If You Thought The Stones Ripped Off Their Fans

[Kristy]

We now have this. Remember kids, it's not a song until you spend you hard-earned money on this shit

[FORD]

$16.98 for a fucking SINGLE??

Fuck you, Paul. I'm downloading this one.

[Kristy]

I know, right? Why you can get the new Justin Bieber album with Mick and Keith playing on it for around the same price.

[Terry]

We now have this. Remember kids, it's not a song until you spend you hard-earned money on this shit

Funny in that it's been... nearly 35 years since Macca put out something I had an interest in with the Flowers In The Dirt album, and even with that I haven't listened to any of it in...say, 30 years. Nor have I had the desire to.

Just looking at the still in the youtube clip you linked (which, full disclosure, I'm gonna pass on clicking)...it's like, yep. There's Paul, sitting in a chair. With his Beatles bass. Is it THE actual Hofner he played in The Beatles? It is? Oh.

Is he gonna...I dunno, regale us with well-worn stories of his Beatles days? Haven't we heard all there is to hear from him about those days a million times over by now? Is there anything left to be said by anybody on the planet about The Beatles that hasn't been said a billion times already?

I suppose when Yoko Ono dies we'll be bombarded with media proclaiming she was a musical genius all along but was unappreciated at the time because we were all too xenophobic/misogynistic to see it. Am already bracing myself for that gaslighting onslaught (although to be fair I did think her Walking On Thin Ice track was the most interesting thing to emerge from the various recording sessions her and John undertook in 1980...far more interesting than any of Lennon's stuff on Double Fantasy, truth be told).

[Kristy]

Is it THE actual Hofner he played in The Beatles? It is? Oh.

No, it's a prop. Many of Beatles instruments were stolen in their early days. He might be endorsed by Hofner.

Is he gonna...I dunno, regale us with well-worn stories of his Beatles days? Haven't we heard all there is to hear from him about those days a million times over by now? Is there anything left to be said by anybody on the planet about The Beatles that hasn't been said a billion times already?

Not when there is still plenty of money to be made off of nostalgia pretty much in e same vain as the Stones are doing now. From the Beatles website:

"The story of “Now And Then” begins in the late 1970s, when John recorded a demo with vocals and piano at his home in New York’s Dakota Building. In 1994, his wife, Yoko Ono Lennon, gave the recording to Paul, George and Ringo, along with John’s demos for “Free As A Bird” and “Real Love,” which were both completed as new Beatles songs and respectively released as singles in 1995 and 1996, as part of The Beatles Anthology project. At the same time, Paul, George and Ringo also recorded new parts and completed a rough mix for “Now And Then” with producer Jeff Lynne. At that point, technological limitations prevented John’s vocals and piano from being separated to achieve the clear, unclouded mix needed to finish the song. “Now And Then” was shelved, with a hope that one day it would be revisited.

You see, it's not so much a "revisit" of this shitty tune but that this tune can be marketed on garbage sites like Suckafy and with both "Red and Blue" labels for idiot collectors with too much money on their hands MCCartney Inc. is more than happy to take it and bring you a substandard mush from Lennon's boredom. I know greed is out of control and is everywhere especially among old, irrelevant rock stars but their yachts and mansions need upkeep, too.

[FORD]

The new version of the song hasn't leaked out yet. But here's the original demo as John recorded it back in 1978....

And you can hear why the poor quality of the tape made them give up on including this one on the Anthology 3 album, which was the original plan. And why they only could complete it now, by using AI to somehow "reconstruct" John's vocals.

Maybe all the hardware needed for that sort of AI work is the reason for the ridiculous price tag on the single? Yeah, like Paul's hurting for the cash??

[twonabomber]

No, it's a prop. Many of Beatles instruments were stolen in their early days. He might be endorsed by Hofner.

McCartney still has the '63 Hofner. He brought it back out when recording Flowers In The Dirt and has used it since.

The ’63 bass was last used with the Beatles for a live performance at the famous rooftop concert on January 30 1969. It was sporting a BASSMAN sticker and had over-long Rotosound strings on it. Following this, it was put away for a long time, only making rare appearances until 1987 when McCartney was recording the Flowers In The Dirt album. Elvis Costello was very involved with the recording of this album, and it was he who suggested McCartney should get the Höfner out again.

McCartney said, ‘[It was] unusual because I had sort of parked it. I had thought I had outgrown it. I started playing it again and never really looked back. It’s great that Elvis encouraged me to take it out.’ After this, he never really used any other bass for live performances and for many recordings. It was, as Costello had remarked, the bass everyone expected to see McCartney with.

Today, McCartney continues to perform and record with the ’63 Höfner, despite some believing it must be an exact copy that they see. I can assure you isn’t, as I’m one of the few people who has done work on this bass. Now nearly 60 years old, it has endured well, with only some routine maintenance and minor repairs. The ’63 bass is known as #1 by McCartney and his crew.

https://www.guitarworld.com/features/paul-mccartney-hofner-bass

[Kristy]

For fuck's sake:

[FORD]

[FORD]

And finally.... here it is....

I'm not going to pretend that the song measures up to anything on the White Album or Revolver or whatever, but at least in terms of John's vocals fitting in with the new recordings, this was a better result than "Free as a Bird" or "Real Love". And thank God it doesn't have that Jeff Lynne stench all over it like the other two songs did.

[Kristy]

Sounds exactly like I expected it to - a Tom Petty-esque outtake. Anyway, this is where music is going right into the AI toilet of nostalgia rehash. And who really wanted this? No one asked for a shitty Lennon demo to be hacked up by digital fuckery did they? Then you wonder how much of the lion's share Paul and Yoko get out of this and how many more shitty demos the record labels can push this crap as being something new. That song is so trite and annoying only decorated by obligatory stings so fucking cheesy that it ends up sounding like a demo of a demo. Retarded.

[Kristy]

Now for the shitty video

[Von Halen]

Like the rest of the Beatles catalogue, this sucks. I can count on one hand how many Beatles songs I can actually tolerate. I can't think of one that I wouldn't change the channel on if it came on the radio.

[Nitro Express]

Like the rest of the Beatles catalogue, this sucks. I can count on one hand how many Beatles songs I can actually tolerate. I can't think of one that I wouldn't change the channel on if it came on the radio.

Takes me back to weird cars with wings still rolling around, amazing signs on the street, hippies and Beatles songs on the radio. Even as a little kid Yellow Submarine made me go what the hell?

[FORD]