On November 2, 2023, The Beatles shocked the world by releasing the single “Now And Then”. The single has since been dubbed as the “final” Beatles song and a bookend of sorts for their career. For reference, The Beatles broke up in 1970, and two of the group’s members have since passed on.
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With some help from audio restoration technology via Peter Jackson, the previously unfinished song was given a new breath of life. And on this day in 2024, “Now And Then” was officially named the biggest-selling vinyl single of 2023. It sold 78,000 units in its first week alone. And it broke more records than that, too.
“Now And Then” by The Beatles set a record for the longest gap between No. 1 singles by any music act. It was released 54 years after the 1969 song “The Ballad Of John And Yoko” hit No. 1. It is also the only song in which Ringo Starr holds a co-writing credit to top the UK chart. The single also won Best Rock Performance and was nominated for Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards. It was the first Beatles song to earn such a nomination since 1997.
“Now And Then” Shocked Beatles Fans Around the World in 2024
The release of “Now And Then” was certainly unexpected for a band that had broken up more than half a century prior, with two deceased members not around to perform the tune. With some help from machine learning technology, Jackson was able to do quite a bit to the song to get it ready for release.
John Lennon wrote this tune in the late 1970s and recorded a simple five-minute piano demo in 1977. He did so on a home tape recorder. The song, a typical Lennon-esque apologetic love song, would never be fleshed out or formally recorded before his death in 1980. In 1995, the remaining members of the band attempted to work on fleshing out the song. George Harrison contributed a guitar track. However, the song’s progress was scrapped.
Until the 2020s, that is. Using machine learning technology to bring out the quality of Lennon’s voice and piano and Harrison’s guitar track, McCartney and Starr got to work to add their pieces to the puzzle. The result was the marvel of audio technology that is “Now And Then”. The tune was later released as part of The Beatles’ compilation albums 1967-1970 and Anthology 4.
Photo via The Beatles’ “Now And Then” Music Video from YouTube
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