Few musical acts can stand shoulder to shoulder with The Beatles. As the act with the most No. 1 singles in Billboard Hot 100 history (20), the iconic quartet’s sprawling catalog continues to serve as a soundtrack for each new generation. On Thursday (Nov. 2), 60 years after the release of their debut studio album, Please Please Me, the music legends have unveiled their final song: “Now and Then.”
The highly anticipated final Beatles song has been teased for quite some time. In June, Sir Paul McCartney explained how AI would be used to complete the song. “Can’t say too much at this stage but to be clear, nothing has been artificially or synthetically created,” the 18-time Grammy-winner wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “It’s all real and we all play on it. We cleaned up some existing recordings – a process which has gone on for years.”
The “Say Say Say” hitmaker wrote the message to clarify his comments from a June 13 interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today, in which he explained that AI would be used to separate vocal tracks from background noise and instruments and “extricate” late bandmate John Lennon‘s vocals from an old recording for use on the final master of “Now And Then.”
A lovelorn guitar-centric rock ballad, “Now And Then” was originally written and recorded by Lennon around 1977 as a solo piano track. After his death in 1980, the unfinished demo floated in limbo — at times being considered as a Beatles reunion single — and was ultimately shelved for almost three decades. Now, the song will find a home on the expanded reissue of 1973’s 1967-1970 compilation — currently slated for a Nov. 10 release — and have the distinction of being the final Beatles song.
Academy Award-winning The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King director Peter Jackson will make his music video directorial debut when the official visual for “Now And Then” arrives on Nov. 3.
Listen to “Now And Then,” the final Beatles song, below.