On 2nd November 2023, The Beatles released a new song. Not an archival recording, not a remix, not a reissue — a new Beatles song, with all four members, released 53 years after the band broke up. "Now & Then" is the most emotionally significant thing The Beatles have released since Anthology, and for many fans, it is the most moving moment in the band's entire story.
This is how it happened.
The Origin: A Cassette from John
In the mid-1990s, Yoko Ono gave Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr a cassette tape recorded by John Lennon at his Dakota apartment in New York, sometime in the late 1970s. On it were several rough home recordings — song sketches, ideas, fragments. One of them was called "Now & Then".
The surviving Beatles attempted to work on the recordings during the Anthology sessions in 1994–95. They completed "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love" — but "Now & Then" defeated them. The technology of the time couldn't cleanly separate John's voice from the piano accompaniment on the cassette. George Harrison reportedly had reservations about the song. It was set aside.
It stayed set aside for nearly 30 years. To understand the full arc of John Lennon's post-Beatles life — the New York years, the Dakota, the cassette recordings — read: John Lennon: From Beatle to New Yorker →
The Technology That Changed Everything
The breakthrough came through Peter Jackson's work on the Get Back documentary (2021). To restore the 1969 Let It Be footage, Jackson's team at WingNut Films developed a form of machine learning audio restoration — a system capable of isolating individual sounds from a mixed recording with extraordinary precision.
When Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr heard what this technology could do to John's cassette recording, the decision was immediate. "Now & Then" could finally be finished.
John's voice was extracted cleanly from the tape. Paul and Ringo recorded new parts. George Harrison's guitar, recorded during the 1990s Anthology sessions, was retrieved and incorporated. Giles Martin — son of George Martin, who had produced the original Anthology tracks — oversaw the production, adding strings arranged in the style his father might have used.
The result was released on 2nd November 2023, accompanied by a short film directed by Oliver Murray.
The Song Itself
"Now & Then" is a love song — tender, aching, and unmistakably Lennon. The lyrics speak of missing someone, of time passing, of love that endures. In the context of its creation — John writing alone in New York, Paul and Ringo completing it half a century later, George's guitar woven in from across the years — the song becomes something almost unbearably poignant.
It entered the UK Singles Chart at number one, making The Beatles the first act in history to have number one singles in seven consecutive decades: the 1960s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s.
For many fans who had grown up with The Beatles, who had lived their entire lives with this music, hearing a new Beatles song in 2023 was an experience unlike anything else. Something that felt impossible had happened. The four of them were together again, one last time.
The Now & Then T-Shirt
Our officially licensed Now & Then T-Shirt commemorates The Beatles' final song on a premium black tee with back print. For fans who were there when it happened — who heard it for the first time and felt something shift — this is a piece of wearable history. A reminder that The Beatles, even now, can still surprise us.
Further Reading
Explore more of the Now & Then story in our On This Day archive:
- The Beatles Record 'Now And Then' — Anthology Sessions, 21 March 1995
- The Beatles Now And Then Recording 2022 — Capitol Studios, Los Angeles
Read More: Life After The Beatles
- John Lennon: From Beatle to New Yorker →
- Paul McCartney & Wings: The Comeback That Conquered the World →
- George Harrison: The Quiet Beatle's Solo Legacy →
- Ringo Starr: The Drummer, the Actor, the Peace & Love Ambassador →
Shop all officially licensed Beatles merchandise at Beatles Fabdom.
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