#MY OLD FRIEND

[thecoleopterawithana]

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).

[musical-dash-trash]

we should go to Santa Fe

most definitely

[just-a-creep-babe]

hoodie "dramatic bitch" brian just doesn't want to admit he's a lil scared of cats. little coward baby. maybe he should try sticking around long enough to cuddle that cat instead of running away at the first opportunity <3 - system anon (masky)

Scared of cats???? But they’re so cuteeee—how could anyone be scared of them? 😿

[get-back-homeward]

Stage Play: My Old Friend

i've been here more than 2 years now and gone deep into the tags a decade back. but i've never seen anything about Two of Us 2.0: My Old Friend, a stage play by Stephen Larsen imagining a final meeting with John and Paul on November 5, 1980.

here's the summary:

The play begins on November 5, 1980. John Lennon, alone in his apartment at the Dakota in New York City, is at a crossroads. He has been having recurring dreams of death and is ready to make big changes in his life, that is if he can summon up the courage. Just then, who should appear, unannounced at his door but Paul McCartney.  The two haven't seen each other for about four years.  John is both glad and a bit wary at the sudden appearance of his old friend.  Can they mend fences? Can they come together? Or they forever doomed to be bound by the strands and complications of their shared history?

here’s a copy of the script.

it packs a lot of bug lore into a few acts (probably too much for a general audience) and leans a bit exposition heavy to fit it into J&P conversation (assumes they haven’t talked most of the decade but then they start bearing souls). the dialogue is an acquired taste, and it commits the Two of Us sin of making paul more normal for the sake of plot and using him to talk through to john. it also leans into very dark territory by the end (tarot reading with jayne mansfield among other things), which is probably tough even for devoted fans.

but it notably features some very J&P moments complete with goons humor, spontaneous bursting into song, and wild tonal shifts that are very them. it's funny then that the most authentic bits are the ones that make me doubt it could ever be adapted right to the stage. at least not without a devoted group producing it.

would have made a good fanfic though. it's especially poignant after Now and Then's release, even if i am a bit skeptical about the timelines (the idea john and paul didn't see each other for 4 years, that the fall 1980 meeting was out of the blue, time of writing Now and Then, etc.). with the biopics back in discussion, it's worth taking another look at it.

this script was read onstage in holmdel, new jersey in 2018. did anyone attend the script reading?

more importantly, has anything been done with it since?

[an-autistic-aphrodite]

STAWP BUT LIKE

i took one look of my side blog

do some mini house keeping

and boom

i feel like a girl again

GENDER WTF WAS THAT FOR?

[puppycheesecake]

No more Fallout for me. ( ╯︿╰ ) New update went and broke my whole damn game.

[ilovedirt]

It’s fine we’re fine everything’s fine (my body is actively trying to kill me)

[aurangg]

Every night I don't want to sleep because I don't want the next day to come, this is peak depression

[hollowwish]

Hello sudden wave of loneliness

[crystalcyanyellow]

remake draw

My oc's before, when I meet @mary-games-and-arts :

My oc's after:

it's was TDL kill me

I'm fine X[

[sk1fanfiction]

so many planned/unfinished fandom projects not enough time

[jasperjv]

Expired corn chips ❌

Raw macaroni noodles ✅

[kcuf-ad]

I just remembered my online friend group from 2021-22...I feel sad now. Most of them are inactive, switched accounts or deleted their account.

...at least I have one friend from there.

[i-am-the-oyster]

I have a theory about the whole Carl Perkins thing.

Carl says Paul reacted strongly to the phrase "now and then" in his song. What if Paul and John had discussed the demo that became Now And Then, and were planning on working on it in 1981?

Lots of people claim to know that there were arrangements in place for John and Paul to work together again. I can totally imagine Carl getting the wrong end of the stick, or his memory of the conversation morphing over time, or Paul/Linda never fully explaining.

[foryouwereinmysong]

Think of me every now and then, my old friend

So, I got an ask this weekend about Carl Perkin's story about his song My Old Friend and Paul's reaction to it, but I accidentally deleted it – so sorry!! I think it was about whether or not I believe the whole thing about John's last words. I have to say that I find this really hard to answer. I don't really see a reason for Carl Perkins to lie ... It would be weird for him to make up such an emotional story as he was an accomplished artist whom Paul had been a long time admirer of. Like what does he gain from that? But the story also seems too magical to be true, if you get what I mean. Carl Perkins certainly didn't know about John's song Now and Then, but still that's such a weird coincidence ... but then again the last track The Beatles recorded together was The End and John wrote Life begins at 40, so what actually is coincidence when it comes to The Beatles ... I am not that familiar with Carl Perkins as a person, so I don't want to draw to many conclusions, but I get the vibe that he really loved to tell stories and had quite the poetic mindset... maybe there was a bit of romanticizing going on, but the essence of the story is true? Paul certainly never made a move to correct it, either because he didn't want to contradict his friend/idol or because it is somewhat true ... But ALSO I never saw a version of the interview in which Carl Perkins actually says himself that Linda told him John's last words. Just the part about the crying and that Linda said Carl helped Paul get in touch with his emotions. So there's also the possibility that that part was made up afterwards by someone ... WELL, I'm curious what you think –

If you need a reminder, here's the whole story:

[the-cookie-of-doom]

Glad you had fun! where is the choker from? bc I want one

Aksjdgakdhs okay. Confession time… I got this choker from Spencer’s like 10 years ago, when I was in high school. I have no idea how it’s survived this long tbh, but I randomly found it in a box, leather was all bent out of shape, it’s honestly terrible quality. But it also fits like a dream and I don’t notice when I’m wearing it.

Unfortunately they don’t sell it anymore (I just checked), but it’s a pretty typical style, so you should be able to find something really similar on Amazon or at hot topic!