02 November 2023 , 12:01
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More than 60 years after they released their first record, the Beatles are about to release their last – John, Paul, George and Ringo reunited by high-tech recording techniques.
Now And Then was written in the 1970s by John Lennon, who recorded a demo on a cassette. After his assassination in 1980, the track was developed and worked on by Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr in the 1990s. Finally, it has now been finished by Paul and Ringo and will be uploaded to the Beatles YouTube channel on Thursday. Sir Paul, 81, has described his delight at hearing the group’s sound revived.
He said: “We started mixing it... wow this is it, now it’s a Beatles record.” He added: “All of those memories come flooding back. 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’ve been very interested in.”
Paul helps complete the trackSir Paul tells the story of the song with Ringo, 83, and John’s son Sean, 48, in a 12-minute documentary Now And Then – The Last Beatles Song. Sir Paul begins the film, saying: “Making good music in a band is all about chemistry. The way our four very different personalities combined in The Beatles was something very special.
“When we lost John we knew that it was really over. But, in 1994, amazingly, an interesting opportunity arose where we could make more music together.” In 1994, John’s widow Yoko Ono had given them the demo, which John had recorded at his piano in his Dakota Building home in New York.
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She also gave them John’s demos for Free as a Bird and Real Love, which were completed as new Beatles songs and released as singles in 1995 and 1996, as part of The Beatles Anthology project. Paul, George and Ringo also recorded new parts for Now And Then and did a rough mix with producer Jeff Lynne.
But the recording quality of John’s vocal was poor, with background noise and static, and the plan to release it was shelved. Fast forward to 2021, and The Beatles: Get Back, a documentary, directed by Peter Jackson, wins awards for its audio restoration. Jackson’s team then go to work to clean up the demo of Now And Then.
John Lennon in Beatles heydayRingo says: “Since Peter took John off and gave him his own track it was like John’s there you know. It was far out.” With John’s vocals, Now And Then includes electric and acoustic guitar recorded in 1995 by George, who died in 2001, Ringo’s new drum part, and bass, guitar and piano from Paul. He and Ringo also contributed backing vocals.
Sir Paul feels confident John would approve. He says: “We listened to the track. There’s John in his apartment in New York City, banging away at his piano, doing a little demo. Is it something we shouldn’t do? But 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.” Sean agrees. He says: “My dad would have loved that because he was never shy to experiment with recording technology, I think it’s really beautiful.”
* Now And Then, released on Thursday by Apple Corps Ltd/Capitol/UMe. Now And Then – The Last Beatles Song will be on The Beatles’ YouTube channel.