Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey, it's Ken and it's beena while since we've done a podcast.
Ken Dash has Beatles Revolution, butif we're ever going to start one,
it's got to be today. Withthe release of the last original New Beatles
song, Now and Then that youheard, premier to Keywordal four point three.
And this is how big it is. It not only premiered on key
(00:21):
Ontal four point three, New York'sclassic Rock, it also premiered on every
classic rock station owned by iHeartMedia,by my company, we are the largest
audio company in the world. Italso debuted on every music station we own,
on country, on pop music,everywhere. The entire company was in
(00:42):
on the debut of Now and Then. That's how important the Beatles are.
And when you think about this,step back for one second and think about
it from a corporate level. Therewas a meeting of the high command at
iHeart and the high command at Universe, at the record label, deciding how
we're going to do this momentous event. This for a band that last recorded
(01:06):
fifty three years ago, nineteen seventy. We got the last original Beatles music
and it's just gorgeous. It's beautiful. The first time I heard Now and
then I cried. I absolutely,I didn't like not just got teared up,
absolutely cried, especially the line whenJohn sings even if I can repeat
it now without crying now and thenI miss you and all I'm thinking of
(01:32):
that's what got me. I missyou too, John, I miss you
too, don't we all? Canyou imagine Paul working on that song and
hearing John's voice say now and thenI miss you? How if you think
he feels so. Here's the historyof how this came about. Nineteen nineties,
Yoko gives Paul and the guys thiscassette of demos that John was working
(01:53):
on because they were releasing the Anthologybox set of outtakes and demos and things.
She said, maybe you could usethis, maybe this is something,
maybe you could work on it.And they thought, yeah, maybe we
can create a new song out ofJohn's demos, and two of the songs,
Real Love and Free as a Birdthat were great. They were able
(02:14):
to use it, and Jeff Lynnwas able to isolate the tracks a bit
and pump up John's volume on itand they play to it, and those
were the two new songs that cameout on the three versions. The three
volumes of anthology. Now the thirdsong was this song now and then Gasu
was supposed to be a new trackon each double CD, but technically they
(02:36):
couldn't do it. They couldn't separateJohn's voice from his piano. Plus the
TV was on in the room.Remember John's recording these just his demos,
It's like work tapes for him forlater. So the TV's on, the
piano and his voice are together,and jeff Lynn just couldn't isolate it.
George Harrison put his guitar work onit. They played on it a bit,
(02:59):
and they decided, now, youknow what, it's just not good
enough. Let's scrap it. Solet's fast forward to twenty twenty three and
they're remastering, remixing the Blue andWhite albums, the retrospective albums that came
out of the Beatles' greatest hits.Giles Martin and his right hand man Sam
are doing it, and Paul thinks, I wonder, let's listen to that
(03:20):
again, maybe it'd be different.Paul sends the cassette the sound of John's
demo to Peter Jackson, who usedall this technology to separate the voices on
Get Back for the movie. Remember, it took a year, a full
year for Peter Jackson to sort outall of the music, to sort out
the voices, and to rebuild allof the audio. So we got that
(03:42):
incredible, incredible movie. And Paulasked him, do you think the new
computer program could separate John's vocals fromthe piano and from the TV. And
Peter Jackson said, yeah, I'lltake a crack at it, and it
came out great because that's what thetechnology can do. Now, now let's
be clear, this is not AIcreating John's voice. Oh, it's just
(04:05):
a computer. It's not John.It didn't create any part of John's voice.
No computer created any part of thesong. The only thing the computer
did was isolate John's voice from thepiano and from the TV that was on
the track. What it does isthat just can define the sound of what
a piano note is versus a humannote, and it does it. That's
(04:28):
the best use of this, notrecreating John's voice, but separating it so
it's clean. So with that fromGeorge's guitar parts that he put down in
the mid nineties before George passed,Paul hears that calls ringo and says you
want to take another shot at this. I'm going to play bass, we'll
sing, I'll sing harmonies with it. George had put down his harmonies.
(04:49):
You want to put down the drums. What do you think Ringo's going to
say? Of course he's going todo it. One last Beatles song,
And that's what happened. And GilesMartin, he created what he thought his
father's string arrangements would be and beautifulorchestration. It sounds like a Beatles song.
It is a Beatles song. It'snot like a Beatles song. It
(05:11):
absolutely is the last Beatles song.There's no two ways about it. My
mind. Just listen to it,and I hear naysayers and people going,
oh, well, they just gotto squeeze another dollar out of it.
Man, They're always trying to makea buck. It's just a rip off.
Okay, you want to live inthe hater world, be fine,
But can I assure you that PaulMcCartney and Ringo's kids, and John's kids
(05:33):
and George's kids do not need anymore money, Their grandchildren don't need any
money, their great grandchildren won't needany more money. It's the Beatles.
It's the only legacy that will liveforever. Like Gershwin and Beethoven and Mozart.
This will live forever. No whatit does, it gives us in
our lifetime. We're living with thesegeniuses in the same space. It's giving
(05:56):
us this last sound of the fourof them together. Imagine Paul what's going
through his head as he's singing withJohn Lennon on this track and harmonizing with
him for all that it meant tous, and crying. I don't know
how Paul got through it without crying, because if anybody knows what John would
have wanted it to sound like,I think it's the guy who's been writing
(06:17):
with him and recording with him sincehe was fifteen years old, and that
would be Paul McCartney, especially whenyou watch the twelve minute movie that Peter
Jackson put together for it. AndPeter had a great explanation. He said,
they asked me to find some film. Can I put together a music
video? He said, I don'tknow how to make music videos. So
(06:39):
you listened to the song, yousaw what they had, and he said,
you know, I went through everythingfrom get Back, but there was
no footage of back in the ninetiesof them working on this song. There's
no footage of John at home recordingit because there's really nothing to work with
here. So Paul McCartney, I'msure it got Apple to go through every
single archive, five every bit offootage, and they found five hours of
(07:03):
Paul Ringo and George Harrison working onReal Love and Free as a Bird and
Now and Then. So we foundthe footage he needed. In the studio.
They found footage Paul and Ringo workingon it now, and thanks to
original drummer Pete Best, he foundfootage of then the earliest footage ever of
(07:25):
them wearing leather as when they wereteddy boys, before the Beatles look even
came together, and he gave themfootage of the Beatles day one pre Ringo
and Peter Jackson said, that's whenit clicked. That's why I followed the
idea of the song now and then. So I have footage from then,
and I have footage from then nineties, and I have footage from now of
(07:46):
twenty twenty three of them putting thisall together. And that's how we get
now and then he said, Irealized it. I'm not making a music
video, making a twelve minute movie. And again for me had the tissues
handy when Paul said, you know, I can't believe I was lucky enough
to work with these four guys.And it's the last time we'll ever sing
(08:07):
together. Even now, Like I'mjust choked up thinking about it. So
I'm absolutely enamored with it now andthen go find it and Red and Blue
albums coming out, remixed, remastered. Am I gonna watch it? Am
I gonna be part of it?I'm gonna listen to it? Of course
I am. Oh, they're justtrying to make more money out of a
listen. I have a friend who'sa big watch guy. Do you know
(08:28):
any watch guys he's got you bigWall Street guy, he's got this page
watch, a Polo tour billion whateverit is. It cost him a quarter
of a million dollars. This watchcost him two hundred and twenty five thousand
dollars and he's very proud of it. And I said, was it worth
it? He said, yes,I'm so proud of this watch. Great.
(08:50):
You know what good for you?Whatever floats your bot. If you're
proud of that watch, enjoy itand wear it wherever you go. Me
I gotta watch, you know,I've got one nice watch that I wear,
you know, to fancy things,and I've got my daytime watch.
But do I want to hear myfavorite music cleaned up? Do I want
to hear it in better quality?Do I want to hear demos? Do
(09:13):
I want to hear the outtakes?Yes, that's what I spend my money
on. That gives me pleasure.So if you're a Beatles fan like I
am, I think you're absolutely gonnalove the remixed Red and Blue. But
for Now and Then watch the twelveminute movie by Peter Jackson. It's on
the iHeart radio platform on YouTube.It's free. And when you listen to
(09:33):
Now and Then, remember I missyou, John Lennon. We all do,
and we need to now more thanever. Peace and love,