To borrow a title from the band itself, The Beatles are saying 鈥淗ello, Goodbye鈥� with the release of a new single.
鈥淣ow and Then鈥� is the stitched together from across the decades. It is being touted by the group as its final release.
John Lennon鈥檚 vocal and piano contribution was first recorded in the 1970s; George Harrison added guitar in the mid-1990s. The surviving members of the band, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney, added their respective contributions of drums, bass and vocals over the last year or so.
The result is a deeply moving coda to one of the all-time greatest pop music catalogs in recorded history, a gentle, simple conclusion to a career spanning more than half a century.
The song was originally dusted off as part of the Anthology efforts in 1995 and 1996, when the then-reunited Beatles released the group鈥檚 first new music in more than 25 years, 鈥淔ree as a Bird鈥� and 鈥淩eal Love.鈥� 鈥淣ow and Then鈥� was meant to be released as part of that retrospective project, but technological limitations at the time led the remaining members to shelve it.
With the release of director Peter Jackson鈥檚 astounding The Beatles: Get Back documentary project in 2021, and its deployment of cutting-edge audio restoration technology, McCartney and Starr felt it was finally feasible to complete 鈥淣ow and Then.鈥�
鈥淭here it was, John鈥檚 voice, crystal clear,鈥� McCartney said in a statement. 鈥淚t鈥檚 quite emotional. And we all play on it; it鈥檚 a genuine Beatles recording. In 2023 to still be working on Beatles music, and [releasing] a new song the public haven鈥檛 heard, I think it鈥檚 an exciting thing.鈥�
The band has also released a short documentary about the song, which features on the , freshly re-issued on vinyl and inclusive of 鈥淣ow and Then.鈥�
四虎影院 TV will broadcast "Now and Then: The Last Beatles Song" at 8 p.m. on Thursday Nov. 16.
Preston Jones is a North Texas freelance writer and regular contributor to KXT. Email him at preston@kxt.org or find him on X ().
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