In January 1994, Paul McCartney was given two cassettes tapes by Yoko Ono. On one of the tapes, the words “for Paul” had been scrawled hastily in John’s handwriting. These tapes included “Now and Then” and “Grow Old With Me”.
Lennon wrote “Now and Then” in the late 1970s. He recorded the unfinished piece of music in a demo form at his home at the Dakota Building, New York City, around 1979. The lyrics are typical of the apologetic love songs that Lennon wrote in the latter half of his career.
In 1981, Paul McCartney worked on his tribute album to John Lennon called Tug of War. One song in this album is Get It, to which he invited Carl Perkins to provide vocals during the recording session. Carl loved the experience and the following morning he wrote My Old Friend for Paul as a thank you.
He then played the song for Paul. Paul, upon hearing the lyrics, left the room quite suddenly in tears. Linda was left to explain that Carl’s words hit Paul hard because John’s last words to Paul when they met for the final time before his death were, “Think about me every now and then, old friend”, words which Carl unknowingly put into this song.
Credit Goes To 90’s History