Look. Back to the egg (hah).

In the early 60-s The Beatles play 'Chains', 'Don't Ever Change', 'Take Good Care of My Baby' and the other cool Carole King and Gerry Goffin' songs, right?

Later John Lennon says,

'Well, first of all, Paul [McCartney] and I wanted to be the Goffin and King of England' (J. Wenner, 1971)

UPD (thanks a lot @the-paper-apricot for reminding about this moment in the interview):

John and Paul answer question about another composers people whose work they particularly admire ('The Lennon-McCartney Songbook', 1966),

Or even this, 'Early in their carier Paul and John reportedly had said that they hoped to becom the Goffin and King of the United Kingdom. I had taken this to mean not that they hoped to marry each other and live in New Jersey but that they aspired to be successful songrigters' (Carole King, 'A Natural Woman)

In 1962 Carole King recorded the beautiful 'Nobody’s Perfect',

I might have thought that other lips Could taste as sweet as your sweet lips Nobody's perfect Nobody's perfect We all make mistakes now and then

I might have thought that someone new Could give me truer love than you Nobody's perfect Nobody's perfect We all make mistakes now and then

And I paid for them every hour Every minute we're apart Anyone can tell I learned my lesson well Can't you find forgiveness in your hеart?

You said goodbye the other night But don't bе sure you're doin' right Nobody's perfect Nobody's perfect We all make mistakes now and then Yes, we all make mistakes now and then

It's unlikely John and Paul didn't hear it.

And in 1977 John sings,

I know it's true It's all because of you And if I make it through It's all because of you

And now and then If we must start again Well, we will know for sure That I love you

I don't wanna lose you, oh no, no Abuse you or confuse you Oh no, no, sweet darlin' But if you have to go, away If you have to go, well you the reason

Now and then I miss you Oh, now and then I want you to return to me 'Til you return to me

Yeah, I know, it's only in my headcanon but I think the Goffin and King song spinned in John's head when he wrote his one. And 'Nobody’s Perfect' for me is like John understands his own mistakes, accepts the reality and thinks about Paul as real Paul not about as an ideal figure on the top of the pedestal. And John's 'Now and Then' is the next step.

Ran across this in "Excellent Advice for Living" by Kevin Kelly.

ELLIOT MINTZ, series host: Now at the end of this run-through, off in the background, studio engineer Jon Smith sings a phrase from the song Flower Princess reminded him of, You Make Me Feel Brand New, a smash by the Stylistics in 1974. JON SMITH (sings falsetto): "You make me feel brand new." JOHN LENNON: Ah, that's where I got it from, is it? (laughs) That's why I have to rewrite it. I just want the backing. ELLIOT MINTZ: A few minutes later, with producer Jack Douglas ready to roll a tape for real, John sets the vibes for the players. JOHN LENNON: Relax, have fun. We'll take a couple of tracks. I have to rewrite the damn thing anyway 'cause it's like everything we ever heard. I'll go home, listen to the samba and bring it with me in case that's what I really need. But let's just have a nice little bit of fun, lay it down, then we can go. Ok?

A little bit on timeline: 1 The summer of 1973 - early 1975 (18 months): John lives with May Pang ('lost weekend') 2 28 March-02 April: John and Paul have a good time in L.A. 3 May 5, 1974: The Stylistics' You Make Me Feel Brand New was released as a single

Album Review: Tommy Talton - Seven Levels

Tommy Talton saves the best for very last on his posthumous Seven Levels LP.

Recorded in 2022 with the assistance of Randall Bramblett, Chuck Leavell and others, the LP finds the Cowboy co-founder and former Gregg Allman collaborator and Capricorn label mate saying goodbye - Talton died of cancer in 2023 - with music.

His final words come on “Say a Prayer on My Behalf,” a wrung-out, eight-minute blues that finds the guitarist facing the end fearlessly.

I am alone, I am alone/I can feel a spell has been cast/can you say a prayer on my behalf, he sings.

Though the plain highlight of a sometimes-uneven recording, there are bright spots along the way.

The Capricorn sound is reborn with twin-guitar harmonies on the opening “Time Will Take Us;” “Ramblin’ Man” - not the ABB tune, but perhaps a nod to its author - is acoustic country blues that is a unique entry on the seven-track LP.

Where the Badfinger-esque pop of “I Can Pick You Up” is cloying, Talton adroitly turns a catchy phrase on the hook-laden, radio-friendly “I’ve Got the Sun in My Heart.”

I got the sun in my heart, the moon in my head/I like to travel a lot, but I stay home instead, he sings on a song that should be a hit.

Grade card: Tommy Talton - Seven Levels - C+

“The aura consists of seven levels/layers/auric bodies”

Comprised of several layers, this works depicts, from bottom to top, the “evolution” of a slave from the hell of trauma to the “heavenly” feeling of dissociation. The bottom two layers depict several horrific scenes of trauma. For example, we see in the bottom left corner a pregnant women giving birth to a dead child in a pool of blood under disturbing phrases such as “No Life”, “Death” and “Blood Death All Around”. There are also several caged children, others being electroshocked and others hung upside down. Inverted crosses are found all around these two bottom layers, reminding us that these traumatic events are Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA).

All of this trauma, pain and suffering seems to be “channeled” towards the layers above, consisting of a plethora of occult symbols such as the Tree of Life, the signs of the zodiac and All-Seeing eyes. It is during this occult level that the transformation occurs.