The Beatles will release their “final ever” song at 1am next Friday, Australian time, over 43 years after the passing of singer and the song’s writer John Lennon.
The song, called Now and Then, was originally a demo that Lennon recorded in the late 1970s.
Now, with the help of AI, it is a fully-fledged recording featuring contributions from Lennon’s songwriting partner Paul McCartney, drummer Ringo Starr, and guitarist George Harrison, who died in 2001.
While today is the first official confirmation of Now and Then’s release, McCartney revealed earlier this year that there would be one final Beatles song.
Many fans assumed that song would be Now and Then, a recording that featured on demo cassettes labelled ‘For Paul’ that Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono passed on to McCartney in 1994.
The year after those tapes emerged, The Beatles released Free As A Bird, their first new material in 25 years at the time. It was through technology of the time that the three remaining members of The Beatles turned Lennon’s demo into a full song. Another new song, Real Love followed a few months later.
Now And Then was on those tapes, however its sound quality was deemed too poor for release. Audio technology has come a long way in the past 28 years and, largely thanks to AI, we will have a fully fleshed out recording of Now and Then next week.
Peter Jackson and his team, who made the 2021 Beatles docuseries Get Back with help from machine audio-learning technology, used the technology to isolate Lennon’s voice and piano parts, making it possible to clean up the vocal to bring it up to scratch.
“There it was, John’s voice, crystal clear,” McCartney said in a statement released today.
“It’s quite emotional. 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.
“It was the closest we’ll ever come to having him back in the room so it was very emotional for all of us,” Starr said.
“It was like John was there, you know. It’s far out.”
The recording will also feature guitar and bass parts that George Harrison had recorded for the song when it originally surfaced in the mid-90s.
“Back in 1995, after several days in the studio working on the track, George felt the technical issues with the demo were insurmountable and concluded that it was not possible to finish the track to a high enough standard,” George’s widow Olivia Harrison said.
“If he were here today, Dhani [their son] and I know he would have wholeheartedly joined Paul and Ringo in completing the recording of ‘Now And Then’.”
“It was incredibly touching to hear them working together after all the years that Dad had been gone,” Lennon’s son Sean Ono Lennon said.
“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.”
Before its release, The Beatles will release a 12 minute documentary on the making on ‘Now and Then’ on their YouTube page. Watch its trailer below.
The song will be out at 1am Friday 3 November, Australian time.