thewalrusispaul

[thewalrusispaul]

A very happy heavenly birthday to Brian Epstein, who would have turned 90 today! Best known for his management of The Beatles, Brian had such a wide variety of passions that he put his heart and soul into, and I truly believe that’s what he’d want to be remembered for today 🤍🎂

[thewalrusispaul]

Brian being told that Ed Sullivan wants to speak with him and his childlike glee is maybe my favourite thing I‘ve read in Pete‘s book so far

(Extract from Pete Shotton‘s, John Lennon - In my Life)

[thewalrusispaul]

BEATLES PSA

The ‘boner interview’ will celebrate it’s 60th anniversary this May.

Like the ‘stomach flu’ interview, I’m sure this moment in Paul McCartney’s interview history will never be forgotten 😂

[thewalrusispaul]

i saw a take earlier that was like “if john and paul really did go to the queer bars together in L.A., why have so few people ever come forward about it?” and errr, hate to break it to you, but most of the men who would have been in those queer bars were dead before 1990… 😭 not to mention, it would have been extremely ill-advised for most to make such claims before then

[thewalrusispaul]

Losing my mind currently over atrocious early Beatles photoshoots… No reason they had to be doing all of this 😭

[thewalrusispaul]

PAUL McCARTNEY and DENNY LAINE in Richmond Park, London. 1973⁣. Photo taken by LINDA McCARTNEY. (x)

[thewalrusispaul]

I've seen other excerpts from the Mojo article about Now and Then, but this made me laugh - after all the discourse about George vetoing the song, Ringo's like, no, it was me, I hated working with Jeff Lynne.

But for Ringo, the lo-fi quality of Lennon’s sketch was only one of the reasons for shelving Now and Then. For a start, maybe two new Beatles songs was enough. “Let’s not get too crazy…” he remembers thinking. In addition, Lynne’s preferences for looped drum parts and overdubbed fills were neither to Starr’s taste nor in his style. “Jeff is very particular and meticulous,” explains Ringo today. “He always wants a click track and I keep telling him I’m the click. He likes you just to hit the drums or do a short rhythm pattern and then he uses it. He said, “OK, now do some fills.” But the fill comes when I’m emotionally involved in the track. I think maybe that’s what ended the sessions.”

[thewalrusispaul]

i’m just supposed to go on with my life? when John Winston Ono Lennon yearned so much to be with Paul McCartney again that he wrote the line “Now and then / I want you to return to me,”… And Sir James Paul McCartney after 43 years of mourning his partner, a person that knew him better that anyone, change this line to: “Now and then / I want you to be there for me”. In a sort of long distance conversation separated by time. Showing how John wanted Paul to return to him and Paul now only wishes for John to be here with him, by his side, now and during those past 43 years. This also explains why Paul decided to leave out the 2nd verse - the demo is from John’s perspective, the single is from Paul’s.

It is known that Paul and John communicated through songs, even during their beatles days, but mainly during their solo careers. This song feels like the one last conversation. John’s plea to Paul to come back to him is finally answered by 40+ years of grief and love for the man that was his partner since they were teenagers.

[thewalrusispaul]

People questioning the whole re-release of Now and then 50+ years after the Beatles broke up is missing the point. The song is a gift to us who are lucky enough to enjoy the magic of the Beatles, of course, but it was never made for us. Alexis Peditris described this perfectly in the last paragraphs of his review for the Guardian:

This is McCartney letting go. This is him saying one last proper goodbye to the people he loved the most, the music that defined his life, his past mistakes, his wrong choices, his "what-ifs", his family, alongside Starr, the only person who knew exactly what it was like and who's been on this journey with him together.

This is the end of 40 years of grieving that began when that gun was fired in front of the Dakota in 1980 and continued when Harrison left them on a bed in his house in 2001.

This is him, at 81 years old, knowing this could be his last decade singing the songs that he wrote with John and George because there in the songs there will always be a part of them with him, finally being at peace that they will always 'return to him.'

This is him saying,

Thank you for the good memories.

Goodbye.

[thewalrusispaul]

Peter Jackson, restoring Get Back and apparently master of photoshop 😂

Drumskin in the documentary:

Drumskin in the music video:

[thewalrusispaul]

And when his voice breaks when he says the words „last song“ I think I died a little inside

The Beatles - Now And Then - The Last Beatles Song (Short Film).

[thewalrusispaul]

Was teaching a class and the radio was on in the background (it was wood work). Had to turn the radio off because I was not going to start crying in front of the class.

Eventually actually listened to it, lying down in my dark bedroom. Trying to hide from my own emotions.

Where were you when "Now and Then" aka The Last Beatles Song dropped?

I was sitting on a bathroom floor because I'm visiting relatives and it was the only way to isolate myself and have A MOMENT!

[thewalrusispaul]

some of you are so insensible like, wtf?

yeah, paul mccartney is not 52 anymore, he grew older, and it's a BLESSING. because there are only two options: you either grow old or you die. thank GOD Paul is here, now, being able to record this song, unlike John, who we've lost a long time ago. We will never get old man John voice, and that's because he's not here. That sucks. I'd give a lot to have seen John grow older, even if just a little more. See his face change, his music and his voice too. It would have been a blessing.

be fucking greateful that paul and ringo are still here, doing this. rejoice on paul's older raw and real voice. it exists.

[thewalrusispaul]

now and then - kind of reeling over the aching sense of time and space incorporated in the song. the sound of john's voice stopped in time blended to the soft background timbre of paul's voice that now holds so much age in it. talking to each other across impossible distances. digital ghosts and haunted emotions.

[thewalrusispaul]

“Now and then, I miss you / Now and then, I want you to be there for me / Always to return to me,” (...) It’s a passage where Lennon’s yearning for McCartney intertwines with Paul’s mourning for John, a shared grieving for the partnership that defined both their lives. link

"Now and Then" is 81-year-old Paul McCartney finishing a song of John Lennon, who has been gone for almost 43 years.

But it is also 15-year-old Paul finishing a song of the boy who wandered around Liverpool with him, talking about their future and love of music.

It is 18-year-old Paul finishing a song of the guy who picked him as his partner and took him to play nightclubs in Hamburg.

It is 20-year-old Paul finishing a song of the lad who wanted to write song after song with him.

It is 23-year-old Paul finishing a song of the man he made history with.

It is 24-year-old Paul finishing a song of the soulmate who shared his visions.

It is 26-year-old Paul finishing a song of the person who serenaded him eating a cupcake.

It is 31-year-old Paul finishing a song of John, who loved him in his own way.

And it is 39-year-old Paul finishing a song of the friend he just lost.

gif source

[thewalrusispaul]

Paul doing slide guitar for George!! 😭

Ringo singing backup 😭

These releases coming out the week of my birthday 😭

[thewalrusispaul]

Now and Then Ad

Paul, George and Ringo talking to each other during making of the record (x)