The Beatles’ final song, “Now And Then” is here
The magic of technology reunites John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr for one last track
Music News The Beatles
Did you ever think we’d be listening to a brand-new Beatles song in the 21st century? “Now And Then,” billed as the last-ever collaboration between Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, has been a long time coming. Nevertheless, it feels like a minor miracle to be getting “new” music from the band decades after the members went their separate ways and long after the deaths of Lennon and Harrison. The song was officially released on Thursday, and it’s sure to evoke nostalgia in Beatles fans everywhere.
It’s certainly not Lennon’s most intricate lyrical work, though the sentiment is well suited to what will be the group’s final collaboration. “Now and then I miss you/Oh, now and then/I want you to be there for me/Always to return to me,” Lennon and McCartney sing together, the warble of McCartney’s 81-year-old vocal harmonizing over the Lennon’s, preserved in the amber of his late 30s.
A music video for the track, directed by Peter Jackson, will be released on Friday. On Wednesday, the group released a 12-minute short film explaining the genesis of “Now And Then,” from Lennon’s original recording in the ’70s to the Anthology recording sessions in the ’90s to the the 2020s, when Jackson’s team pioneered new technology that allowed them to isolate Lennon’s vocals off of the grainy demo track.
McCartney knew in his heart that Lennon would have wanted him to finish the song, he says in the doc; given the work that went into “Now And Then” over the course of decades, the release does feel less like a cynical revival of a long-defunct group than a final act of closure in finally completing the project. “My God, how lucky was I to have those men in my life, and to work with those men so intimately, and to come up with such a body of music,” McCartney reflects. “To still be working on Beatles music in 2023, wow.”
“Now And Then” obviously isn’t going to hold up to The Beatles’ best work, but it does feel like a fitting denouement for one of the most beloved and influential musical acts of the 20th century (and beyond). “Obviously, it hasn’t been, but it sounds like John’s written it for Paul now, in a very emotional way,” the song’s producer Giles Martin (son of The Beatles original producer, George Martin) recently told Rolling Stone. “It’s a bittersweet song, which is very John. But with a combination of happiness and regret.”
53 Comments
It’s no “Rain”, but it’ll do. Yes, it’ll do.The strings are a little bit Oasis, but I did find myself getting a little choked at points.
Not many songs, by any group, are on par with “Rain”.
The irony of calling a Beatles arrangement anything Oasis is priceless.ETA: That came off like an insult, which it’s not. I just think it’s funny.
Richard Ashcroft starts sweating nervously
ok, Gen-X Boomer…
It’s no barn burner, but it does sound like them. B-side.
Exactly. If this came out when the band was around it would not be anyone’s favorite but it’s fine.
cromulent even?
Pretty good year for the British Invasion. The Beatles release a new single, Paul McCartney contributes a bass solo to a song on the new Rolling Stones album (an album that’s #1 in 14 countries) and The Who announce that their rock opera “Tommy” was returning to Broadway in the spring.
Oh Thank God! I’ve made several defenses to Tommy over the last few weeks and people looked at me funny.
Couldn’t they hear you? Couldn’t they feel you near them?
I hate bass solos.
Huge smile on my face listening to this.
Yeah, I liked that. Solid tune.
Not bad. Something about the production (maybe it’s the strings?) sounds more George-y to my ear than John or Paul, like something off All Things Must Pass, not that that’s a bad thing. It’s cool to hear them all together one last time.
It’s a little Jeff Lynne-ish too, but that’s not surprising. Of the three “new releases” of the past 20 years (yikes!) Real Love is the winner.
Disagree – “Now and Then” is tops.
Actually closer to 30 years now. 😬
Fun fact, Jeff worked on this song.
Let’s hope this really is the final song.
Actually produced by living members of The Beatles, probably yes.
Produced by others using AI… this is only the beginning.
Now ladies ‘n gentlemen . . . The Hologram Ed Sullivan presents . . . The Hologram BEATLES!
*screams*
*Hologram screams*
2033 – “Here’s the Beatles with some important words about Geico car insurance.”
Thanks I hate it
I’m loving seeing all the different responses to this song.
I mean, it’s a new Beatles recording in 2023, which is significant in of itself, and yet as much as that puts a smile on my face I can admit that it’s a bit of a weird song.
The verse-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo-verse-end structure is odd. The MAL isolated vocals are both a miracle of technology and still sound a bit harsh to me. Running the track through a waveform editor you can see the majority of it is a constant “wall of sound” with little dynamic change in loudness, which is weird for the emotions the lyrics and minor key are expressing.
When my partner heard it she said “They were ahead of their time. Sounds like grunge.” and I hadn’t even considered that. It’s a song with many different aspects, probably due to the way it was constructed over decades, and due to the way music and audiences have changed over decades.
I think I love the song with all its flaws, but mostly because it makes me think about all these things and get to talk about it with different people.
Those who do get into the Beatles at some point in their lives, get into them, quite heavily. I remember when Free as a Bird and Real Love came out, I was a teenager and didn’t really appreciate the monumental thing it was…a new song by the Beatles. Now that I’m so much older, I recorded myself listening to it for the first time. What a way to end their music!
Taken on its on merits, it’s not a very good song. Vocally thin, lyrically weak. And the production has a very artificial sheen to it. That said, of course outside this vacuum, they had a very rough demo to work with, a song that was even less complete than Free as a Bird and Real Love. They didn’t even add a middle 8/bridge verse to flesh it out, instead we got an extended guitar solo (mostly Paul’s work? I’m not sure how much of George is really in here).I do give kudos to Jackson and team on incredible work isolating John’s vocal, there is undeniably a wistful nostalgia to the piece, and it’s always nice when Paul and Ringo collaborate. So I don’t mind this song now exists, any more than the previous two constructs, but for me, “The End” was the truly perfect conclusion to the Beatle’s work.
Sounds like John and Paul on vocals but not a Beatles song. It’s got neither the raw early rock and roll energy nor the later more experimental angst. Sounds more Wings or modern pop music to my ear. Also: kind of a dirge. Listened to it once, don’t need it in my collection.
modern pop music to my ear
Yes. I said to myself that it sounds very modern.
‘Now and Then’ (b-side of ‘Centre of the Universe’) is one of my favourite Built To Spill songs. Tangentially relevant at best, I know.
It’s pretty damn good! This band is going places.
I heard the drummer is dating Travis Kelcy
I hope they passed the audition.
Doesn’t really sound like a Beatles song.
I feel like it’s very fitting for the final released Beatles album to be relentlessly cheesy, and relentlessly catchy.
Anytime someone says “John Lennon would’ve liked it,” I’m like, “Oh, John Lennon would’ve hated it.” It’s funny how their posthumous collaborations all sound kind of like outtakes from the Get Back/Let It Be sessions.
I loved how often in Get Back we would see John mimic vomiting during an especially cheesy song rehearsal
Years ago I was on a long drive with my older brother, who had never listened to “Plastic Ono Band.” About halfway through Working Class Hero, he was like, “It’s not exactly Twist and Shout, is it?”
“You’re still fucking peasants” would have been an interesting lyrical addition to Twist and Shout.
One thing I found unnerving about Get Back was the way John seemed to hold all the Beatles songs (especially the earlier ones) in such contempt. It’s sad that he seemingly felt the Beatles were something to be embarrassed about.
Sure he was mimicking? He was smacked out then.
Its no Free as a Bird , I’ll tell you that .(A song I feel a lot of nostalgia for , since it came out was around the time I’d started actually earning money , and was able to get my dad (who was a big Beatles fan) the first “new” anthology package for Christmas , which featured “free as.. “ on it .Since my dad died about 12 years ago I still feel bitter sweet about it)
It is 1970. The Beatles have just released their final song.It is 1995. The Beatles have just released their final song.
It is 2023. The Beatles have just released their final song.
That is sounds better than the Traveling Wilburys trying to keep time to a crappy demo is not a high standard, but it is a relief. Just on its own merits, it’s a good song melodically, with real emotional resonance and backing that sounds inevitably like Beatles pastiche but still pretty good. I’m not really honing in on the lyrics and it doesn’t seem like there’s much to hone on in, but the sentiment seems to matter more. Just an aside, we know some of the instrumentation is from the 90s, are we sure Paul’s vocals aren’t from then too?
To me, this sounds way more like Old Paul than Less Old Paul.
It is a tad rough.
It’s pretty. Maybe I wouldn’t notice without knowing about the production but it seems like there are some nasty audio artifacts in the chorus, like there was some vibrato that the AI didn’t know how to handle.
Fuck that I want more Monkees music.
I wonder how much George actually participated in this? Acoustic guitar in the background? That’s not him on the slide guitar. The song was abandoned because he didn’t like it.
I once found an unfinished letter my mom wrote to college-freshman me, which stopped mid-sentence (thanks, cancer) and wound up in the bottom of a drawer. I discovered it a decade after losing her. So I’m incapable of anything but gratitude and wistfulness at “Now and Then” being a thing that (imperfectly) exists.