John Recorded It at His Piano in the ’70s. Decades Later, Paul and Ringo Finished It: The Last Beatles Song

The story of the last Beatles song began in 1978, in John Lennon’s home in New York. He sat at the piano and recorded a simple demo of a love song called “Now and Then.”

Two years later, John was gone.

After his death, his widow, Yoko Ono, gave the other Beatles a cassette with some of his demos. Two of them, “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love,” were finished and released in the mid-1990s.

Paul, George and Ringo tried to work on “Now and Then,” too. But the sound of John’s voice on the old tape was too muddy, with a hum and hiss that couldn’t be cleaned away. They put it aside.

Paul never forgot about it.

Many years later, the team behind the Get Back documentary created new technology that could separate one sound from another. For the first time, it could lift John’s voice cleanly off that old cassette. Paul said it came out “crystal clear.”

So, in 2022, Paul and Ringo went back into the studio. George, who passed away in 2001, is there too, through guitar parts he recorded in 1995.

The song was released in November 2023, and Peter Jackson made the music video. It mixes the young Beatles with Paul and Ringo today, and it’s full of sweet, funny moments from over the years.

“It was the closest we’ll ever come to having him back in the room,” Ringo said.

“My God, how lucky was I to have those men in my life?” Paul added.

When John and Paul sing “Now and then, I miss you,” it’s hard not to feel the same way.

Do you remember the first time you heard the Beatles? Share this with a friend who loves them too.