That ‘final song’ from The Beatles is finally out and it’s dreamy and sad all at once

Yesterday, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr provided a little more information and a sneak peek of their new and “final” song, titled Now And Then via YouTube.

The hotly-anticipated record was created by McCartney and Starr and, with a little help from AI, also features key and vocal contributions from John Lennon and musical contribution from George Harrison.

Lennon wrote and recorded a demo of the song with piano and vocals in the late 1970s at his home in New York’s Dakota building, and his wife Yoko Ono passed the track on to McCartney, Starr and Harrison back in 1994.

Using the same audio technology adopted for the soundtrack of Peter Jackson’s acclaimed ‘Get Back’ documentary, elements of the original demo have been isolated and more clarity has been made to the stem of Lennon’s vocals and piano.

Now And Then was officially unveiled this morning at 1am AEDT through Apple Corps (hear the official audio, above). The double A-side single pairs the last Beatles song with the first: the band’s 1962 debut song Love Me Do, which literally sees the band’s catalogue come full circle.

Both songs have been mixed in stereo and Dolby Atmos, and the release features original cover art.

The new music video for Now And Then will debut tomorrow, Saturday, 4th November at 1am AEDT.

Said Paul McCartney, “It’s quite emotional. We all play on it; it’s a genuine Beatles recording. In 2023 to still be working on Beatles music, and to release a new song the public haven’t heard [before], I think it’s an exciting thing.”

Starr agreed: “It’s the closest we’ll ever come to having [John Lennon] back in the room so it’s very emotional for all of us. It was like John was there, you know. It’s far out.”

The song itself is far out, starting off as beautiful ballad and dipping into subtle psychedelia now and then. (See what I did there?). In short, it has all the hallmarks of a great Beatles record.

Featuring the electric and acoustic guitar parts recorded by Harrison in 1995 along with a new drum recording and backing vocals from Starr, plus bass and backing vocals from McCartney, the song incorporates a slide guitar part inspired by Harrison and piano based on Lennon’s original composition.

Check out a mini documentary about the making of the record, below.

Antonino Tati

‘Now And Then’ is out now through Universal Music.

Also available soon (November 11) will be The Beatles’ 1962-1966 (The ‘Red’ Album) and 1967-1970 (The ‘Blue’ Album) whose tracks have received new stereo and Dolby Atmos mixes. Both collections include new essays written by journalist and author John Harris.