An official music video for what’s being called The Beatles’ “last song,” “Now and Then,” will get its worldwide premiere this Friday, November 3, at 10 a.m. ET on the band’s official YouTube channel.
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The video was directed by Peter Jackson, whose credits include the Lord of the Rings movies and The Beatles: Get Back docuseries, and marks the first time the acclaimed filmmaker has created a music video.
As previously reported, “Now and Then,” which will be released globally at 10 a.m. ET on Thursday, November 2, was built around a demo made by John Lennon in the 1970s and also includes tracks that McCartney, Ringo Starr, and the late George Harrison recorded in the 1990s, as well as recent contributions from McCartney and Starr.
In a new post on TheBeatles.com, Jackson explains at length how he put together the “Now and Then” video while admitting that he was initially “very reluctant” to take on the project.
The director explained that, in addition to being anxious about having the responsibility to make a video worthy of the Fab Four’s final song, he worried there wasn’t enough interesting and rare footage that could be used to create an engaging clip. However, he wound up getting plenty of exciting material from a variety of sources.
Jackson revealed that McCartney and Starr shot new footage of themselves performing; Apple dug up more than 14 hours of rare footage from 1995 of the reunited McCartney, Starr, and Harrison collaborating, including several hours of them working on “Now and Them”; and Lennon’s son Sean and Harrison’s widow, Olivia, sent him some unseen home-movie footage.
In addition, Jackson reported that original Beatles drummer Pete Best contributed some never-before-seen film of the band performing in leather suits, the earliest known footage of the group.
The filmmaker also explained how he came up with an arc for the video that would include a middle segment using rare archival clips and new footage to capture The Beatles’ humor, love of fun, and an emotional ending where the viewers would be able to say goodbye to the band.
Reflecting on the video he helped create, Jackson wrote, “To be honest, while we hope we’ve given The Beatles a suitable final farewell, that’s something you’ll need to decide for yourselves when it’s finally released.”
As previously reported, before “Now and Then” is released Thursday, a short making-of film titled Now and Then – The Last Beatles Song will debut on The Beatles’ YouTube channel on Wednesday, at 3:30 p.m. ET.
“Now and Then” will initially be released as a digital single that’s paired with the Fab Four’s original 1962 single version of “Love Me Do.”
A physical version of the single will be released on November 3 and will be available on 7-inch black and colored vinyl variants, on a 12-inch black vinyl disc, and on cassette. You can pre-order the single now.
In addition, expanded 2023 editions of The Beatles’ 1962-1966 and 1967-1970 compilations, commonly known as “The Red Album” and “The Blue Album,” respectively, will be released in multiple formats and configurations on November 10. “Now and Then” will appear on the updated “Blue Album,” while the 1962 single version of “Love Me Do” will kick off the expanded “Red Album.” You can pre-order the expanded compilations here.
Photo by J. Wilds/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Image
