The Beatles’ last song: Fans break down listening to Now and Then

The Beatles pictured in 1967. Photo / Getty Images

Fans of the Beatles got emotional today listening to the iconic band’s “masterpiece” last song Now And Then, sung by John Lennon, for the first time.

It comes 43 years after Lennon’s death and more than 20 since George Harrison’s - but the group have come together one last time with the help of AI, masterminded by New Zealand’s own Sir Peter Jackson.

Written and sung by Lennon in 1977, the song features guitar played by Harrison in 1995, with Sir Paul McCartney on bass and Sir Ringo Starr on drums.

McCartney said finishing the song felt like the foursome were together again.

He said today: “To still be working on Beatles music in 2023. Wow. It’s probably the last Beatles song, and we have all played on it so it is a genuine Beatles recording.

“Every time I thought, say I had a chance to ask John: ‘Hey John, would you like us to finish this last song of yours?’ I’m telling you, I know the answer would have been: ‘Yeah’.”

Now And Then has already delighted millions of Beatles fans, who gathered for listening parties all over the world. Liam Gallagher described the song on X as “absolutely incredible biblical celestial heartbreaking and heartwarming”.

Now n Then absolutely incredible biblical celestial heartbreaking and heartwarming all at the same time long live The Beatles LG x

— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) November 2, 2023

The first people to hear it in the UK were BBC Radio 2 listeners, who said they wept as the song played live.

The Daily Mail reports Gemma from Nottingham said she “got the shivers when I heard the one, two at the beginning of the track. That was amazing. I’m actually feeling a little bit emotional now”.

Another gushed, “I’m in tears listening to the new Beatles track. Let’s hope we have the Fab Four for Christmas number one.”

Another fan revealed that despite only being in their 30s, The Beatles were a massive part of my childhood”.

“Now this new song. I’m in tears, it sounds so haunting yet so beautiful.”

AI has enabled the release of a "new" Beatles song "Now And Then". Photo / AP

Students in the UK were played the song in class today, those at Glasgow’s Lourdes Secondary School stopping their work to hear it and clapping once it was finished.

British broadcaster Lauren Laverne said she “cried like a baby” after hearing the song for the first time.

“It’s global treasure, isn’t it? I couldn’t get over the resonance of the title: to have this final track that’s arrived out of the mists of time, which takes us back to the beginning of this amazing story – this story that’s become part of our national character,” she said.

The “new” song is based on lyrics sung by John Lennon and recorded on a cassette before he died.

He recorded the incomplete track in 1977 as a demo at his New York City home.

The tape was addressed, “For Paul”, and was handed over to the rest of the band by Yoko Ono in 1994. The tape also included the tracks Real Love and Free As A Bird.

George Harrison, who died in 2001, recorded guitar for the songs in 1995 and 1996.

However, the song was initially put on the back burner in hopes that it could be revived one day. Lennon’s vocals could not be separated from the piano track on the original tape, which made his voice difficult to hear.

But throughout 2022 and 2023, McCartney finished recording the bass parts, and Starr the drums, with Jackson using special audio restoration technology that permitted Lennon’s original vocals to be used undistorted.

Giles Martin, son of the late Beatles producer George Martin, helped write a string arrangement for the song.