The final song from The Beatles is almost here.
The band is set to release “Now and Then,” billed as “the last Beatles song,” on November 2 at 10 a.m. ET, with a video to follow on November 3. The track will be released as a double-A side single, paired with “Love Me Do,” the band’s 1962 debut single, putting their last and first singles together.
The track features vocals John Lennon recorded on a demo in the late ’70s. In 1994, his wife Yoko Ono gave the demo to surviving Beatles, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison, who used it to create “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love,” which appeared on The Beatles Anthology project in the mid ’90s.
Then, in 2021 Peter Jackson, director of The Beatles: Get Back docuseries, used new technology to isolate Lennon’s “Now and Then” instruments and vocals with Paul and Ringo completing the song in 2022, using guitar parts Harrison recorded in 1995.
And fans will gain more insight into the making of the song with the 12-minute documentary, Now and Then – The Last Beatles Song, premiering November 1, at 3:30 p.m. ET on The Beatles YouTube channel.
“It’s quite emotional,” Paul says. “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.”
Ringo adds, “It was the closest we’ll ever come to having him back in the room, so it was very emotional for all of us. It was like John was there, you know.”
The Beatles are also releasing 2023 Edition packages of two compilations, 1962-1966 (The Red Album) and 1967-1970 (The Blue Album), on November 10. Both versions are now mixed in stereo and Dolby Atmos and will be released as four-CD and six-LP collections. They are available for preorder now.
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