The Beatles have unveiled plans to release a previously unheard track titled “Now and Then” that’s being billed as “The Last Beatles Song.” The recording, which was built around a demo track that John Lennon recorded in the late 1970s at his home in New York’s Dakota Building, will get its initial release as a digital single—paired with the Fab Four’s original 1962 single version of “Love Me Do”—on Thursday, November 2 at 10 a.m. ET.
Videos by American Songwriter
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. An official music video for “Now and Then” also will premiere that day. You can pre-order the single now.
In advance of the release of “Now and Then,” a short making-of film titled Now and Then – The Last Beatles Song will debut on The Beatles’ YouTube channel on Wednesday, November 1, at 3:30 p.m. ET. You also can check out a trailer for the film now.
But wait, there’s more! 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 on November 10. “Now and Then” will be added to the track list of “The Blue Album,” while the 1962 single version of “Love Me Do” now will kick off “The Red Album.”
“Now and Then” was originally supposed to have been featured on the third volume of The Beatles’ 1995-1996 Anthology compilation series, which also included two other new songs created using unreleased Lennon demos that the band’s surviving members, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison, completed by recording new accompanying tracks.
The other songs, “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love,” were featured on Anthology 1 and Anthology 2, respectively, but because of technological limitations at the time, Lennon’s vocals and piano “Now and Then” couldn’t be enhanced adequately enough for a quality mix.
The track, for which McCartney, Starr, and Harrison recorded new performances, was shelved with hopes that it could be revisited when audio technology had advanced more.
Fast forward to 2021: Thanks to audio technology used to enhance the sound of director Peter Jackson’s The Beatles: Get Back documentary, it became apparent that similar techniques could be employed on “Now and Then” to help finish the track.
In 2022, McCartney and Starr went about doing just that. The completed track features Lennon’s original vocal, electric, and acoustic guitar recorded by Harrison in 1995, a new drum part by Starr, and bass, guitar, and piano from McCartney. McCartney and Starr also recorded some new backing vocals, while a Beatles-style string arrangement written by Sir Paul, producer Giles Martin, and composer Ben Foster was added as well.
As an additional sonic touch, backing vocals from the original recordings of “Here, There and Everywhere,” “Eleanor Rigby,” and “Because,” were blended into the mix.
“There it was, John’s voice, crystal clear. It’s quite emotional,” McCartney said in a statement about “Now and Then.” “And we all play on it, it’s a genuine Beatles recording. 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.”
Added Starr, “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.”
The 2023 editions of The Beatles’ 1962-1966 (“Red”) and 1967-1970 (“Blue”) compilations will be available separately as two-CD or three-LP sets, as well as together as four-CD or six-LP collections. The albums also will be available digitally and for streaming, with the tracks appearing being offered in updated stereo and new Dolby Atmos mixes. Click here to pre-order the expanded collections.
For more details about the releases, visit TheBeatles.com.
1962-1966 (2023 Edition) CD Track List
CD 1
Love Me Do (2023 Mix)
Please Please Me (2023 Mix)
I Saw Her Standing There (2023 Mix)*
Twist and Shout (2023 Mix)*
From Me to You (2023 Mix)
She Loves You (2023 Mix)
I Want to Hold Your Hand (2023 Mix)
This Boy (2023 Mix)*
All My Loving (2023 Mix)
Roll Over Beethoven (2023 Mix)*
You Really Got a Hold on Me (2023 Mix)*
Can’t Buy Me Love (2023 Mix)
You Can’t Do That (2023 Mix)*
A Hard Day’s Night (2023 Mix)
And I Love Her (2023 Mix)
Eight Days a Week (2023 Mix)
I Feel Fine (2023 Mix)
Ticket to Ride (2023 Mix)
Yesterday (2023 Mix)
CD 2
Help! (2023 Mix)
You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away (2023 Mix)
We Can Work It Out (2023 Mix)
Day Tripper (2023 Mix)
Drive My Car (2023 Mix)
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) (2023 Mix)
Nowhere Man (2023 Mix)
Michelle (2023 Mix)
In My Life (2023 Mix)
If I Needed Someone (2023 Mix)*
Girl (2023 Mix)
Paperback Writer (2022 Mix)
Eleanor Rigby (2022 Mix)
Yellow Submarine (2022 Mix)
Taxman (2022 Mix)*
Got to Get You into My Life (2022 Mix)*
I’m Only Sleeping (2022 Mix)*
Here, There and Everywhere (2022 Mix)*
Tomorrow Never Knows (2022 Mix)*
1967-1970 (2023 Edition) CD Track List
CD 1
Strawberry Fields Forever (2015 Stereo Mix / 2023 Dolby Atmos Mix)
Penny Lane (2017 Mix)
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (2017 Mix)
With a Little Help from My Friends (2017 Mix)
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (2017 Mix)
Within You Without You (2017 Mix)*
A Day in the Life (2017 Mix)
All You Need Is Love (2015 Stereo Mix / 2023 Dolby Atmos Mix)
I Am The Walrus (2023 Mix)
Hello, Goodbye (2015 Stereo Mix / 2023 Dolby Atmos Mix)
The Fool on the Hill (2023 Mix)
Magical Mystery Tour (2023 Mix)
Lady Madonna (2015 Stereo Mix / 2023 Dolby Atmos Mix)
Hey Jude (2015 Stereo Mix / 2023 Dolby Atmos Mix)
Revolution (2023 Mix)
CD 2
Back in the U.S.S.R. (2018 Mix)
Dear Prudence (2018 Mix)*
While My Guitar Gently Weeps (2018 Mix)
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (2018 Mix)
Glass Onion (2018 Mix)*
Blackbird (2018 Mix)*
Hey Bulldog (2023 Mix)*
Get Back (2015 Stereo Mix / 2023 Dolby Atmos Mix)
Don’t Let Me Down (2021 Mix)
The Ballad of John And Yoko (2015 Stereo Mix / 2023 Dolby Atmos Mix)
Old Brown Shoe (2023 Mix)
Here Comes the Sun (2019 Mix)
Come Together (2019 Mix)
Something (2019 Mix)
Octopus’s Garden (2019 Mix)
Oh! Darling (2019 Mix)*
I Want You (She’s So Heavy) (2019 Mix)*
Let It Be (2021 Mix)
Across the Universe (2021 Mix)
I Me Mine (2021 Mix)*
The Long and Winding Road (2021 Mix)
Now and Then*
* = newly added track
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Image
