The Beatles Release New Song ‘Now And Then’ Featuring John Lennon’s Vocals

The Beatles have released their final song as a band, “Now And Then,” with the late John Lennon’s voice. 

Over the summer, Paul McCartney announced the new track, which feature lyrics written and sung by Lennon before he died in 1980. 

The creation of this song started in 1994 when Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, gave McCartney two cassettes that Lennon recorded at home in the 70s. McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison played around with the recordings, but because of background noise from traffic and television, the tape was unusable. McCartney still held onto hope that one day, they would be able to figure out how to eliminate the background noise and focus on Lennon’s singing, which brings us to today. 

Using AI technology, McCartney and Starr were able to extract just Lennon’s vocals and incorporate them into the track. McCartney detailed how they used the technology that Peter Jackson used to make his album Let It Be.

“And he was able to extricate John’s voice from a ropey little bit of cassette where it had John’s voice and a piano — he could separate them with AI,” McCartney explained in a statement. “They tell the machine, ‘That is a voice, this is a guitar, lose the guitar.’ And he did that.”

McCartney also clarified to fans that Lennon’s voice is not AI-generated and that everything heard on the track is original. 

Some modifications to the song were made, including McCartney re-recording the piano line Lennon played and incorporating some guitar and bass. Starr contributed a new drum part and Harrison’s electric and acoustic guitar tracks were pulled from their session in 1995 when they originally played around with the tapes. McCartney felt that it was also necessary to add a solo inspired by Harrison in tribute to him, as he died in 2001.

The final edit was to add a string section that captures the original Beatles standard. 

McCartney shared his feelings about the new song.

“There it was, John’s voice, crystal clear. It’s quite emotional. And we all play on it. It’s a genuine Beatles recording,” he said. “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.”

Starr also added the sentiment, “It was the closest we’ll ever come to having him back in the room, so it was very emotional for all of us. It was like John was there, you know? It’s far out.”

Harrison’s widow, Olivia Harrison, also believed that Harrison would’ve been overjoyed to join his fellow bandmates in creating the track.

“If he were here today, Dhani [Harrison, the couple’s son] and I know he would have whole-heartedly joined Paul and Ringo in completing the recording of ‘Now And Then,” she stated. 

The song also holds a special place in Lennon’s son’s heart. Sean Lennon shared how, for him, it is “incredibly touching” to hear this track. “It’s the last song my dad, Paul, George, and Ringo got to make together. It’s like a time capsule and all feels very meant to be.”

The band released a short 12-minute documentary about the song, Now and Then – The Last Beatles Song, on YouTube.

Last year, McCartney‘s daughter, Mary McCartney, told uInterview about how The Beatles got their start at Abbey Road studios.

“It was so interesting because in a way, [producer] George Martin‘s like, ‘They weren’t very good,’ but they were a live band who had just been sort of out gigging and they weren’t used to recording,” McCartney told uInterview. “George Martin was looking for a lead act, like Cliff Richards, in the beginning, like which one’s Cliff and which ones are the shadows. He hadn’t sort of realized that the four of them came together as a package. What was really interesting that I wanted to highlight is that when they came there, people would come and they would do like an audition, so I think they’d just play and I think they were really nervous. Then George Martin sort of had to, as a producer, take that apart and put his arm around them and show them the recording process. It was also then that recording sessions were done in three-hour slots. You arrived at the studios, you were well-rehearsed, you played the songs, they would mix the song, then you’d have a break and then do another one. They recorded their first album in one day over those three-hour sessions. As they grew as artists and in confidence, they had unlimited space and unlimited hours and they changed how recording worked within the Abbey Road space.”