‘Now and Then’, which is billed as the Beatles’ final song, has been unveiled. Featuring contributions from all four original members, the track originated as a demo John Lennon made in 1979 and was completed with the help of AI. Listen to it below.
Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr originally worked on ‘Now and Then’ while compiling The Beatles Anthology in the mid-’90s, but the song was left unfinished due to technological limitations that made it impossible to separate Lennon’s vocals and piano for a clear enough mix. McCartney and Starr revisited the song after being introduced to the AI restoration technology Peter Jackson used in his 2021 documentary, The Beatles: Get Back, which allowed them to enhance Lennon’s performance and prompted them to get back into the studio and complete the song.
‘Now and Then’ is accompanied by a mini-documentary, Now And Then – The Last Beatles Song, written and directed by Oliver Murray. It features exclusive footage of the recording sessions, along with commentary from McCartney, Starr, Harrison, Jackson, Sean Ono Lennon, and more. A music video for the song, directed by Peter Jackson, is set to arrive tomorrow, November 3.
