Now or Never (Yoko Ono song)
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"Now or Never" is a song written by
Yoko Ono Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野 洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up i ...
that was first released on her 1973 album '' Approximately Infinite Universe''. It was also the lead single off the album, backed by "
Move on Fast "Move on Fast" is a song by Yoko Ono, originally released in 1972 on the album '' Approximately Infinite Universe'', and on the B-side to the single " Now or Never". The song was later included on Ono's compilation album ''Onobox''. Composition I ...
." A remixed version of "Move on Fast" was later released as a single and reached #1 on the ''Billboard'' Dance Club Songs chart. "Now or Never" is a political song. According to
John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
's biographer Peter Doggett, the lyrics of "Now or Never" sum up Ono's philosophy that "Dream you dream alone is just a dream/But dream we dream together is reality." '' Cash Box'' described it as having "a delicate social commentary with an extremely important message that should be heard by all." ''
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'' music critic Stephen Holden described this line as expressing a " Beatles-style
utopianism A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', describing a fictional island society ...
." A Yoko Ono press release described the song as a "wistful wake-up call to a tuned-out, slacked-off America."
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
historian Lee Andresen considered the song to be a protest against the war. The notorious cover of the single release, which depicted dead Vietnamese victims of the
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reinforced the Vietnam connection. Andresen describes the cover as being "the most painfully graphic of any produced by record companies during the war." Ben Urish and Ken Bielen describe the lyrics as being "interrogative." ''
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'' reviewer Nick Tosches was underwhelmed by the lyrics, using lines such as "People of America/When will we stop/It is now or never" as examples of the "obnoxiousness" of Ono's lyrics at the time, describing them as "philosophical and political party-line corn that went out of style with last season's prime-time TV." The music of "Now or Never" is
folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
-like in the vein of early
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
. It was recorded in February and March 1972 at the
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in New York. John Lennon played guitar and
Elephant's Memory Elephant's Memory (also billed as Elephants Memory, without the apostrophe) was an American rock band formed in New York City in the late 1960s, known primarily for backing John Lennon and Yoko Ono from late 1971 to 1973. For live performance ...
provided the other backing instrumentation. Ono and Lennon co-produced the recording. Lennon and Ono rehearsed "Now or Never" for their One on One concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York in August 1972, prior to any official release of the song, but the song was ultimately not performed in the actual concerts. The couple did perform the song at their TV appearance for the
Jerry Lewis Telethon The ''MDA Labor Day Telethon'' was an annual telethon held on (starting the night before and throughout) Labor Day in the United States to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). The Muscular Dystrophy Association was founded i ...
a few days later on September 4, 1972. "Now or Never" was the second of three songs they played at the telethon, after "
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" and before "
Give Peace a Chance "Give Peace a Chance" is an anti-war song written by John Lennon (originally credited to Lennon–McCartney), and recorded with the participation of a small group of friends in a performance with Yoko Ono in a hotel room in Montreal, Quebec, C ...
." At the time Lennon was under threat of deportation from the United States, and Ono introduced the song by stating that “John and I love this country very much and we’re very happy that we’re still here.” The telethon would prove to be the couple's last performances with Elephant's Memory. In 1984 a revised version of "Now or Never" was released on the album '' Every Man Has a Woman'' celebrating Ono's 50th birthday. This version used a children's choir to provide the vocals. According to Urich and Bielen, this added urgency to the lyrics, "as if a very aware child were chastising the adults for what they were permitting the world to become." The instrumentation was from the original 1972 sessions, including Lennon and Elephant's Memory. In 1994 the song was included in Ono's Off-Broadway musical '' New York Rock''. According to Holden, "Now or Never" "distills the childlike quality of a show that is as sweetly idealistic as it is hopelessly naive." In 2018 Ono included a new version of the song on her album '' Warzone''. This version had the same lyrics but different instrumentation, including synthesizers. According to ''
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'' contributor Sasha Geffen, this version differed in tone from the original in that the original asked the United States to dream of a reality without violence while the new version is sad that the country chose "never."


References

{{Plastic Ono Band Yoko Ono songs Songs written by Yoko Ono Song recordings produced by Yoko Ono Song recordings produced by John Lennon 1972 songs 1972 singles Plastic Ono Band songs Songs of the Vietnam War Anti-war songs Apple Records singles