Decades after shelving music written and sung by John Lennon, the remaining members of The Beatles announced on Thursday they have a release date for “Now and Then” — a song that one of the most influential bands of all time says will be their last.
“Together and apart, The Beatles have always had a talent for the unexpected,” the group said in a news release. “And now, 2023 brings one of the most anticipated releases of their long and endlessly eventful history.”
On November 2, The Beatles’ final song will be available worldwide digitally and as a double A-side single on 7″ vinyl, 12″ vinyl, and cassette, paired with the iconic group’s debut single “Love Me Do” released in 1962.
The song features vocals from Lennon and electric and acoustic guitar performed by George Harrison, who recorded his tracks six years before he passed away from lung cancer in 2001. Sir Paul McCartney recorded bass, guitar, and piano while Sir Ringo Starr laid down new drum tracks for the 45-year-old song.
McCartney also added a slide guitar solo inspired by Harrison.
According to the news release, Lennon first recorded the demo track with vocals and piano in his home in New York’s Dakota Building in 1978 — two years before he was fatally shot outside his residence on 72nd Street in the Upper West Side neighborhood of Manhattan.
Nearly 20 years later, his wife, Yoko Ono Lennon, gave the recordings to former bandmates Harrison, McCartney, and Starr.
After recording additional parts and completing a rough mix for the track, the remaining trio of the group put “Now and Then” on hold due to technological limitations that prevented separating Lennon’s vocals and piano to create a clear sound needed for the final cut.
Fast forward to 2022, after new audio software developed for Peter Jackson’s documentary “The Beatles: Get Back” allowed the filmmaker’s team to isolate instruments and vocals, Jackson and his sound team, led by Emile de la Rey, applied the same technology to Lennon’s original home recording to preserve the clarity and integrity of his vocals.
“There it was, John’s voice, crystal clear,” McCartney said. “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 cleared up some confusion earlier this year about whether The Beatles used artificial intelligence on Lennon’s posthumous voice after announcing he and Starr were preparing for a pseudo-comeback.
“We cleaned up some existing recordings — a process which has gone on for years,” he said in part, debunking the greatly exaggerated rumors that audio engineers artificially or synthetically altered Lennon’s voice for the record.
“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 said in the latest news release. “It was like John was there, you know. It’s far out.”
Since the 1960s, the English rock group from Liverpool has shaped the counterculture movement for popular music as an art form. Throughout their career, the Beatles’ main catalog between 1962 and 1970 consisted of 12 studio albums with over 200 mostly original songs.
With McCartney, 81, and Starr, 83, claiming “Now and Then” marks their last record ever, the announcement signals the end of an era for rock and roll music fans everywhere.
Following the release of “Now and Then” and “Love Me Do,” the Beatles’ said a music video for the title track will debut on November 3.
One week later, the band will release expanded reissues of 1962-1966 (The Red Album) and 1967-1970 (The Blue Album) with the addition of their final song.