Now and Then is due for worldwide release on Thursday 2 November.
Almost 50 years since Lennon recorded the earliest version of Now and Then on an old cassette recorder, fans will soon be able to hear the last ever Beatles song. One final, stirring encore from the four Scousers who changed music forever.
In 1995, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison toiled over what they knew would be the last ever Beatles song. Haunted by the voice of their late bandmate, John Lennon, who sang gently at his piano from his home in New York, the surviving trio sweated in the studio trying to get a clear sound from the muddied recording given to them by Lennon’s partner, Yoko Ono. However, they were forced to shelve the project due to the poor quality of the recording.
But then along came artificial intelligence. For McCartney, the possibility of finishing the troubled recording gave the pop pioneer fresh hope. Was it possible to separate Lennon’s vocal performance from the piano, while maintaining the integrity and clarity of the original recording? Thanks to a sprinkling of AI magic, the answer was yes.
“There it was, John’s voice, crystal clear,” McCartney says, of the moment he heard Lennon’s clean vocals for the first time. “It’s quite emotional. And we all play on it, it’s a genuine Beatles recording. In 2023, to still be working on Beatles music, and about to release a new song the public haven’t heard, I think it’s an exciting thing.”
McCartney and Starr completed the song last year, using the electric and acoustic guitar parts recorded by Harrison in 1995, along with new drums by Starr. Finally, the song will be released next week.
“It was the closest we’ll ever come to having him back in the room so it was very emotional for all of us,” Starr says. “It was like John was there, you know. It’s far out.”