In the late 1970s, John Lennon first started writing the song “Now and Then.” While he recorded a demo of it in 1977, the song was still unfinished lyrically. And it would remain incomplete at the time of Lennon’s death in 1980. When the remaining members of the Beatles were creating the multimedia project The Beatles Anthology in 1995, they initially made attempts on the song to finish it. But these efforts were abandoned and the song was left to languish for almost thirty years.

But then, on October 26, it was announced on the official website and social medias for the Beatles that the completed “Now and Then” would be one of the songs to be released on a double A-side single alongside a new stereo mix of the first ever song made by the Beatles, “Love Me Do.”

This new version of “Now and Then” was only made possible with new audio isolation software created by Peter Jackson for The Beatles: Get Back documentary that allowed for producers Giles Martin and Paul McCartney to take Lennon’s voice from the original recording and splice it into this new recording. McCartney and fellow surviving bandmate, Ringo Starr, adding in their own vocals to flesh out the song, with additional lyrics by McCartney. George Harrison’s guitar work from the 1995 sessions were also added to the mix, allowing for all four of the Beatles to be involved in the project.

I just so happened to stumble across this song while going through YouTube. It shocked and excited me immensely. The Beatles were majorly influential in the development of rock music and have been a great source of inspiration for countless modern audiences. Even now, they are still one of the most respected and beloved bands in history. So it was incredible to see this song come out and I had to listen to it.

“Now and Then” is a soft, melancholic ballad that sweeps you back in time to the 1970s. The psychedelic sound is refined and relaxing and it is wonderful to hear Lennon and McCartney’s vocals together again after all these years. Their voices truly made the Beatles iconic long ago and they still do today in this new song. The song recalls the feeling of wanting a lost love to be there for you and it really speaks to the idea of how we have lost two great people in Lennon and Harrison. It is as if “Now and Then” is trying to reach out to them from beyond the grave and show how much people still care about them.

The official music video features some of the behind-the-scenes production and recording of the song with archival footage of both Lennon and Harrison edited in so that it looks like the band is all together recording the song. It is bittersweet, just like the song, as even though modern technology was able to make this song possible, it is a shame that these men aren’t able to do it together in person. But such a wonderful tribute to Lennon and Harrison and their career as a part of the Beatles.

I am amazed that this song was able to be revived and polished up so that it could be heard by the world. Just hearing about the troubled history of it, one would think that it would remain just a demo and be stuck in a sort of development hell. But people were able to pull through and thanks to their love and hard work, we are able to have one final song to serve as a bow on the incredible discography of the Beatles.