On Nov. 2, The Beatles released their final song titled “Now and Then,” a song originally written and recorded by the late John Lennon in the mid 1970’s that has been revived by the remaining Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.
The track was originally recorded on a cassette tape with Lennon singing as he was playing the piano. After Lennon passed away, Yoko Ono, his wife, gave the recording to the remaining Beatles for them to finish the song. On the cassette were three songs written and recorded by Lennon. “Real Love,” “Free as a Bird,” and “Now and Then.” In 1995, McCartney, George Harrison and Starr were able to complete “Real Love” and “Free as a Bird” but due to the technology not being advanced at the time, they were unable to separate Lennon’s vocals from the piano.
Unfortunately, in 2001, Harrison passed away due to complications with lung cancer. This caused McCartney and Starr to put “Now and Then” on the shelf. Twenty years later Peter Jackson, the director of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, was able to get his hands on the original footage from the 1970 “Let It Be” movie. Jackson was able to refurbish the quality of the film and make the sound quality more exceptional.
Due to this recent use of technology, Jackson and The Beatles used artificial intelligence to isolate Lennon’s vocals from his piano in 2022. They used recordings from the 1995 sessions with Harrison on the guitar and the original recording of Lennon on vocals.
Giles Martin, the son of The Beatles original producer George Martin, added a string arrangement to complete “Now and Then.” The song was announced in June of 2023 when McCartney leaked that they were finishing it.
He mentioned that artificial intelligence technology is “scary but exciting,” adding, “We will just have to see where that leads.”
Starr, the drummer for The Beatles told The Associated Press, “This is the last track, ever, that you’ll get the four Beatles on the track.”
The Beatles’ last single was released with a new mix of “Love Me Do,” the first Beatles single. Along with the release of “Now and Then”, The Beatles re-released new mixes of the “Red” and “Blue” albums which were originally released 50 years ago. The final Beatles song “Now and Then” has broken United Kingdom chart records as it has become the number one single in the U.K.
