Interesting video for FaaB though. ---
**Author:** ![martyg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@martyg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/martyg)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-and-then-the-last-beatles-song-being-debuted-2023-11-02/992460/104 "2023-11-06T16:46:41Z")
I loved both Free as a Bird and Real Love. Now that we’ve heard what would have been the new song for Anthology 3, I think it’s best they did it the way they did it then. ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-and-then-the-last-beatles-song-being-debuted-2023-11-02/992460/105 "2023-11-06T16:55:11Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > But I also dislike the song, John in his insipid “Yoko My Mommy” phase. I agree. John started singing about his life with Yoko and never stopped and I couldn’t give a shit about all that. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-and-then-the-last-beatles-song-being-debuted-2023-11-02/992460/106 "2023-11-06T20:31:53Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > and the fact that they blew up a 2:30m to a 4:00m+ song does not help when your ideas are a little anemic. The bootleg demo that has been around for years is over 5 minutes. Paul did some significant trimming. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-and-then-the-last-beatles-song-being-debuted-2023-11-02/992460/107 "2023-11-06T21:05:41Z")
> [@K364](#): > > John started singing about his life with Yoko and never stopped and I couldn’t give a shit about all that. I always referred to Double Fantasy as “More Songs About Yoko and the Kids”. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-and-then-the-last-beatles-song-being-debuted-2023-11-02/992460/108 "2023-11-06T21:23:02Z")
I thought both the song and the video started out okay. But the song drags on getting more and more depressing, and parts of the video get really creepy. I liked seeing the current footage of current aging Beetles. And some of the archival footage was nice. But having them together, and faking the dead beetles singing this son, was just creepy to me. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-and-then-the-last-beatles-song-being-debuted-2023-11-02/992460/109 "2023-11-06T21:50:59Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I always referred to Double Fantasy as “More Songs About Yoko and the Kids”. But Just Like Starting Over and Woman were both excellent and catchy songs, made all the more poignant by John’s untimely death. Watching th3 Wheels wasn’t really Top 40 bu5 became so because of the sudden interest in the Double Fantasy album. Always liked I’m Losing You as well. Kiss Kiss Kiss I could do without. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-and-then-the-last-beatles-song-being-debuted-2023-11-02/992460/110 "2023-11-06T22:30:07Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > If they were set on using video magic to make it look like they were all singing the song together, it would have been better to base it on archival footage of all four circa 1977. But the recording itself has elements that were recorded decades apart, by Beatles at wildly different ages, working together on a song. I think it’s entirely appropriate that the video reflects that. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-and-then-the-last-beatles-song-being-debuted-2023-11-02/992460/111 "2023-11-07T00:51:37Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I think it’s entirely appropriate that the video reflects that. But they had John and George from 10 years or more before either of them worked on this song. How is that more appropriate than just having them all depicted at the same relative ages? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-and-then-the-last-beatles-song-being-debuted-2023-11-02/992460/112 "2023-11-07T12:30:09Z")
> [@Biffster](#): > > That’s quite an interesting analysis. Thanks for sharing it! My pleasure. David Bennett’s music analysis videos are consistently excellent. (I love Rick Beato, too, but David is rather more, shall we say, organized). It would have been nice to hear the late Ian McDonald’s take on this (his book _Revolution in the Head_ did include his thoughts on Free as a Bird and Real Love). I assume Allan Pollack will do a purely musicological analysis — he’s still alive. (In a lighter (or just more obsessive?) vein, there’s that “What Goes On” website/book on musical or technical “anomalies” in Beatles songs. The SDMB’s own Biffy the Elephant Shrew is cited in that.) ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-and-then-the-last-beatles-song-being-debuted-2023-11-02/992460/113 "2023-11-07T20:01:13Z")
The Onion chimes in: > **[The Beatles Release New Song Using AI, Archival Recordings](https://www.theonion.com/the-beatles-release-new-song-using-ai-archival-recordi-1850996358)** > > The Beatles have released what they’re calling the band’s “last song,” titled “Now And Then,” with John Lennon and George Harrison making a posthumous appearance with the help of AI and archival recordings. What do you think? ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-and-then-the-last-beatles-song-being-debuted-2023-11-02/992460/114 "2023-11-07T20:17:29Z")
> [@Biffster](#): > > But Just Like Starting Over and Woman were both excellent and catchy songs, made all the more poignant by John’s untimely death. (Speaking as a hardcore Beatle Freak since 1964) Out of everything John recorded since The Fabs breakup, **JLSO** and **Woman** are the only two of his releases I’ve ever liked enough to put on a playlist. **JLSO** is indeed a terrific song. **Woman** is an anomaly for me — it’s yet another insipid MommyYoko Worship Hymn, but for some reason I can’t fathom, it moves me to not-quite-tears. Go figure. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-and-then-the-last-beatles-song-being-debuted-2023-11-02/992460.md?page=5)