WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - I’ve Got Aux: “Now and Then” by The Beatles

Episode Date: December 7, 2023

Gavin is on aux this week and chose "Now and Then" by The Beatles. This is the “final Beatles song” released 60 years after their first album and on this episode we talk about the long process of making the song and the cultural significance of its release. 

Right, well now this is a first, never done this before, but how exciting is this on the internet? Okay, there you go. This band, with 13 albums and a measurable success and cultural impact, need no introduction, yet with over 50 years since their last release, a refresher is definitely in order. The Beatles formed in 1960 and released their first album, Please Please Me, in 1963. It soon became obvious dominant figures in pop music of the decade. The dedication of the session from their fandom and following broke every previous precedent in pop music, and their musical genius cemented their popularity far beyond their breakup in 1970.

Now spanning three generations of dedicated Beatles fans. It's been 60 years since that first album and over 50 since the Beatles went their separate ways. Since then, two of the members, George Harrison and John Lennon, have passed away, and the other two Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney are now in their 80s. It seemed that the Beatles were a thing of the past and that we had seen the end of their collaboration. That is until a few weeks ago when there was an announcement of the final Beatles song, which was to be released on November 2nd, 2023, which would feature all the members of the original band

and steal off a legacy that now spans 60 years. I'm Gavin Listro. You're listening to I've Got Ox on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.1.7 FM, and this is the Beatles' latest release, now and then. Welcome back to Radio Free Hillsdale and 101.1.7 FM. This is I've Got Ox. And that was Now and Then by The Beaselps. Beatles. I'm Gavin Lestrow. I think I already said that. And of course we have Bella and Allie.

I love us. True. Favorite beetle. Go. Paul McCarley. Easy. Okay. No, shocking how no one said Ringo. Hey, he's really cute. I've been told by, I think, I don't know why I've had like mom's opinions right lately on like favorite Beatles. But I think Ringo is like a mom's favorite. The mom's beetle. Wait, now I want to ask my mom. Because he just kind of sits there and is like polite and that's like a mom's dream. You know, it's the, what's that song? You're 16. You're beautiful and your mind.

Banger of a song. But it's really weird. And I know that maybe it's being written from the perspective of another young person. And every time I think of Ringo, I think of that song and it freaks me out. I just think of yellow submarine or octopus's garden. I'm just like, this is weird. Bella, I just think of peace and love. But that's what he says.

Every Instagram. And he looks good. Yeah, he's killing it. Why is his face like, you can't see it on the video? It's plastic surgery love. I don't know. He looks pretty natural. Peace and love.

Yeah. Anyways. But yeah, that's the latest release, which is crazy that we can say that from the Beatles, 2023. And this song has a kind of interesting story because it originally started as a demo from the 70s that John Lennon, who died in 1980, made. and wrote a little note on it for Paul and gave it to Yoko and Yoko's like

here you go John, Paul and then they tried to work on it and George Harrison who died in 2001 two I think he worked on it as well making guitar but of course in classic George Harrison way he was fed up with something probably the quality of the vocals

and so he scrapped it and they didn't work on it again and then he died and so they had this kind of conglomeration of work from the boys who had died and they finally were able to release it because AI. Yeah. Artificial intelligence. I think Paul teased, like on BBC or something,

he teased that they had used AI to sort of, you know, work on this project and everybody was like flipping their lid. And then he had to send a tweet that was like, guys, it's still real. Like everyone is still playing their instruments. But it's just funny that he kind of used this AI buzzword that we have this very, you know, we're scared of it. Especially coming off of the AI Drake songs.

Right. And the Beatles? It's like leave them alone. That's what I was concerned about that that's what was going to be happening. Because what's really popular right now is taking someone's voice and then deep faking another person's voice on top of it. Yeah. So using your voice as the source audio and then using AI to put someone else's kind of tone and sound. So you sound like, you know, Dwayne the Rock Johnson.

I saw one of Emmanuel Macron and it was crazy. There you go. Actually, it wasn't crazy, but it was just him. like with an Instagram filter. Yeah, something like that. And I thought that's what it was going to be, but apparently that's not at all what they did. Basically, so the original demo is just like a little tape recorder in his apartment,

and he's playing piano and singing the song. And there's like a TV on the background, I think. And he's playing the piano over him singing. And so it's like really muddy. It's not like mixed at all. And so I think that's why George Harrison was so fed up because he's like, this is a bad recording. And they couldn't like, because it wasn't it?

they couldn't separate the vocals from the piano. Like everything was just so, like you said, muddled. And with that, you're trying to, you know, manipulate the voice, but then you're messing up the piano and all that stuff. And they changed some of the chords too, which, you know, you can't have the old piano if you're going to change the chords. Right.

And so they used AI to separate the tracks. And so his voice hasn't been manipulated, just the recording was separated out using AI. So that made me feel a lot better. about it. Yeah. I think people freaked out, understandably, because like the Beatles are the Beatles and they're sort of this untouchable entity. Yeah. And to put like 21st century witchcraft on it. Right. Yeah. When half the members are dead, it's like, is nothing sacred? Yeah. It's so true. Like, leave them alone. Yeah. But I mean, it's interesting to think about what doors this opens for

other artists. Like, nothing will, this will never be as novel as it is right now. Like the past a couple weeks of this being out and people consuming this from like all different generations. I think that's also what makes it so special is that young people like us who grew up with the Beatles or who have a very different attachment to them. Like this is the first, like we are alive for the release of a Beatles song. That is. Which is crazy. Crazy.

Yeah. And so exciting. And we are breaking. I mean, not that our show has many rules, but we typically have a blind listener. And Gavin and I were talking yesterday. and we're like, this is Beatles. We don't have to, there's like, there's no rules when it comes to the Beatles. We do super epic, awesome episodes just for the Beatles.

Yeah. And I mean, like aside from the story of how this came to be, what was your guys' reactions to the song itself? Like, if this was on an old album, would you guys have liked it as much? Like, do you guys like the song? I like it, but I definitely think it's something to say that like, I mean, it was scrapped for a reason. And probably, not that it's bad.

like it's the Beatles but probably if it was on like a like help or something you would have been like this is not one of their best ones yeah but in the context of it coming out today and it is really cute like it's really sad I think like the whole I miss you like that's so sad I that's something we should talk about too like what this song is about yeah it's a love song I think but if you think about it in context of him talking to the other members of the band like now and then I miss you yeah like and I owe it all to you basically that I've come this far and it just makes you want to like die I think it was definitely to the band

like if he left it and wrote that it was for Paul I mean that's so sad John Lennon wasn't the greatest of persons but it is sad like like how can it's just I mean can you imagine being in something like the Beatles and one day like that just ends

yeah like how can Can you not miss that? Yeah. And I thought it was really cute and really nice that they like went and did something with it. I think so. And I think they did it as tastefully as possible. Yeah, I agree. And it still has, it doesn't feel like a Beatles.

Like I'm listening to like new Paul McCartney, you're like, okay, this is kind of Paul in 21st century. This is not Wings Paul or Beatles Paul. This is new. But I feel like they were able to still kind of preserve the 60 to 70 kind of. They didn't try to like do something. weird to it, which is nice. I think you guys can correct me, but I feel like

this song would fit best on like a rubber soul maybe, something like that. Because it's more mature, kind of sad. Like it almost gives what's that song? I'm totally blanking. Never mind. I don't know. In my life? In my life.

Oh, nailed it. How'd you know, Lally? Because I love that song. If I ever get married, that'll be at my wedding. Yay. There is nothing, like, and I think that's what this song, it's not the most complex song in the world, which I think we talk about a lot on this show, is like, not everything has to have all the bells and whistles in order for it to resonate and be meaningful. And often things that don't have all the bells and whistles are what land. So I think definitely what gives

this song the special element is the story arc of it. And I don't think that like robs the song itself of anything, but I think Bell is right. Like I'm not sure this would be as monumental if it had been released on a rubber soul or, you know, had come up on a past album. It's definitely a B-side vibe. Yeah. But once again, there's like still merit in that. And I feel like I don't even want to do the, you know, we talk about like rating songs out of a 10 point scale. And I think sometimes just when you talk about the Beatles that almost feels, um, they're all tense. Like, I mean, it's just the Beatles. And I sometimes I like cringe

at that when you, you know, when you love music, you should still be able to like critically look at the things you love. But I think the Beatles just exist on such a different plane. Yeah. And who am I? to be like, yeah, John Lennon's vocals are a little wishy-washy. 7.5. Yeah. Great. Like, I don't, that's just not my place. Yeah. It's true. No, I agree. I definitely agree. Especially after like a 50-year drought of anything from them.

Especially like John Lennon's voice. Like when was the last time you heard a new John Lennon recording? That's crazy. Yeah. And it also, sorry. Because we hear the other two all the time. Right. I hear too much of old Paul singing, honestly. Like, I've had enough. I've had enough.

But like, like young sounding John Lennon, it was like, I don't know. It felt like like a fresh drink of water almost. It's like, oh, that's refreshing to hear that. Yeah, that's really nice. The first time I heard the song, I was like extremely like emotional. I mean, for a lot of reasons. Like everything that we are saying. But like there was this almost, I don't want to say eerie with a bad connotation.

But it was definitely. eerie to think that this song had just existed on a tape. And like, I can only imagine what it felt like to be Paul kind of rehearing this over the past couple of years and working on it. Like, what kind of emotional, like, journey it was to, for the existing Beatles to go back and work on an old project. Yeah. Like, that's, that is a, that is a kind of complex part of the human experience that most people are never going to see. It's so true. And I hope that one of them writes about it or talks about it, in a meaningful way, because I would be really interested to hear what the process of this was. And like, kind of like Gavin said, how do you maintain the sanctity of something while also

still trying to bring it to life with a modern audience? Yeah. Not that I think they were necessarily concerned about modernity and if the song was going to be successful. I think that was pretty in the bag. But that's a very interesting concept of like, how do you bring something from history and keep it that way with a... losing its sort of magical element.

Especially when it's like you're literally bringing it like John Lennon back from the dead essentially. Yeah. Yeah. Like his, like, he, you, I feel like you have to respect that in a certain way. Like he has no say in this or something. I was thinking about that a little. Like, how do you deal with that?

Those of you who are just joining us, if you weren't able to tell, we're talking about the new, Beatle song now and then. Released this year. Released, yeah, like a week or two ago. I've got Ox. It was released through us.

We were the first place to play it. Paul actually came directly to Bella and said, I've got a song for you. You're going to want to talk about this. I want you to play this song for me. Also, guys, 10 minutes ago, we were talking about Ringo being a mom's favorite I had never talked to my mom about this and she answered right away and said Ringo. No way.

I didn't realize this. I didn't know that either. For some reason, I came into contact with two moms in the span of like a week and the Beatles came up, which is really weird that that lined up and both of them said Ringo. For those listening, it was parents weekend. Gavin's not just a hit with the mom. Maybe he is and we don't know. I don't actively seek out moms. I'm in contact with two moms.

But if you're a mom. Gavin's like putting out Craigslist ad. But if you're a mom... He's like, moms who love the Beatles. Please talk to me. I want to hang out. Respectfully. If you're a mom and you like the Beatles and you're listening to this right now, email Scott Burcher.

S. Bertram at Hillsdale. You tell him what is your favorite? Yeah. What is your favorite beetle? We'd love to know. Yeah. Only hot takes. If you say Paul, we don't want to hear it.

By we, I mean me. Bella would love to know. But I have a little news from ABC News. Nice. interview with John. They contacted you. John. Not John.

They did like a... AI, John, love it in the interview. It did a seance. That's terrible. It was him talking about the AI that they used. So here's just a little, a clip of that. We were able to take John's voice

and get it pure through this AI so that then we could mix the record as you would normally do. And so that's from the horse's mouth. Okay, guys. I am not a tech wizard, so feel free to give me a look, Gavin, if this is stupid. But isn't it kind of crazy that we have developed like something as insane as deep fakes and AI and we're concerned with all these things? But we haven't been able to like separate noises

in an audio recording until recently. Yeah. Oh yeah. Is that like we have we're, we're in the cutting edge of cancer research and we haven't separated piano. Piano voice. I don't know. Because I was watching the little documentary of how. this song came to be and I'm sitting here and I'm like I don't want to sound stupid but why did this take so long? Why don't just print more money? Because of National Decais just print more more coins. Yeah.

I don't, I'm not sure. And I know the reason that like that they even stumbled upon this was because when they were working on that Disney Plus huge mini series, Peter Jackson was using this technology. Yeah. And he's like, why don't you guys just use this? So I think it was probably just like the right people weren't. aware of it who knew that the song existed. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because it like, it wasn't like the public knew that there was a song that, oh, if we just knew how to separate the voices,

it was like, someone hadn't told Paul yet. That's kind of so cute, though. They're just so much an 80-year-old man being like, oh, yeah, it's like, how do you post on Instagram? If you think about like, you know, we can actually, uh, deep fake you now. Yeah, because if you imagine, like, trying to get your grandparents to, like, send a text message, like. Yeah, they can't work remote. Yeah. If no one's there to tell them, it's not going to happen. That's so true. Like, we probably have the technology.

It just wasn't a... And I know that this song has taken like a couple years to figure out and whatever work on the marketing and how it was going to be released. I think they did it very tastefully. I think they did too because it wasn't in your face. And it wasn't like, shout out capital music. It wasn't like the Rolling Stones, dare to say. I didn't want to say it. I'm not going to.

Guys, they might listen to this. It guys. It's all rig. Nick Jagger. not funny come on our show please but I think you're right it was it was super tasteful

it wasn't flashy it wasn't trying to be like the last beatle song you'll ever hear it felt super genuine watch mojo it's like it just top 10 last beatle songs they just dropped like a whole new album

just like the album art alone I think gives the tone it's just like it's simple yes and the music video it feels period correct the music video felt so wholesome to me because it literally felt like I hope this is offensive.

A couple of grandpas being like, what if you put young me next to old me? Like, do you know what I mean? Yeah. And it's just like, Paul McCartney, who's like, and then they like superimposed like them when they were younger. I was like, this is so cute. It felt goofy, but also in like that iry way you were talking about

because it was so like, oh my gosh, like he's dead. And they're standing next to each other in this video. It was a little goofy though. But then again, I just feel like it lends itself to feeling like a little bit more authentic. Right. This is just us having fun and here's the last thing you'll ever hear from us. Right.

Yeah. Now and then by the Beatles. That's who we've been talking about. Their latest release, their last release, to sum up the 60 years from 1963 to 2023 of music that they've been making. So thank you for listening. And we'll see you next week.

This is I've got Oxen Radio Free Hillsdale 101.1.1.7 FM. Bye. Bye.