Now and then
I’m a huge Beatles fan. I blame my dad: our family are from Merseyside where the Beatles are even more ubiquitous than everywhere else, and every car journey was accompanied by a blast through the #1s CD (it was quite a lot later in life before I heard an actual Beatles album, but that’s another story). It was inevitable that I was going to be a fan.
Men love nostalgia, too. All these Facebook groups about “proper binmen”; grown men watching their favourite childhood cartoons (yes, I’m guilty too); or perhaps just groups of guys hanging out and reminiscing about schoolday pranks and semi-legendary figures from the shared past. Why do we like living in the past?
One man who’s been doing a lot of that lately is Sir Paul McCartney. The Beatles’ last-ever song, Now and Then, has just reached #1 in the charts, 54 years after their last big hit. Macca’s still got it! But the song is definitely looking backwards.
The symbolism is pretty convenient, really. The song’s called “now and then”, for god’s sake – the music video must’ve filmed itself. The old, surviving Beatles sit around pianos and guitars while their younger, AI-enhanced selves wander past, poking fun at them and mugging for the cameras. It’s both heartwarming and naff, all at the same time. John Lennon’s disembodied voice hovers above the song, eternally 40 years old, while the now-80+ McCartney warbles beside him. It’s impossible not to keep thinking about the song’s name as you’re bluntly assaulted with images of, well, now and then.
I read the news[letter] today, oh boy
An unkind critic might say McCartney just can’t let it be (sorry). Why keep rehashing the past? Why keep dredging the depths of John’s old demo tapes? What else is there to prove? But I really noticed one thing he said in all the press releases ahead of the new single:
“My God, how lucky was I to have those men in my life and to work with those men so intimately and to come up with such a body of music, to still be working on Beatles music in 2023?”
I got a lot from this. I was never in the Beatles, more’s the pity. I played in bands with my best friends as teenagers and we still play music on a regular basis today (childcare permitting…). But I still understood what he meant, as he reflected on the privilege of just being around men he loved and making things together, things that somehow survived six decades on.
Clearly we’re not all likely to end up with a legacy like John, Paul, George and Ringo did. But I think there’s something to be learned here about valuing the things you have in the moment you have them.
Maybe Paul McCartney can’t completely let go of the Beatles… and why should he? But he’s released a song featuring his most famous partner, quite possibly written about the intimacy of a male friendship that’s ebbed and flowed over the years, but still means something to its author:
“Now and then / I miss you
Oh, now and then
I want you to be there for me
Always to return to me”
Maybe beyond the nostalgia, the fame and the technology, there’s something other men can learn here about the men they’re lucky to have in their lives.
Mini feels this week
Joyless bingeing… why?
I started watching the US Office on Netflix when my daughter was born back in June. It was perfect for the 3am shifts: short episodes, easy to watch in silence with captions, and so completely throwaway that it didn’t matter if I missed episodes or nodded off, because there was barely any continuity. Now she sleeps through the night and I don’t have to watch them on mute anymore, so I’ve powered through the (terrible) final two seasons on sheer willpower while cooking dinner, tidying the house or on my lunchbreak, solely just to finish the damn thing. This evening I just watched the final three episodes of the final season, in a joyless race to cross the finish line and be done with the show. Credit where credit’s due, the final couple of episodes give the whole thing a good send-off, but Jesus Christ, why can’t I just stop when something’s no fun?!
Thanks for reading – my second issue this week, technically, since I missed last week’s deadline due to holiday! Hope you have a great weekend – let me know if this edition made you think/feel anything. Listen to the new Beatles remixes, they’re great!
— Matt