Together and apart, The Beatles have a talent for the unexpected, especially with their remastered final single, “Now And Then.” Over the band’s endlessly eventful history, the single is the final Beatles song—written and sung by John Lennon, developed and worked on by Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Over four decades later, “Now And Then” is finally completed by Paul and Ringo.
“Now And Then” is out alongside their 1962 debut UK single, “Love Me Do,” as a double A-side single. The Beatles’ 1962-1966 (The Red Album) and 1967-1970 (The Blue Album) collections will be released on November 10. Since their first incarnations appeared 50 years ago, these albums have introduced successive generations to The Beatles’ music. Now, both collections’ track lists have been expanded, with all the songs mixed in true stereo and Dolby Atmos.
Initially, “Now And Then” began in the late 1970s, when John recorded a demo with vocals and piano at his home in New York’s Dakota Building. In 1994, Yoko Ono handed the record to the remaining members, who quickly added their own parts. However, the song was ultimately shelved due to technological limitations of the time. (John’s vocals and piano couldn’t be separated to achieve the clear, unclouded mix needed to finish the song.) The new music video for “Now And Then” features never-before-seen archival footage and more; watch it below.
“We wanted the music video to bring a few tears to the eye, but generating emotion using only archive footage is a tricky thing,” said the music video’s director, Peter Jackson. “Fortunately, the simple power of this beautiful song did a lot of the work for us. I have genuine pride in what we made, and I’ll cherish that for years to come.”
The Beatles’ New Short Documentary Is Streaming on Disney+
In other Beatles news, they have a 12-minute documentary, Now And Then – The Last Beatles Song, now streaming on Disney+! Speaking about the short film, writer and director Oliver Murray reminisces on the group’s cultural impact spanning generations.
“The legacy of The Beatles set one of the most important foundations for modern youth culture,” Murray said. “It is a great honor to be given the responsibility of telling this story and I think it will conjure up a lot of different emotions for people as we all have a very personal relationship to the band’s work. ‘Now And Then’ is a story of musical archaeology and a brotherly bond between four guys that gave the world some of the most popular entertainment in history.”
Stream “Now And Then” by The Beatles below. Check out more stories on Music Daily!
