So, here are my thoughts on Now and Then
Can you believe we just got a Beatles song??? because I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. Ever since last week my expectations of this song were high -I mean it is them either way-, but this was way more incredible than i could have expected.
It is them. I know it sounds stupid to say it, but it feels like them. It's been over 50 years since the four of them made music together and yet this brings me back to them at their prime, with John bringing the lyrics and the soft voice, Paul the musicality and the experimentation, George the wonderful guitar and Ringo always knowing how to adjust perfectly to the rhythm. It's them being them, which might not be a cause of surprise if it weren't for the fact two of them are no longer with us. The fact they managed to pull this off out of pure love and respect for one another, for their legacy as a group, as the biggest of all time, is mind-blowing to me.
I'm amazed at how Paul wanted it to be mostly a John song, and abid to that with so much respect. The fact he only sings to complement John's voice, to add depth and to bring us back to what it felt like to listen to both of them, I love it so much. I am also very much aware of the fact this is John in his 30 something singing it with Paul in his eighties, and it shows: their voices together sound like always but sound like never. You can feel that time has passed for Paul and I love it because it is the essence of now and then.
The backing vocals, the fact they used vocals from the four of them is everything to me. The string arrangements give us the sound of the Beatles in such a unique and wonderful way, you can't help but feel this belonged to a space reserved somewhere between Eleanor Rigby and Because, and it is perfectly placed right there. You can tell everyone involved on it loves and knows the Beatles completely, which is no surprise considering Macca and Giles were the geniuses behind it.
I do have one tiny comment: the production feels very 2023-ish, which is not bad, it just feels a bit too modern, takes me out a bit from the 1960s rhythm that made me fall in love with them in the first place, but I understand times have changed and this also has to sound contemporary, is what they would have loved. I'm just old-fashioned.
I feel John. I feel Paul. I feel George. I feel Ringo. Everything that made them them is present within those four minutes. Everything, including John and Paul's endless intense, complicated and absolutely beautiful love for one another.
This is the most precious and perfect gift and I can't thank Paul and Ringo enough for giving us the chance to live one last release. Never thought I would live to experience with the world a new Beatle song, and I feel it like the biggest treasure.
They remain my everything. And I can't wait for the music video.
Oh, and the fact it's done and Love Me Do starts right after. My heart can't take it.
Anyway, so many things to say, so many things I love. Let me know what you thought!!!
janainaart
theartofmadeline
gummygunk
pixelskylines
baratheonpilled
dailybridgerton
