The Beatles Break Spotify (and Everything Else) with "Now And Then"

To paraphrase Paul McCartney, circa 1968: "What do you mean? It was great, it sold. It’s the bloody Beatles White Album, shut up!"

A tentatively rendered patchwork of words and piano, composed and sung by John Lennon in 1977 has become in 2023 a retro-futuristic ethereal work of love that may finally be 'The Last Beatles Song.'

Does the song come close to measuring up as a 'true' Beatles classic or an unforgettable piece to add to their towering legacy? In some ways, it's an unfair comparison. The song originated from Lennon at a time when he hadn't completely abandoned music, despite the narrative produced during interviews in 1980 that he had focused on raising Sean and baking bread. But the impetus to create, freed from the pressures of the music industry breathing down his neck, certainly seems to be part of the motivation to begin exploring those avenues again.

In the documentary Now and Then — The Last Beatles Song, Sean Lennon explains "There's this impression that my dad stopped doing music for a while to raise me, which I think is partially true in terms of him not touring. But he was always playing music around the house. He was always making demos and I do remember him recording into these tape cassette recorders."

In 2022, McCartney, Starr, co-producer Giles Martin, Peter Jackson and Jackson's head of machine learning Emile de la Rey finished the song, leaving only Lennon's original vocal and Harrison's 1994 guitar track. Thus, this "new" Beatles song was recorded in three separate segments, across 45-odd years.

Opening "Now and Then" with a McCartney countdown, followed by a plaintive Lennon vocal and piano, Starr's drums and McCartney's bassline come in quickly and build with strings and backing vocals. A Harrison-inspired slide guitar solo (played by McCartney) deepens the track and bridges areas where Lennon's original vocal was weak. It's safe to say that with all this and the bonus of 2023 technology, it's on point with "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love."

The counterpoint is the B-side "Love Me Do," the band's first single. Viewed today, it's either a pleasant curio of a bygone era to the uninitiated or a landmark breakthrough in music history. In the Beatles canon, this simplistic and straightforward tune is ground zero for everything that came after. Including "Now and Then."

"Now and Then/Love Me Do" is available to stream/download on applicable services. Several physical variants, including vinyl, cassette and CD single are available to pre-order at the Beatles website.