The Beatles have astounded the music industry once again. After merely 50 years, the Beatles, the infamous English band of the 1960s, composed of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, have released “Now and Then,” their final song ever. Announced on October 26th, “Now and Then,” written and sung by Lennon, developed by McCartney, Harrison, and Starr, and finished by McCartney and Starr, was released on November 3rd, making the single the last song to be issued to the public by the Beatles.
After the death of John Lennon in 1980, a select number of song demos that Lennon had recorded before his passing were given to the other band members by Lennon’s widowed wife, Yoko Ono. With this, an opportunity arose for McCartney and Starr to reconnect with Lennon and Harrison and with each other. The group was able to record “Real Love” and “Free as a Bird,” two of the three song demos given to them, and released them as part of the “Beatles Anthology” project in 1994 and 1995. However, “Now and Then” was left unfinished due to complications in production, as Lennon’s voice was overpowered by his piano and the proper technology that would allow the song to be completed was unavailable at the time.
Fast forward to 2001, the passing of George Harrison discouraged McCartney and Starr from ever attempting to finish the final song. Fortunately, while originally working on “Now and Then” back in 1995, the band had recorded Harrison playing guitar to combine with Lennon’s original demo.
Eventually, the continuation of the song was picked back up in 2022. Due to technological advances as time progressed, the Beatles were finally able and ready to complete their last song. With the technology that Peter Jackson, the director of “The Beatles: Get Back” documentary series, and his team had worked out, they were able to mechanically split all the different components of a soundtrack based on machine learning, allowing them to separate John’s voice from the piano on the original cassette. Now, they could mix the vocals and produce a proper record.
Along with Lennon’s vocals and Harrison’s guitar, when production began again, McCartney had provided the bass portion of the song, Starr provided the drums, and Capitol Records had supplemented a strings arrangement. After mixing, the Beatles had done it. They had produced their last Beatles record ever. In addition to the song, a sentimental music video featuring old and new clips of the band was created and released on November 3rd, as well as a short film titled “Now and Then – The Last Beatles Song” released to YouTube on November 1st to build anticipation for the song’s ultimate reveal.
Now that the song has finally been released, it has been received well by many, whether or not they are fans of the band. Claire Taylor ‘25 says, “It’s such a beautiful final song and displays how amazing the Beatles were. I still can’t wrap my head around how a new Beatles song has been released in 2023.” Overall, the release of “Now and Then” has altered the music industry and exhibited the power of music and those who make it, ultimately cementing the Beatles’ legacy.
