Exciting news on the horizon: The Beatles are gearing up for the long-awaited release of their ultimate musical masterpiece.
The anticipation surrounding the Fab Four’s track, ‘Now and Then,’ has been a topic of discussion among Beatles enthusiasts for decades, and the moment is finally here. Next month, the world will witness the official unveiling of this iconic piece.
‘Now And Then,’ the last song ever created by the Beatles, boasts the remarkable talents of John Lennon, who wrote and performed it. Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr played pivotal roles in its development, and Paul and Ringo have now brought it to completion, more than four decades later.
Mark your calendars for 2 pm GMT on Thursday, November 2, when ‘Now and Then’ will be available for global release. This double A-side single pairs the band’s final composition with their debut UK single from 1962, ‘Love Me Do.’
Following this much-anticipated release, the music video for ‘Now And Then’ is set to premiere on Friday, November 3. Additionally, a documentary film titled ‘Now And Then – The Last Beatles Song,’ penned and directed by Oliver Murray, will have its world premiere on November 1. This film can be viewed on The Beatles’ YouTube channel at 7:30 pm GMT.
The documentary offers an intimate look at the creation of the last Beatles song, featuring valuable insights and commentary from Paul, Ringo, George, Sean Ono Lennon, and Peter Jackson.
For fans eager to get their hands on this musical treasure, you can pre-order the ‘Now And Then’/’Love Me Do’ double A-side single through this link. The song will be available for download and streaming, and for those who appreciate physical copies, it will be offered on 7-inch black & colored vinyl, and a 12-inch black vinyl. A limited edition cassette and a 7-inch blue and white marbled vinyl are also in the works, not to mention a CD single for collectors.
In addition to this exciting release, November 10 will mark the launch of The Beatles’ ‘1962-1966’ (‘The Red Album’) and ‘1967-1970’ (‘The Blue Album’) compilations in their 2023 Edition packages. Both albums will feature expanded tracklists, boasting songs mixed in true stereo and Dolby Atmos. These collections will be available in 4CD and 180-gram 6LP vinyl sets, beautifully packaged together.
For those curious about the origins of ‘Now and Then,’ this touching composition was crafted by John Lennon in the late 1970s. He even made a demo recording of the unfinished song at his home in the Dakota Building in New York City in 1979.
The song beautifully reflects Lennon’s style in the later part of his career, filled with expressions of regret and apology.
As for when The Beatles collaborated on this masterpiece, it was Yoko Ono, John Lennon’s widow, who entrusted Paul, George, and Ringo with some of his unfinished works, aiming to transform them into “new” Beatles tracks for the ‘Anthology’ project in the mid-1990s. The result was the creation of ‘Free as a Bird’ and ‘Real Love,’ which graced the first two volumes of The Beatles’ ‘Anthology’ collections.
There were also the tracks ‘Grow Old with Me’ and ‘Now and Then.’ While ‘Grow Old with Me’ had already been released in 1984 on the posthumous album ‘Milk and Honey,’ The Beatles focused their attention on ‘Now and Then.’
In March 1995, the surviving members of The Beatles embarked on the task of working on ‘Now and Then,’ creating a rough backing track for future overdubbing. Unfortunately, this endeavor was short-lived, and they abandoned the idea of a third reunion single after just two days of recording.
George Harrison’s disapproval of the song played a significant role in the project’s demise. Paul McCartney later described how George had dismissed Lennon’s demo recording as “f***ing rubbish.”
Paul explained, “The Beatles being a democracy, we didn’t do it.” A participant in those recording sessions concurred, stating, “George just didn’t want to rework it because it’s not a matter of putting some vocals, or a bit of bass and drums to finish it. With this, you have to really build the song.”