I can see where you are coming from but find it interesting that the clear references to Yoko were removed from the revived song in 1977/78 and find that it thus points more to a recycling of an older song written about someone else other than Yoko, who he was living with again at the time. I personally feel that it makes Paul or May Pang more likely however I can see your point of view.
It will be interesting to see if the lyric sheet referred to is ever published, and also if any other recordings of the song actually exist.
I think it’s sometimes overlooked that “Now and Then” can refer to present/past but more commonly “once in while” or “from time to time.” I hear it as the latter.
I definitely hear it as “time to time” in the demo, but I feel as if the Beatles version was crafted to lean into the Now (present) and Then (present). Kinda crazy how arrangement can stir different interpretations
I definitely feel that lyrically John was meaning 'once in a while', in a similar way that he asked Paul to think of him 'every now and then' when they last met in person.
I reckon Lennon was singing anything that came into his head. He was just getting an idea down before he forgot it. I don’t think it was necessarily written about anyone. Maybe it was about a cat.
That's how I've heard it as well, yet, it especially works for me as multi-purpose. An old friend who I haven't seen in 27 years showed up unexpectedly at my door a few days before Now & Then dropped. At first I thought I was seeing a ghost, yet it didn't take long before reconnecting as if no time had passed save for aging appearances & sobriety. What a reunion! Which may partially explain why I was in such tears hearing this poignant bittersweet musical gem. After all, it was all we could talk about both recognizing such a rare healing moment for ourselves, global fans, & the entire Beatle family.
Yeah...the greatest picture of John and Yoko to me is the back cover of Double Fantasy where they are looking out at the the world on the corner of that dirty street with the trash can in the background. They have a sort of defiant look...I think their marriage was pretty solid by then.
Their marriage was very different to many; Yoko had a boyfriend and spent most of her time working in other apartments in the building, John would often travel abroad without her, and the entire time he was still seeing May Pang romantically.
Did you listen to the Peter Jackson podcast I referred to ? He said that an earlier version of the song was written lyrically, and then lyrics were changed to remove certain references for the recorded demo. In other words, the song wasn't improvised on the spot, it was based on a prior written idea - it suggests that potentially there is an earlier demo floating around somewhere potentially/hopefully.
Yes, I also got mine on Friday. The cardboard case is nice. It feels significantly thicker than the Live At The BBC one.
A bit off topic, yet, going through the catalogue, it just dawned on me how often the phrase "you know" was used in their lyrics. So many, I've lost count if anyone knows the answer?
what surprises me most about these things is not the amount of "you know"...but the amount of free time people have to count these things....
Well who knows what it was he took out, or why...there's just no telling...maybe he was putting what he took out in another song, or maybe he just didn't like it for whatever reason... there's really zero in the song to suggest may pang,...he was with her for a year during his drunk period. He owes everything to her? And he's going to start again with her? While he's married and raising a baby with Yoko? He was with Yoko longer than the Beatles (fame-wise), and had a son and a life and a home and an album and everything with her. Yoko put the song in the play she did after with both the John character and the Yoko character singing the song. She obviously heard the song as being about her, and it lines up with everything else they were writing during that time.
