The Beatles Release New Music in 2023

Fifteen years after John Lennon’s death in 1980, the remaining members of The Beatles began to work on arranging the last song that Lennon wrote, “Now and Then.” Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison tried their best to include Lennon’s vocals, but because of the inferior technology of the tapes, they were unsuccessful. 

However, fifteen years after their first attempt, they made the decision to try once more to recover Lennon’s “Now and Then.” New technologies that were developed around this time inspired them. During the filming of Peter Jackson’s HBO documentary, The Beatles: Get Back, the production crew made advancements in restorative technology. 

They not only restored and colorized the footage, but they also artificially rendered it all in 3D. The crew believed this would immerse the audience heavily into the past. They also discovered a way to uncouple vocal and piano tracks, and they shared this technology with The Beatles and their producers. 

Finally, on November 2, 2023, the song “Now and Then” was released, with musical contributions from all four of The Beatles. The music video can be watched here. It includes footage from Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr working on the song in recent years. The video is also spliced with green screened footage of young John Lennon and George Harrison dancing along to the current version of the song. 

“Now and Then” features classic Lennon songwriting, with lines like “I know it’s true / It’s all because of you.” The deceased musician was missed for his iconic ability to turn ordinary words into stories that are still open to interpretation by listeners. A universal quality to his words grounds his songs, regardless of how simple his rhymes schemes may be. If anything, his simplicity is what sets Lennon’s voice as a writer apart from his peers in The Beatles.