One of the last musical pieces by the legendary The Beatles group has been resurrected with the help of Artificial Intelligence by the remaining Beatles, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr.
“Now and Then” was written way back in 1978 and only a demo version of the song has lived since. John Lennon wrote and produced the demo, and when George Harrison expressed his discontent with the song, it was scrapped.
Fast-forward to 2023, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr used AI to isolate John Lennon’s vocals from the demo and placed it over their own music track, so that all the Beatles had contributed to the newly released version in November 2023.
“Now and Then” demo was widely known as the last Beatles song and since its new release, it officially is the last recorded and released Beatles song.
Listen to “Now and Then” by The Beatles
The Beatles “Now and Then” Lyrics Meaning and Song Review
The lyrics to the song form two stories throughout. On the surface of it, the song seems to be talking about two lovers reminiscing about what they had versus what has come to transpire now.
The former lovers seem to hang on to what they had some time back. Through their lowest points in life, they had each other to fall into and even after they have gone their separate ways, they still know they can rely on what they had.
Should they rekindle their relationship, they would know for sure what they had was true. True love never dies–we just accept that it doesn’t work under specific circumstances.
Now and then
I miss you
The song could also be viewed as the remaining Beatles singing for their former band members. The Beatles shook the world at one point in music history and these ripples still echo to date. John Lennon was murdered in 1980 and George Harrison passed away from lung cancer in 2001. Sri Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are the only remaining Beatles today and are still musically active.
“Now and Then” marks a cornerstone in the journey of The Beatles, being the last song they were to record. It contains elements from the 70s when John Lennon wrote the song and music from today–a perfect mix of the Beatles now and then.
Let us hear what you think about this song in the comments below. Read the complete lyrics to the song on Genius.