The Beatles have released what is reportedly their "final song" following a week of anticipation. Now and Then is a 45-year-old song that John Lennon wrote the first few bars of in 1978. The song was finished last year. The song, which will be the final one to be credited to Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr, features all four Beatles. And, in a complete circle, it's being released alongside their 1962 debut single Love Me Do as a double A-side single. With this release, the band that is arguably the greatest in rock history may have reached its final chapter. The Beatles declare that their "final song" is now available.
Now And Then is available when and where?
Now and Then makes its debut on BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music in the UK. The song is released simultaneously on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Prime Music. The following day, copies on CD, vinyl, and cassette will be available. Additionally, starting on November 10, the song will be available on the recently remastered and expanded Red and Blue greatest hits albums by The Beatles.
How does that sound?
For years, the original demo has been around as a bootleg. A regretful love ballad, it's eerily reminiscent of John Lennon's solo work from the 1970s, a la Jealous Guy. Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Ringo Starr completed it in the studio last year. Producer Giles Martin has added a new string arrangement, and George Harrison will make an appearance via rhythm guitar parts he recorded in 1995. Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield wrote:
"Hearing John and Paul sing the first chorus together, as they lock into the line 'Now and then I miss you' - it's intensely powerful, to say the least."
"I cried like a baby when I heard it," Lauren Laverne of BBC 6 Music continued. "Just gorgeous."
Now And Then was written when?
The narrative started in 1978 when Lennon recorded a piano and vocal demo at his New York home. Following his passing, Yoko Ono, his widow, gave the recording—along with demos for Real Love and Free as a Bird—to the surviving Beatles on a cassette. After being finished, those two songs were made into singles in 1995 and 1996, which were The Beatles' first "new" songs in 25 years. Additionally, the band tried to record Now And Then, but the session was abruptly called off. "We were just playing around with it for a day, more like an afternoon," producer Jeff Lynne recalled.
"The song has a chorus, but the verses are almost nonexistent. We made a rough attempt at the backing track, which we ultimately abandoned."
Ultimately, the recording's quality was deemed too low to be salvaged. Harrison allegedly referred to it as "rubbish," but McCartney never gave up on the notion.
Was the song completed using artificial intelligence?
Yeah, in part. Director Peter Jackson's company created a piece of software that let them "de-mix" jumbled recordings of overlapping sounds while filming the Get Back documentary about The Beatles. The band's album Revolver underwent a new mix last year thanks to the use of technology.
"It has to learn what the sound of John Lennon's guitar is, for instance, and the more information you can give it, the better it becomes," Giles Martin stated to the BBC.
The software was able to "lift" Lennon's voice from the original cassette recording for Now And Then, eliminating the mains electricity hum and background hiss that had plagued earlier attempts to finish the song. On Now And Then, McCartney described John Lennon's voice as "crystal clear." A startling example of what that means was provided by a 15-minute documentary that aired on Wednesday's The One Show: the eerie, thin voice of the 1970s suddenly sounds as though it was recorded in Abbey Road. McCartney continued, "All those memories came flooding back." How fortunate was I, my God, to have those men in my life?
"To continue producing Beatles songs in 2023? Whoa."
Is a music video planned?
Yes, Jackson has produced a new video, which will be released on Friday at 14:00 GMT. Original drummer Pete Best and his brother Roag have contributed "a few precious seconds" of The Beatles' earliest known film, which will be included in the previously unreleased material. Eight months before the release of their first single, in February 1962, the band performed at St Paul's Presbyterian Church Hall in Birkenhead, and Roag claimed to have purchased the silent footage from the man who had filmed it with a cine camera. Furthermore, it is the only footage that exists of the band playing in their pre-fame leather suits. Jackson's group has raised the standard, and Roag told BBC News that "it looks absolutely fantastic." Roag remarked, "The boys are singing and rocking back and forth with guitars and their mouths to the microphones." Additionally, according to his brother, Pete Best is hidden in the video, even though it is the only one from before he was fired and replaced by Ringo Starr in August 1962. As a family, I thought, 'Oh my goodness!' As Pete is truly facing one of the guys, the only things visible are his drum kit and his hands when he holds the sticks. In the Now And Then video, Jackson has used roughly six seconds of the available time. The nearly minute-long original will be on display at Roag Best's Liverpool Beatles Museum. Jackson announced in a statement that he had discovered more "unseen outtakes in the vault, where The Beatles are laid back, humorous, and rather candid."
"We woven the humor into some footage shot in 2023," he continued. The outcome is rather bizarre and gave the video the much-needed harmony between the humorous and the melancholic."
