Monday, August 10, 2015

John Lennon Left Behind Demo That Almost Became Last Beatles Song

 
In 1994 the three remaining Beatles at the time George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Paul McCartney got together to put their touches on demos left behind by the late John Lennon for a three volume anthology they were releasing. The band with ELO's Jeff Lynne producing completed two of three songs. The two were Real Love and Free as a Bird. The third one Now and Then however went untouched.

This is because Harrison didn't care for it. However, McCartney according to the video below has stated that he would like to some day come back to it and finish it, as Lennon's wife Yoko Ono had personally given it to him with a label on the cassette written by Lennon saying "For Paul".

On the subject Lynne says:

“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.”

In the first video you can hear Lennon's original version along with a bit of McCartney's commentary. However, if you want to hear a more cleaned up and fan completed version of it, click the video at the bottom. Now and Then is a very melancholic song, but that is not surprising given that many of Lennon's later songs were like that. Either way, it is brilliant. Personally I like the fan completed one better because it breathes fresh life into the old recording and the love truly shines through.

Now and Then

Fan Completed Version

No comments:

Post a Comment