Now and Then - A Song for Paul by John

Lennon in 1978 at his jukebox in the Dakota.

In 1978, John Lennon was in the midst of his retirement from music. At his Piano in the music room of his apartment in the Dakota building of New York City, John recorded several demo's of songs he'd written. Two of these demos, 'Free As A Bird' and 'Real Love', were finished by Paul, George and Ringo with producer Jeff Lynne for the Beatles Anthology in 1995.

Yoko also gave Paul another Lennon demo for them to see if they could do something with. 'Now and Then' was, like Free As A Bird, quite unfinished with mainly a chorus that John repeats over and over. He'd marked the song 'For Paul'. Many believe that he was dedicating it to Paul but upon listening, I believe that he meant the song as one for Paul to sing and perhaps help him finish later on if they should ever get together again.

While trying to work on the song during the 1994 sessions for Free As A Bird and Real Love, George Harrison didn't like it, calling it "fucking rubbish" and no attempts from Paul to cajole him into working on it would persuade him to change his view. So the song remains unfinished. Paul hopes to finish it, one of these days.

Have a listen to the song below.