A few decades in the making. An unfinished Lennon track that Yoko gave to Paul just after John's death and finally completed by the two remaining Beatles, after George also did some guitar parts when they were doing the anthology thing in the 90s. I've just noticed that it's gone straight in at No1. in the download charts so it will no doubt be on a revamped Greatest hits album available in all good record stores very soon.. Thoughts?
Absolutely glorious, nowhere near their top 20 but what a thing it is to hear. Absolute proof that no one will ever touch them too. RIP John and George
First time I heard it I kind of dismissed it but having now seen the video and listened to the song three or four times I think it’s lovely. McCartney and Starr, 81 and 83 years old respectively, have done a grand job of finishing something that the three surviving Beatles started in 94 and which John penned in 1977.
They've been playing this a lot on Radio X, it's okay but nothing special really, albeit unmistakably a Fab 4 song.
Is it just me that thinks it feels like one last desperate floor scrape. I was apprehensive when I first heard the news of new material and I honestly wanted to like it ,but it's awful and adds little favour to their magnificent legacy.
Just you. Broken quite a few records too. It's not going to be their most innovative track but a welcome piece of Nostalgia for a grim old country.
Don't get me wrong fella,while I wouldn't count myself as a massive Beatles fan ,I'd still have to confess some of their later songs were truly phenomenal. I just think this effort is the less savory version of 'The Emperors New Clothes' and the clamor from all those still kicking to release it a tad distasteful. I hasten to add if John was still kicking around he wouldn't have afforded this a conciliatory nod in the affirmative such was his steadfast adherence to his principles. I think you would have to throw this latest noise in with Free As a Bird as it's just a bit tacky and I cant help but think Lennon 'if he was still here' would have shunned both efforts with equal vigor. It's all a bit plastic for me ,would I be ecstatic if they suddenly scraped together a song written and rightly consigned to the waste bin by Jim Morrison ......No ,because it wasnt good enough then to support his genius and there's a reason it ended up not deemed good enough. The Beatles are a phenomenon and they will remain so without cheapening their legacy by adding songs to a back catalogue that was already steeped in the songwriting genius of Lennon and McCartney.
I find it strange that Lennon ditched this song in favour of the dirge he wrote three years later when he released Double Fantasy. I think Now And Then is a nice song made better by Paul and Giles who did just enough tinkering.
I thought Double Fantasy heralded Lennon's return perfectly ,it certainly provided further proof 'if any was needed' of his prowess for songwriting. A few beautifully worded gems on that album 'not least Woman and Beautiful Boy ,I personally thought Watching the Wheels was suitably poignant and also Starting Over which was apt given the rebirth this album afforded him. It wasnt the classic critics expected and it didn't need to be, it was just a subdued collection of songs that would quietly announce Lennons first album after an absence of six years but it contained enough hints of the mans genius to wet our appetite for more. I think it was an album just to ease him back in but with the promise of something special coming next. This album will always be special to me because my Dad used to love playing it and after Lennons death he played it even more regularly. I could probably at a push recite all the lyrics in my sleep.
I am a Beatles fan and have been since they hit the scene but I think the song would have been presented better with another format, seeing Paul & Ringo with old clips of John & George all mixed together just did not feel right to me and it really made me sad. I would have preferred seeing old clips of the Fab Four together on tour and in the recording studio with the song playing in the background, it's sad how they broke up in the end but the feud between John & Paul came about when John bought Yoko into the studio when they were recording and she sat beside John. The Beatles had a code before that was never to bring your loved ones into the recording studio while they were working but told them to sit in the mixing room, John broke that code with Yoko and that did not go down too well with the others. Saying all that, an old timer like me had 3 favorite groups in my time and they were The Beatles The Bee Gees ABBA Long may the Beatles live on though and I saw them live in Australia at the Melbourne Festival Hall late '60s I think it was, one of the best songs by the Beatles was from their best album 'Rubber Sole'...
Imagine being on the street just as The Beatles are doing a photo shoot for an album that would become one of the most iconic covers ever? Jammy bastard.
On this day in 2011, organisers of an attempt to reunite 19 people who watched The Beatles play in a town hall in 1963 had claims from 24 people who said they were there. Billy Shanks was helping to lead the search for the audience members of the gig in Dingwall, Ross-shire, Scotland in 1963. He said some who turned up thought the music was rubbish and left to join an audience of 1,200 watching a local band in nearby Strathpeffer. I wonder who that band was?
On this day in 1970, a 27 year old Paul McCartney issued a press statement, announcing that The Beatles had split, (one week before the release of his solo album). McCartney said, 'I have no future plans to record or appear with The Beatles again, or to write any music with John'. Lennon, who had kept his much-earlier decision to leave the band quiet for the sake of the others, was furious. When a reporter called Lennon to comment upon McCartney's resignation, Lennon said, 'Paul hasn't left. I sacked him'.
On this day in 1976, Paul and Linda McCartney spent the evening with John Lennon at his New York Dakota apartment and watched Saturday Night Live on TV. Producer of the show Lorne Michaels made an offer on air asking The Beatles to turn up and play three songs live. Lennon and McCartney thought about taking a cab to the studio, but decided they were too tired. This was the last time Lennon and McCartney were together.
