‘Now and Then’: Inside the Last Beatles’ Song Ever

“Now and Then” is the last of the leftover Beatles songs to be finished, post John Lennon’s death. The others were “Free As a Bird” and “Real World” in 1994. Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr started working on “Now and Then” then, but decided to not complete it… until now (minus Harrison who died in 2001).

It was recorded on cassette at the Dakota in New York City where John, Yoko Ono and their son Sean lived in the ’70s. The vocals were pretty low; it took years to separate Lennon’s thin voice from his piano playing.

McCartney: “We’ve all played on it, so it’s a genuine Beatle recording.”

In the short film below, McCartney says Get Back director Peter Jackson was able to do that. Now, John’s voice could be heard front and center. McCartney touched up his bass part and took a solo as a tribute to George.

Macca muses in the short:

“To still be working on Beatles’ music in 2023 — wow! We’re actually messing around with state-of-the-art…