Originally written and sung by the late John Lennon, co-lead vocalist of the British boy band, ‘Now And Then’ is finally finished by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr—and it comes with a short film
It’s celebration time for music buffs. The Beatles are releasing their last song today, November 2. Titled Now And Then, it was originally written and sung by singer and guitarist John Lennon in the 1970s as a demo. Now, his fellow bandmates Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have completed the song—and after two years of development, it’s finally releasing worldwide. Now And Then is also the eponymous song of the new album released by Apple Corps, Capitol and Universal Music, which is a double A-side album featuring only two songs: this new release and the boy band’s debut single from 1962, Love Me Do.
The original demo of Now And Then was recorded with vocals and piano by Lennon in his home in New York’s Dakota Building. In 1994, 14 years after Lennon was shot dead, his widow Yoko Ono Lennon gave the recording—along with Lennon’s demos for Free As A Bird and Real Love—to McCartney, Starr and George Harrison. While these two other songs were completed and released in 1995 and 1996 as part of The Beatles Anthology project (which consists of a TV documentary, a three-volume set of double albums and a book), Now And Then was shelved as the technology back then was unable to separate Lennon’s vocals from the piano for a clear, unclouded mix.
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It was only in 2021 that the music industry revisited this song. The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson’s award-winning docuseries The Beatles: Get Back (2021) astonished the world with the audio restoration of The Beatles’ songs in the production. For the series, Jackson and his team had managed to isolate instruments from vocals by using WingNut Films’ MAL audio technology. They also applied the same technology to Now And Then.
McCartney and Starr, the two remaining members of The Beatles, then set about completing the song. John’s vocals, de-mixed from his piano, were combined with Harrison’s guitar recordings from 1995, a new drum recording by Starr, and bass guitar and piano recordings by McCartney. McCartney also added a slide guitar solo inspired by Harrison; he and Starr also contributed backing vocals to the chorus.