John Paul George Ringo-The Beatles Last Song (One Year Later)
The Beatles released “one last song,” a Soft Rock ballad written by John Lennon titled “Now and Then.”
The single B-side was a new mix of the band’s first single, 1962’s “Love Me Do,” with the two serving as bookends to the band’s history.
Now And Then By The Remaining Beatles
Now and Then took place over five decades and is the product of conversations and collaborations between the four Beatles that go on to this day. The John Lennon demo was first worked on in February 1995 by Paul, George, and Ringo as part of The Beatles Anthology project. Still, it remained unfinished, partly because of the impossible technological challenges involved in working with the vocal John had recorded on tape in the 1970s. For years it looked like the song could never be completed.
The surviving Beatles, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison, attempted to complete it in 1995, but the trio abandoned their efforts because Harrison thought it was “f**king rubbish.”
But in 2022, there was a stroke of luck. A software system developed by Peter Jackson and his team, which was used throughout the production of the documentary series Get Back, finally opened the way for the uncoupling of John’s vocals from his piano part. As a result, the original recording could be brought to life and worked on anew with contributions from all four Beatles.
It marks the completion of the last recording that John, Paul, George, and Ringo will get to make together and celebrates the legacy of the foremost and most influential band in popular music history unless some rare tapes are found lying around in some attic somewhere someday.
Beatles Fans Finally Get The Release
In the summer of 2023, AI-backed audio restoration technology allowed McCartney to add some new verses. Starr laid down a drum track, and archival recordings of Harrison’s guitar work were added to finalize the project.
How Did The Beatles New/Old Singles Do On The Charts?
The Beatles’ new single, “Now and Then,” debuted at number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking their 35th top-10 hit and extending their record for most top-10s among groups; it also reached number one, signifying that the boys still had it after a long absence.
11 million streams, 2.1 million in radio reach, and 73,000 physical and digital singles in its first full week.
The feeling was a strange happiness that here it was, 2023, and there was a New Beatles song on the radio. The fun part was looking at the Billboard singles charts to see artists like Taylor Swift, Drake, Jelly Roll, and then this band called the Beatles racing up the charts.