Now And Then was originally written and recorded by John Lennon in the late 1970s long after the best-selling band of all time had disbanded.

John was murdered in 1980 at the age of 40. His wife, Yoko Ono, later gave the tape to the rest of the band, along with rough recordings of Free As A Bird and Real Love, which were reworked and released in the mid-1990s.

Although the remaining Beatles, Paul, Ringo and George, did try and develop the single back then, the limited technology available in that period could not extract Lennon’s vocals properly.

So, for some time, The Beatles’ “final song” has been on ice, until now.

Reaction to Now And Then:

Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher – who makes no bones about being hugely influenced by Lennon – issued a heartfelt response to the song.

“Now n Then absolutely incredible biblical celestial heartbreaking and heartwarming all at the same time long live The Beatles LG x,” he said.

One user said on X, formerly Twitter: “‘Now & Then’ by The Beatles is absolutely beautiful. What an unexpected but wonderful end to The Beatles’ incredible discography. What a treat to experience a new release by The Beatles. Something I never thought I would have in my lifetime.”

Another said: “Totally blown away by how clean John’s vocal is. The reverb is just as he would add in studio too so this is exactly how he would present it. Just amazing!! 2pm can’t come quick enough! Been a long wait but finally today is the day #Beatles people & the World get Now & Then”.

Someone else commented: “First thing this morning, listened to “Now & Then” by the #Beatles. Was it the rocker I’d hoped it would be? No. Was it a poignant reflection of where John was when he recorded vocals? Yes. Did it make me tear up? Absolutely. The lyrics, given what’s transpired, were prescient.”

Now And Then documentary

A short documentary about the making of Now And Then was also released last night and featured Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Ringo Starr and John Lennon’s son Sean Ono Lennon.

In it, Sir Paul recalled how the band initially developed the song in the 1990s.

“George and Ringo came down to my studio. Nice day. Fabulous day. We listened to the track,” he said.

“There’s John in his apartment in New York City, banging away at his piano, doing a little demo.

“To still be working on Beatles music in 2023 – wow”

“Is it something we shouldn’t do? Every time I thought like that, I thought wait a minute. Let’s say I had a chance to ask John, ‘Hey John, would you like us to finish this last song of yours?’ I’m telling you, I know the answer would’ve been: ‘Yeah!’ He would’ve loved that.”

Sir Paul said in the documentary when he and Sir Ringo returned to work on Now And Then, “all of those memories come flooding back”.

“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?

“To still be working on Beatles music in 2023 – wow.”

“We’re actually messing around with state-of-the-art technology, which is something The Beatles would have been very interested in.

“Now And Then, it’s probably like the last Beatles song. And we’ve all played on it, so it is a genuine Beatles recording.”

Next Friday, two albums – remastered and expanded versions of the 1962-66 and 1967-70 collections – will also be released.


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