> Sandy Denny > Songs > Now and Then

Now and Then

[Sandy Denny]

Sandy recorded this, along with Autopsy, at Sound Techniques on 30 December 1968 as a demo prior to Fairport Convention’s Unhalfbricking sessions. She accompanied herself on 12-string guitar. Fairport chose to record the latter song only and so this intriguing ballad lay in the vaults until it was rescued and released on the Who Knows Where the Time Goes? box set. Both demos were finally released together in 2004 on the 5CD Fledg’ling anthology A Boxful of Treasures.

Josienne Clarke sang Now and Then in 2022 as the title track of her EP Now & Then.

Lyrics

Sandy Denny sings Now and Then

They’ve passed me by, many years,
And I did turn well away.
To give and lose love
And still no word had I to say,
Not to anyone.

Now I see
How I could speak honestly.
But when you’re gone
Perhaps you’ll long to be free.

I do know
When it is
That I must go.

For you can think of love
Wandering far from you,
Or of a warm heart
Wishing well and loving you.

I do believe
The way is
To live.

I have loved many
And you have, too.
But with the strength of the young
This love has memories,
They are worth to be sung.