The Nov. 2 release of the Beatles' "Now and Then," the storied band's final song, is testament both to their enduring cultural impact and the technology that enabled it.
The release has particular resonance in East Hampton Town. Paul McCartney has long been a part-time resident, and is sometimes seen around town in the summer. But John Lennon, too, spent time here, renting a house on Old Montauk Highway in Montauk in 1976.
"Think about me every now and then, old friend," are said to be the last words that John Lennon spoke to Paul McCartney. Lennon may even have transmitted the message from beyond, through the voice of the rock-and-roll pioneer Carl Perkins, singing to Paul McCartney months after Lennon's death (Google it). And during his "househusband" years of the late 1970s, Lennon recorded his song "Now and Then" into a cassette recorder.
It shows him in a meditative, even melancholy state. "Now and then, I miss you / Oh, now and then, I want you to be there for me / Always to return to me." Was he singing to Yoko Ono, his wife? Or to Mr. McCartney?
The "Threetles" reconvened in the mid-1990s to complete two other Lennon demos, "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love," as part of "The Beatles Anthology" project, technology reuniting the quartet. But the rough "Now and Then" recording, despite the efforts of Mr. McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, was deemed unusable and shelved.
Fast-forward -- that's an analog term -- another quarter-century, and technology has made another quantum leap. With machine learning technology, Peter Jackson, director of the stunning, epic "Get Back" documentary of 2021, was able to separate Lennon's "Now and Then" vocal from the cassette recording's muddy piano, compression and other studio manipulation producing a clear vocal that nonetheless conveys an otherworldly quality. The now-deceased Harrison's guitar remains, and Mr. McCartney and Mr. Starr added new instruments. An orchestral accompaniment scored by Giles Martin, son of the Beatles' producer George Martin, lends more "Beatle" elements, recalling Lennon-penned classics like "I Am the Walrus" and "Glass Onion."
Without four Beatles, a true reunion was never possible, and "Now and Then," like "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love," could be realized only within that limitation. And yet, it's them, the same four guys who six decades ago took over the world, not with weapons but with guitars and heavenly melodies and the essential message: All you need is love. It's what the world needs now, as then.
Writing in The New York Times, Ian Leslie noted the rhythmic similarity of the titles "Now and Then" and "Love Me Do," the latter the A-side of the Beatles' first single, written by Mr. McCartney, released in 1962, and cheekily added as the B-side to "Now and Then," nearly 62 years later. Now and then, indeed.
But there's more to it. Listening to that ghostly vocal, one can hear in Lennon's songs a longer through line: "Ask Me Why," "There's a Place," "In My Life," "Now and Then." Trisyllabic titles, yes, but always within them the aforesaid message, shining through the amorphous, dreamy sadness and longing.
All things must pass, Harrison sang more than 50 years ago. "Now and Then" is emblematic of this axiom, a suitable finale to a most celebrated musical legacy.
This story has been updated to correct the song's release date.
