John And Paul During The Recording Of I’ll Follow The Sun In 1964.

Now and Then

1977

Now and Then: I know it's true / It's all because of you

And if I make it through / It's all because of you / And now and then / If we must start again / Well, we will know for sure / That I love you

I don't wanna lose you, oh no / Abuse you or confuse you / Oh no, no, sweet darlin' / But if you have to go away / If you have to go, well you the reason [?]

Now and then / I miss you / Oh, now and then / I want you to return to me / 'Til you return to me / I know it's true / It's all because of you / And if you go away / I know you could never stay

.

1978

Love Awake: Love awake to the day / When we can make our love awake / Lord knows we need it any time we can get it / But we forget it every now and then / But if you don't feel it, later on, you'll regret it / And if we let it we could set it free, you and me

.

1981

My Old Friend: If I told you how I feel / Oh, it wouldn’t sound so real / ‘Cause emotions, they are just now settin’ in / But it sure is great to know / That wherever we may go / We can always be the best of friends

My old friend, / Thanks for inviting me in / My old friend, / May this goodbye never mean the end / If we never meet again this side of life / In a little while, over yonder, / Where it’s peace and quiet / My old friend, / Won’t you think about me every now and then

.

Well, it was something that I’ll never live long enough to forget. It happened in February of 1981 and as the world all knows, and never will forget, in December of 1980 when John Lennon was taken away from us, and so this was the following year, in February. I wrote the song about and for Paul McCartney. I did it because he was so kind to invite me down to this beautiful island of Montserrat with Stevie Wonder. Ringo was there, just had a wonderful time. I flew down by myself. Paul and Linda met me with a jeep on the (center) airfield with a little single engine plane and took me across the mountains we were like kids again, and it was a wonderful time, and I wanted to do… I didn’t want to cry when I left after staying down there, and I’m a big crybaby! If something moves me, I’ll just choke up… I talk about it. I thought that would happen, so the night before, I just wrote how I felt on the isle of Montserrat on every shell, forget a country boy with a guitar and a song you invited me, and you treated me like kin, and you’ve given me a reason to go on. So my old friend, think about me every now and then. I sang it for Paul, at about 10:00 the next morning. I was scheduled to leave flying again in the little single engine aircraft to the island of Antigua where I was flying commercial back to Atlanta and on to Nashville and back to Jackson, where I live here. I sang it, he said “Carl, it’s beautiful… would you sing it again?” and I said. “Sure, man.” He said “wait just a minute,” and he got Linda in there, and they sat on the floor, I sat on his old Fender twin reverb amplifier, with a guitar, I did however notice a microphone over there. I didn’t pay that much attention to it, but George Martin recorded it and after I finished singing the song to Paul, he was crying, tears were rolling down his pretty cheeks, and they’re pretty to me just like they are to the rest of the world. I think he’s a very handsome boy and always did. He’s even handsomer when he’s crying. And Linda said, “Carl, thank you so much.” I said, “Linda, I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to make you cry.” She said, “But he’s crying and he needed to. He hasn’t been able to really break down since that happened to John.” I mean he stepped outside of the room, out by the pool, and he just had his handkerchief out, and he was going at it. And she put her arm around me and said, “But how did you know?” I said, “Know what, Linda? I don’t know what you’re talking about?” She said “There’s two people in the world that know what John Lennon said to Paul, the last thing he said to him. Me and Paul are the only two that know that, but now there’s three and one of you… you know it. I said, “Girl, you’re freaking me out! I don’t know what you’re talking about!” She said the last words that John Lennon said to Paul in the hallway of the Dakota building were… he patted him on the shoulder, and said, ‘Think about me every now and then, old friend.’ Q: That’s just amazing… And she said, here you are, that’s what you just sang, and how did you know? And I said I didn’t know it, gosh, I didn’t know it. But McCartney really feels that Lennon sent me that song, he really does.

— Carl Perkins, interviewed for Goldmine (September 26, 1986).

.

1994

Paul had gone to Yoko to ask if she had any of John’s songs kicking around. The deal was that Paul would induct John into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in return. Yoko’s a generous person in that respect, so she actually gave him three songs – 'Free As A Bird' and 'Real Love' were worked up and released, the last one wasn’t.

— Source close to the Anthology project, quoted in the Sunday Express (April 29, 2007).

.

1995

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. It was sort of a bluesy sort of ballad, I suppose, in A minor. It was a very sweet song. I liked it a lot. Should it ever be completed it would probably end up as either ‘Now And Then’ or ‘Miss You’. I wished we could have finished it.

— Jeff Lynne, quoted in the Sunday Express (April 29, 2007).

It didn’t have a very good title, it needed a bit of reworking, but it had a beautiful verse and it had John singing it. [But] George didn’t like it. The Beatles being a democracy, we didn’t do it.

— Paul McCartney, interviewed for Q Magazine (November 2006).

.

2007

There are a couple of things which may surface at some point. You see, with the Beatles, there’s always a surprise somewhere along the line. We did ‘Free As A Bird’ and ‘Real Love’, those two songs of John’s, and that was very exciting, very moving for me and very comfortable having his voice in my headphones in the studio again. And there was a third track, another song we had our eyes on called ‘Now And Then’. l actually wanted to do it on Anthology 3, but we didn’t all agree. But things change and the thing is that it might not go away. There was only one of us who didn’t want to do it. lt would have meant a lot of hard work, the song would have needed a lot of re-writing and people would have had to be very patient with us. But there are these one or two things lurking in the bushes. The Beatles might just raise their ugly little heads again…

— Paul McCartney, quoted in the Sunday Express (April 29, 2007).

.

2012

And there was another one we started working on, but George went off it. We were like, ‘No George, this is John’. He said, ‘It’s still rubbish’. ‘Ok, then’. So that one is still lingering around. I’m gonna nick it with Jeff and do it. Finish it, one of these days.

— Paul McCartney, interviewed for the “Mr Blue Sky: The Story of Jeff Lynne & ELO” documentary (2012).

.

2018

Get Enough: It was a time when we walked by the docks / I told you, "I need you all of my life" / And watching the tugs rolling by together / Do you remember? / Do you remember the lights on the shore? / How they reflected the rain on the road? / I believed that you love me alone / It was real / Do you remember? / Now and then I see your face / I've been wanting a lovin’ embrace / I've been looking for love, but it gets me nowhere / Oh, yeah, yeah

Get enough, get enough, get enough of (Your love) (x2) / I can't get enough of / Of you

It was a time we were all full of hope / Saw the future burning bright / As we watched the moon rollin’ out to sea / Do you remember? / But those days are erased from my mind / Yeah, I've left all those old days behind / But still I remember your face forever, forever

.

If I'm going to see a face in a painting, it's highly likely to be his.

— Paul McCartney, interviewed by Diane Sawyer for ABC News (November 2, 2000).

.

2022

And then 'Now and Then’ just kind of languished in a cupboard and we didn’t do anything with it. I kept saying, “You know, maybe we should do something with this, seems a bit—” “Hm, I don’t know…” There wasn’t a great desire to do anything with it. So it hung around for a while. Years! And every so often, I’d kind of go to the cupboard and think, “There’s a new song in there! We should do it! We gotta do it!” But it’d go back in the cupboard.

— Paul McCartney, in BBC Sounds Eras: The Beatles (November 2, 2023).

I got a phone call from Paul saying, “Is it possible to use that [MAL] technology for another project I’ve been thinking about? […] Would it be possible to take John’s vocal and clean it up and get rid of everything else? Because that would allow us to finish this Beatles song.” And absolutely, it didn’t take me more than about a second to get back to him and say, “Of course we can do it!”

— Peter Jackson, in BBC Sounds Eras: The Beatles (November 2, 2023).

.

2023

Now and Then: I know it’s true / It’s all because of you / And if I make it through / It’s all because of you

And now and then / If we must start again / Well we will know for sure / That I will love you

Now and then / I miss you / Oh now and then / I want you to be there for me / Always to return to me

I know it’s true / It’s all because of you / And if you go away / I know you’ll never stay

Now and then / I miss you / Oh now and then / I want you to be there for me

I know it’s true / It’s all because of you / And if I make it through / It’s all because of you

.

I do feel as though ‘Now and Then’ is a love letter to Paul written by John. I mean, I've never really asked Paul about it, and I'm not sure whether Paul would say, ‘Oh, that's definitely it,' because he wouldn't want to second guess John. But that's the sense I get. And I get the feeling that's why Paul was so determined to finish it.

— Giles Martin, interviewed for PEOPLE magazine (October 26, 2023).

When you say you enjoy 'Now and Then', that’s really nice, because that’s why we do it. We do it so people can listen to stuff and not just hear it. 'Now and Then' sounds like a love song. It sounds like a song that John wrote for Paul, and the other Beatles: “I miss you/ Now and then.” It sounds like Paul has gone there, which I think he did. You know, no one told Paul to go and do it, and Paul didn’t go, This would be a great exercise for the Red and Blue Album. He was at home in the studio. He dug on the record and started working on it, because it’s his mate. And he really misses John. I mean, that’s the truth. They broke up, and John died nine years later. It really isn’t very long.

— Giles Martin, interviewed for GRAMMYS (October 26, 2023).

.

When I remember the Beatles, I remember the joy, the talent, the humor, the love. And I think, if people remembered us for that — for those things — I’d be very happy.

— Paul McCartney, in BBC Sounds Eras: The Beatles (November 2, 2023).

These pictures together are really good!

John smiling at Paul like this will sustain me for 100 years and I hope it sustains Paul too

George Picture of the Day 4-15-24

George kissing Pattie's wedding ring. So sweet ❤️🥰!

Thank you to owner.

“In May 1964, they shared their first screen kiss in a BBC TV special, performing a scene from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It’s the kind of video nugget that fans like me used to shell out stupid bootleg money for; now it’s one click away for anyone with a phone. It’s bracing to see how mirthfully they act out the Pyramus and Thisbe scene. Paul is the boy; John plays the boy playing the girl, in a dress and a blond wig. (…) John and Paul rave about how pretty they both are—“ these lily lips, that cherry nose!”— and snuggle up for the death scene”

                                                   - Rob Sheffield, Dreaming The Beatles 

Note: in the video, they really don’t kiss… but i sure wish they had. Ha!Anyway, you can see the video here. Many thanks to @pivoinesque @vairemelde and @amoralto for helping me with a couple of questions I had about this quote. Apparently, in theatre, when a man and a woman touched palms it was considered a kiss. But what Rob probably meant with “their first kiss” was just a lyrical play of words. So, many thanks to those three blogs for helping me out with this. 

The Beatles during their Netherlands TV Appearance in 1964, singing "All My Loving". This video was beautifully restored by Carter, I pasted the original audio on it when I noticed John mouthing something to Paul mid performance. All I can hear John saying is "already, babe" as his answer to Paul's "hope that my dreams will come true".

there's a story.

it's a sad one, this.

it starts - well, it's hard to say when it starts. maybe it started way before music was even a thing. maybe it started before time itself. maybe it doesn't have a start: suddenly everything just fell into place when those two teenagers sat in front of each other with guitars on their laps and played music for the first time. but, on record, one can say it really starts to be told out loud in the middle, towards the end. that's when it starts to truly be spoken of, sang of, wide open, undeniable. almost a cry for attention, for communication, "look, now i'm going to sing about this", because when everything else fails, they had music - they have always had music.

so it starts right before the big plot twist, before the season finale, before the breakup. or it starts right after that. nobody truly knows, really. real life stories are not divided in seasons, and this one is real. very, very real, very human. either way, this story starts to be told with two of us. it starts towards the end, but cries for the beginning, for the very beginning.

We're on our way home We're going home You and I have memories That stretches out ahead

and then, it goes on, it goes on to plead, to beg, scream, to desperately reach:

Oh! Darling, if you leave me I'll never make it alone Believe me when I beg you Don't ever leave me alone

the story sees confusion, it sees defeat, it sees someone who wants. someone who is trying, but failing because they don't know the way. someone who needs, who desperately needs, but doesn't know how to ask. they were on their way back home, but now, they've lost the way, they can't find the road. or, rather, the road is there, but it's all foggy. where's home? but they're trying. the many ways i've tried.

The wild and windy night That the rain washed away Has left a pool of tears Crying for the day Why leave me standing here? Let me know the way

it sees heartbreak.

I don't believe in Beatles I just believe in me Yoko and me And that's reality The dream is over What can I say?

it sees anger,

That was your first mistake You took your lucky break and broke it in two. Now what can be done for you? You broke it in two.

A pretty face may last a year or two But pretty soon they'll see what you can do The sound you make is muzak to my ears You must have learned something all those years

and desperation, always desperation, a need to know, please tell me why-

Well, I wake up in the morning, I'm still dreaming 'bout you Tell you, pretty baby, I'm blue Wake up in the evening, I'm still screaming out Over you, over you Well, tell me why, why, why do you treat me so bad, so bad When you're the best friend a man ever had?

and questions, a perpetual need to know, followed by a perpetual failure to ask-

Dear friend, throw the wine I'm in love with a friend of mine Really truly, young and newly wed Are you afraid, or are you blue?

and apologies - because they were just lost. lost. and frightened. why? because i was afraid of losing you. am i afraid? yes, i am. are you blue? yes. yes i am.

I was feeling insecure You might not love me anymore I was shivering inside I was shivering inside Oh, I didn't mean to hurt you I'm sorry that I made you cry Oh no, I didn't want to hurt you I'm just a jealous guy

and the story, after all of that, sees understanding. it's because i couldn't speak, and neither could you. but i know now. and it's getting better all the time.

And I know and I'm sorry (yes I am) But I never could speak my mind [...] And I know and I'm guilty (yes I am) But I never could read your mind I know what I was missing But now my eyes can see I put myself in your place As you did for me Today, I love you more than yesterday Right now, I love you more right now

and, after so long, it sees the spring coming after a long winter. a friend that will never fade away, a love that will never disappear.

You want a friend you can rely on One who will never fade away And if you're searching for an answer Stick around, I say It's coming up, it's coming up It's coming up, like a flower

and finally, it goes back to where it first started when they sang it aloud, open and clear, in two of us: there's pleading for the start, for the past, we have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead, let's go back to that road, let's walk it again, let's escape, you and me. we've been through it all, we've been apart for far too long, it's okay now, we're okay now, i miss you, let's get it together, let's walk that road again like we used to. let's get back home. because when i see you, it's like we both are falling in love again.

It's time to spread our wings and fly Don't let another day go by my love It'll be just like starting over Startin' over Why don't we take off alone Take a trip somewhere far, far away We'll be together all alone again Like we used to in the early days

and then there's a bright future ahead. there is. hapiness and promises. for love, for acceptance, for family. i'm okay now, i can handle this, i want to see my kid growing up. and we can start over. it is coming up, like a flower. it's getting better all the time.

Before you go to sleep Say a little prayer Every day in every way It's getting better and better

and there's: i want to spend the rest of my life with you. whatever happens. i want to look you in the eye when we're eighty and make sure you know i love you just as much.

Grow old along with me Whatever fate decrees We will see it through For our love is true

and then. well.

then the story sees tragedy. unexplicable, cruel, devastating tragedy. unjustifiable loss. it sees, for the first time, not music but silence for a while, silence.

just silence and hidden-away, chest-aching sobs.

and then it sees music again. this time to mourn. it's not two of us, it's the one who remains. the one who wishes the other was here. always, always reaching for the start.

But as for me I still remember how it was before And I am holding back the tears no more I love you

now, music is still desperate, still trying to reach. but, now, it will never be able to get to the other side. or is it?

in real life, we don't have happy endings all the time. most of the time we don't. we're left with what ifs. what if. what if i had been braver. what if i was born a girl. what if. what if. could we have been together? could i have saved you?

What opportunities did we allow to flow by Feeling like like the timing wasn't quite right? What kind of magic might have worked if we had stayed calm, Couldn't I have given you a better life?

it's a story of what if. what if whatever fate decrees had been different? was it fate who decreed it? could i have given you a better life? because you deserved a better life. you did.

and it keeps coming back to it: the past, the desire to still be on that road going back home. going back home. we'll be together all alone again like we used to in the early days / i live through those early days

And they can't take it from me, if they try I live through those early days So many times I had to change the pain to laughter Just to keep from getting crazy

and then, and then, the story sees magic, sees love, as it has always done. so much love. it keeps seeing love. after sorrow, after darkness, love. even though fate was mean, even though it's sad: the love is still here. the love never left. a love so true it endures. it endures in song and it endures in the way paul keeps talking about john to this day, reafirming it, making sure people know. whatever fate decrees, our love is true. will forever be.

there's a story.

it's one that is so real. so painstakingly human. as beautiful as it is sad. it's all there, in the music, in the silence, in the words and in the what ifs. music speaks when they don't. music reaches. it reaches. it has always done so. always for them. they changed the world just with how much their music reached each other. and you’re in my song.

And if I say I really loved you And was glad you came along Then you were here today For you were in my song

there's a story, the story of a love so strong it changed the world.

it's like you and me are lovers.

John and Paul being cute during interviews 

‘(Forgive Me) My Little Flower Princess’ was written during John Lennon’s stay in Bermuda, from June to July 1980, and recorded upon his return to the studio, on 14 August 1980. It wouldn’t be heard by the general public until 23 January 1984, on the posthumous album Milk And Honey.

The lyrics go as follows:

Forgive me, my little flower princess For crushing your delicateness Forgive me, if you could forgive me

Forgive me, my little flower princess For selfishness Forgive me, forgive me

Well, I know there is no way to repay you Whatever it takes I will try to The rest of my life I will thank you Thank you, thank you, my little

If you’ll forgive me, my little flower princess Never too late unless you can’t forgive

Time is on our side Let’s not waste another minute ‘Cause I love you, my little friend I really love you

Give me just one more chance And I’ll show you Take up the dance where we left off The rest of our life is the, my little

I’m home

Overall, the song seems to strike the same apologetic tone previously expressed in ‘Jealous Guy’ (1971) and ‘I Know (I Know)’ (1973).

I didn’t mean to hurt you I’m sorry that I made you cry Oh no, I didn’t want to hurt you I’m just a jealous guy 

— ‘Jealous Guy’ (1971)

I know what’s coming down and I know where it’s coming from and I know and I’m sorry (yes I am) but I never could speak my mind

— ‘I Know (I Know)’ (1973)

“The rest of my life I will thank you” gives a sense of gratitude for the other’s love and presence in his life, further explored in ‘Now And Then’ (1978). 

I know it’s true, it’s all because of you And if I make it through, it’s all because of you And now and then, if we must start again Well we will know for sure, that I love you

— ‘Now And Then’ (1978)

“Take up the dance where we left off” shows hope in a reconciliation that they have “the rest of our life” to experience, as found in ‘(Just Like) Starting Over’ (1980) and ‘Grow Old Along With Me’ (1980).

It’s been too long since we took the time No-one’s to blame, I know time flies so quickly But when I see you darling It’s like we both are falling in love again It’ll be just like starting over, starting over

— ‘(Just Like) Starting Over’ (1980)

Grow old along with me The best is yet to be When our time has come We will be as one God bless our love

— ‘Grow Old Along With Me’ (1980)

Nevertheless, this feeling that “time is on our side”  doesn’t take from the urgency to get together and “not waste another minute”, similarly dealt with in ‘Borrowed Time’ (1980) and ‘(Just Like) Starting Over’ (1980).

Now I am older ah, hah The future is brighter and now is the hour 

— ‘Borrowed Time’ (1980)

It’s time to spread our wings and fly Don’t let another day go by my love

— ‘(Just Like) Starting Over’ (1980)

Regarding the endearments used during the song, we find the classical ‘little friend’, famously used by aunt Mimi in reference to Paul. (It is also worth noting that, tongue-in-cheek or not, in French ‘petit-ami’ means boyfriend). 

Also, the song is called ‘My Little Flower Princess’. It is known that Yoko Ono has reported hearing Paul being called ‘John’s princess’ around Apple.

But it’s John’s thing with flowers as a metaphor for love that fascinates me the most. 

继续阅读