The Last Beatles Song: ‘Now and Then’ Is the Fab Four’s Final Farewell

The last Beatles song. Sixty years after their debut single, “Love Me Do,” there’s a new closing chapter to the world’s most beloved group. On Thursday, Nov. 2, the Beatles will drop their final song, “Now and Then.” John Lennon wrote it and sang it at the piano, at home in 1977. George Harrison played his guitar parts in 1995, when the three surviving Beatles attempted it at the Anthology sessions. Now, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have finished their friends’ work — a labor of love that seems to sum up the Beatles’ whole long and winding story. John, Paul, George, and Ringo chime in from different decades, yet they’re all playing the same tune, for one last all-together-now moment. 

“Now and Then” will be the final track on the new edition of the Beatles’ legendary anthologies, 1962-1966 and 1967-1970, forever known as the Red and Blue albums. These are pop’s most iconic greatest-hits collections — the map that guided decades of fans into the music. As producer Giles Martin tells Rolling Stone, “They were my gateway into the Beatles.”

The Red and Blue albums drop on Nov. 10, a week after “Now and Then.” (You can preorder the “Now and Then”/“Love Me Do” double A-side single here, and the Red and Blue albums here.) They’ve been expanded to 75 tracks — finally, now we get George songs on the Red Album, with “Taxman” and “If I Needed Someone.” The new editions will start plenty of arguments, as these collections have always done. (“You Really Got a Hold on Me” and “Tomorrow Never Knows” on the Red Album! “Blackbird” and “Hey Bulldog” on the Blue Album!) The anthologies turned 50 this spring, after hooking in new fans since 1973. But the new Red and Blue albums can take their rightful place as the definitive Beatles collections.

First things first: “Now and Then” is a real Beatles song. Hearing John and Paul sing the first chorus together, as they lock into the line “Now and then I miss you” — it’s intensely powerful, to say the least. Their voices join for a soulful confession of adult yearning, over George’s guitar, while Ringo plays the drums. Never maudlin, but deeply touching, like the Get Back movie. Despite the AI hysteria, there’s nothing faked, added, or changed in John’s vocal — just the clear sound of what he sang that day, at his piano in the Dakota. As Ringo says, “It was the closest we’ll ever come to having him back in the room.”

“Now and Then” hits much harder emotionally than the 1990s Anthology singles “Free As a Bird” or “Real Love,” which always sounded like spruced-up demos. Those two songs were footnotes to the Anthology documentary, produced by Jeff Lynne, refurbished by Paul, George, and Ringo. John sounded murky and faint, which was part of the pathos — you were just hearing a dim echo of his voice.

“Now and Then” comes from the same home cassette, which Yoko Ono gave to Paul, George, and Ringo after John’s death. But it’s a stronger song — and thanks to the latest audio technology, it’s possible to hear far more of John’s voice and piano. Peter Jackson’s sound team uses the “de-mixing” process from Get Back and last year’s Revolver box. The team, led by Emile de la Rey, uses WingNut Films MAL audio technology to isolate the vocal, the same way you can hear the Paul-John cafeteria conversation in Get Back, via a microphone hidden in a flowerpot.

“Now and Then” will drop worldwide on Nov. 2 at 2 p.m. GMT (10 a.m. EST). Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol/UMe are also releasing it as a physical single on vinyl and cassette, as a double A side with the band’s 1962 debut single, “Love Me Do.” (Yes, the version with Ringo on drums.) The acclaimed artist Ed Ruscha did the cover. The single brings the band’s story full circle, across 60 years, from nervous teenagers to weathered sages. Peter Jackson directed the video, a technical tour de force that debuts the next day, on Friday, Nov. 3. It’s the epic director’s first music video —probably the shortest thing he’s ever done. 

A 12-minute film introducing the song debuts on Nov. 1, at 7:30 p.m. GMT (3:30 p.m. EST) written and directed by Oliver Murray. Now and Then — The Last Beatles Song is a perfect way to experience the tune for the first time — it tells how the song came to be, with Sean Ono Lennon, Paul, Ringo, and Jackson telling the story, from John’s piano (Sean stresses that his dad never stopped playing music in their home) to Paul and Ringo cutting their parts in 2023. The trailer is available to see now.

George recorded his guitar part in 1995, when the surviving “Threatles” had a bash at “Now and Then,” then left it unfinished. But Paul adds a new slide-guitar solo that’s “in George’s style,” as he explains in the film. “My tribute to George.” 

Teasing the song last summer, Paul mentioned AI, setting off “bigger than Jesus” levels of controversy. As Martin says with a laugh, “It was funny, Paul — I think regrettably to a certain extent — announcing we were working on an AI Beatles track. There’s nothing about us which is either artificial or intelligent, really.”

Paul and Ringo began the project to finish the song their two mates left behind, with the full approval of Sean Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison. “It was certainly important to Paul that it sounds like a Beatles song,” Martin says. “You don’t want it to be some sort of novelty Beatles tribute record. There was no need, from my point of view anyway, for any sort of modernization. Ringo should be Ringo and he should be playing the drums, and that’s what Ringo does. He plays the drums without a click track and sounds like Ringo, and there’s no one better.”

Martin did a string arrangement, as his father George Martin did for so many Fabs classics. “I was basically ripping off my dad as much as possible,” Martin says. “But listen, if I can’t rip off my dad in a string arrangement for a Beatles record, when can I do it?” 

“Now and Then” is produced by Paul and Martin, mixed by Spike Stent. It’s Macca’s first official Beatles production credit. “Paul arranged it completely,” Martin says. “But when Paul gave it to me, he’d changed the song structure and written the song, and done the guitar solo and pretty much done the vocals and guitars, and I just basically added some extra bits along with him.”

As a beautifully intricate detail, Paul and Giles mixed in backing vocals from three original Beatles classics. “I just thought if the Beatles were around, they’d probably sing harmonies at a certain point in the song,” Martin says. “And if there were backing vocals, it was important to have all the Beatles on it. So it’s taking just small elements from ‘Eleanor Rigby,’ ‘Here, There and Everywhere,’ and a bit of ‘Because.’ Obviously it wouldn’t be as good as the Beatles singing it live — but it is them singing live in the studio. That was important. There’s only four Beatles, and you might as well have them on a Beatles record.” 

But nothing gets in the way of the song’s primal impact. “Obviously, it hasn’t been, but it sounds like John’s written it for Paul now, in a very emotional way,” Martin says. “It’s a bittersweet song, which is very John. But with a combination of happiness and regret. It’s like ‘In My Life’ in that respect.” 

“Now and Then” is the finale for the new and improved Red and Blue albums in the 2023 edition. “Love Me Do,” of course, kicks it all off, the British-single version (less familiar to U.S. fans). The Red (1962-1966) has 12 new songs; the Blue (1967-1970) has nine new ones, including “Now and Then.” The 180-gram six-LP vinyl edition will have a different package from the four-CD version — the LP sides will replicate the original running order exactly, since they’re eight of the most-perfect album sides ever devised. The newly added songs will be a bonus third vinyl LP. On CD and streaming, the new songs will be added chronologically. All 75 songs are mixed in stereo and Dolby Atmos by Martin and Sam Okell at Abbey Road Studios. 

The new versions fix the holes in the originals — mostly adding George songs, cover versions, and Revolver tracks. Red now includes: “I Saw Her Standing There,” “Twist and Shout,” “This Boy,” “Roll Over Beethoven,” “You Really Got a Hold on Me,” “You Can’t Do That,” “If I Needed Someone,” “Got to Get You Into My Life,” “I’m Only Sleeping,” “Taxman,” “Here, There and Everywhere,” and “Tomorrow Never Knows.” Blue now has: “Within You Without You,” “Blackbird,” “Dear Prudence,” “Glass Onion,” “Hey Bulldog,” “Oh! Darling,” “I Me Mine,” and “I Want You (She’s So Heavy).” Yes, “Old Brown Shoe” is still on the Blue Album, and the reasoning behind that decision remains a secret that Eleanor Rigby took to her grave.

Ever since the 2017 Special Edition of Sgt. Pepper’s, which kicked off the revolutionary reissue series, many of the Red and Blue tracks have been mixed, including the ones from the White Album (2018), Abbey Road (2019), Let It Be (2021), and Revolver (2022), plus the remixed tracks from the 2015 1 comp reissue. The remaining tracks have been been newly mixed by Martin and Okell, using the “de-mixing” technology of Jackson and his WingNut Films audio team. If you heard what this technology did for Revolver — giving every last drum on Ringo’s kit the room to go boom — you have a rough idea of how revelatory it is to hear these songs get de-mixed. “Drive My Car,” “Day Tripper,” “Twist and Shout,” and “You Can’t Do That” have never thundered like this before. As Martin admits, “I never thought it would happen.” 

He’s said for years that the raw primitive early recordings were too technically limited to thrive with this kind of mix. But even he admits surprise. “I’m not really one for hyperbole, as you know,” he says. “Technically, on the early tracks, it’s completely mind-blowing to me how we made them sound. I didn’t think it was possible for us to do that to the early tracks. As I’ve told you, I didn’t think that we could do the work we’ve done on things like ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ or ‘All My Loving’ or ‘Twist and Shout.’ The power of Ringo’s drumming, for example, on those early tracks, it’s been unearthed. But the playing is just really good. That’s joy.”

As Martin notes, the late Beatles do better on streaming services — especially Abbey Road, with its solid-state sound. “You look at the most-streamed Beatles records, and it’s mostly late stuff,” Martin says. “Abbey Road is their most successful album as far as that goes. The songs just sound more modern, on a purely sonic level.” A goal of this project was to give the early recordings the same clarity and punch. “I think with the early Red Album now, we’re getting close to that, and it changes the dynamic of how they’re perceived. It’s like, as Ringo says, ‘We’re just a bunch of punks.’ And now they really sound like a bunch of punks! This is four guys in a room making a racket, which is what those early records were.”

The main flaw with the old-school Red and Blue was the lack of “Harrisongs,” so it’s gratifying to finally see more George in the mix. “I think that was Allen Klein,” Martin says. “But now, everyone has to realize, these decisions are made by the Beatles. The pool of decision-making is surprisingly small. It’s not a huge committee — it’s not like it gets taken to the board. What’s quite nice is that despite what people think, people are genuinely looking after each other in the case of the Beatles. And so if it was felt that George was wronged on the original track listing, then Paul and Sean and Ringo would make damn sure it’s made right. Which is great.”

“I Am the Walrus” is the mix that will start the most arguments — the new mix seems to lose some of the Shakespearean voices at the end, taken from a BBC radio production of King Lear. We still hear Edmund’s voice (“I know thee well, a serviceable villain”), but not as much of Oswald. (“Bury my body!”) “‘I Am the Walrus’ was so deliberately screwed up in its creation,” Martin says. “The biggest issue on ‘I Am the Walrus’ is that the stereo in the second half is basically an artificial double-tracked mono, just a mono that goes through an ADT machine. So you’re having to ADT a bunch of separate stuff and stick it all back together again.”

The Blue Album always closed with “The Long and Winding Road,” chosen by Klein as the band’s final single. When the original Red and Blue compilations dropped in April 1973, Klein selected the track list, a fact that would have horrified the millions of fans who loved these records while loathing Klein. But at the time, all four Beatles were too busy to get involved — they’d already moved on to topping the charts as solo artists. All four would have been shocked at the idea that the Fabs would be far more famous and beloved 50 years later. 

“The Long and Winding Road,” great as it is, always felt like an underwhelming finale at the end of Blue Side Four. It sounded like the compromised mess it was, with Phil Spector’s slurpy strings and harp, and that godawful choir, slopped on Paul’s vocal behind his back. (Then there’s John’s bass playing — you can hear Paul try not to crack up at one of his mate’s blown notes.) It was audibly the work of a band falling apart at the final curtain. But it’s fitting the Blue Album now ends with a very different long-distance collaboration — one that climaxes the story with a very different good-night. 

“Now and Then” is the four lads from Liverpool, now separated by death, 60 years on from the skittish boys who start Red Side One with “Love Me Do,” their voices full of terror. Everything has changed in 2023 — but not the most important thing, which is that fierce, unkillably enthusiastic passion for their musical bond. It’s a tribute to a friendship where Paul and Ringo go the extra mile to finish a song left undone decades ago, simply out of loyalty and fellowship. It’s a tribute to their mad love for the song — and for one another. There’s no story anywhere else in music quite like “Now and Then.” It’s a poignant farewell, to be sure. (The final scene of Jackson’s video will wipe you out for real — be prepared when you watch.) But it’s a final tribute that sums up the whole story of why this music matters — and why this music is more beloved now than ever. It’s the Beatles’ final song — now and then and forever. 

VINYL TRACK LISTS

1962-1970: THE RED AND BLUE ALBUMS SIX-LP VINYL BOX SET (Red: LPs 1-3; Blue: LPs 4-6)

(Stereo Red three-LP vinyl and Blue three-LP vinyl: same tracks for each as listed below)

LP 1 (Red)

Side A:

1. “Love Me Do” (new mix of original Red version) 

2. “Please Please Me” (new mix of single version)

3. “From Me to You” (new mix of single version)

4. “She Loves You” (new mix of single version)

5. “I Want to Hold Your Hand” (new mix)

6. “All My Loving” (new mix of With the Beatles version)

7. “Can’t Buy Me Love” (new mix of A Hard Day’s Night version)

Side B:

1. “A Hard Day’s Night” (new mix of A Hard Day’s Night version)

2. “And I Love Her” (new mix of A Hard Day’s Night version)

3. “Eight Days a Week” (new mix of Beatles for Sale version) 

4. “I Feel Fine” (new mix of single version)

5. “Ticket to Ride” (new mix of single version)

6. “Yesterday” (new mix of Help! version)

LP 2 (Red)

Side A:

1. “Help!” (new mix of single version)

2. “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” (new mix of Help! version)

3. “We Can Work It Out” (2015 mix from 1)

4. “Day Tripper” (2015 mix from 1)

5. “Drive My Car” (new mix of Rubber Soul version)

6. “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” (new mix of Rubber Soul version)

Side B:

1. “Nowhere Man” (new mix of Rubber Soul version)

2. “Michelle” (new mix of Rubber Soul version)

3. “In My Life” (new mix of Rubber Soul version)

4. “Girl” (new mix of Rubber Soul version)

5. “Paperback Writer” (2022 mix from Revolver Special Edition) 

6. “Eleanor Rigby” (2022 mix from Revolver Special Edition) 

7. “Yellow Submarine” (2022 mix from Revolver Special Edition)

LP 3 (Bonus Red LP)

Side A:

1. “I Saw Her Standing There” (new mix of Please Please Me version)

2. “Twist and Shout” (new mix)

3. “This Boy” (new mix)

4. “Roll Over Beethoven” (new mix of With the Beatles version)

5. “You Really Got a Hold on Me” (new mix of With the Beatles version)

6. “You Can’t Do That” (new mix of A Hard Day’s Night version)

Side B: 

1. “If I Needed Someone” (new mix of Rubber Soul version)

2. “Got to Get You Into My Life” (2022 mix from Revolver Special Edition)

3. “I’m Only Sleeping” (2022 mix from Revolver Special Edition)

4. “Taxman” (2022 mix from Revolver Special Edition)

5. “Here, There and Everywhere”(2022 mix from Revolver Special Edition)

6. “Tomorrow Never Knows” (2022 mix from Revolver Special Edition)

LP 4 (Blue)

Side A:

1. “Strawberry Fields Forever”(2017 mix)

2. “Penny Lane” (2017 mix)

3. “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” (2017 mix from Sgt. Pepper’s Anniversary Edition)

4. “With a Little Help From My Friends” (2017 mix from Sgt. Pepper’s Anniversary Edition)

5. “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” (2017 mix from Sgt. Pepper’s Anniversary Edition)

6. “A Day in the Life” (new edit with a clean start: 2017 mix from Sgt. Pepper’s Anniversary Edition)

7. “All You Need Is Love” (2015 mix from 1)

Side B:

1. “I Am the Walrus” (new mix of Magical Mystery Tour version)

2. “Hello, Goodbye” (2015 mix from 1)

3. “The Fool on the Hill” (new mix of Magical Mystery Tour version)

4. “Magical Mystery Tour” (new mix of Magical Mystery Tour version)

5. “Lady Madonna” (new mix)

6. “Hey Jude” (2015 mix from 1)

7. “Revolution” (new mix of single version)

LP 5 (Blue)

Side A:

1. “Back in the U.S.S.R.” (2018 mix from The Beatles (White Album) Anniversary Edition) 

2. “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” (2018 mix from The Beatles (White Album) Anniversary Edition)

3. “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” (2018 mix from The Beatles (White Album) Anniversary Edition)

4. “Get Back” (2015 mix of single version from 1)

5. “Don’t Let Me Down” (2021 mix of single version from Let It Be Special Edition) 

6. “The Ballad of John and Yoko” (new mix of single version)

7. “Old Brown Shoe” (new mix of single version)

Side B:

1. “Here Comes the Sun” (2019 mix from Abbey Road Anniversary Edition) 

2. “Come Together” (2019 mix from Abbey Road Anniversary Edition) 

3. “Something” (2019 mix from Abbey Road Anniversary Edition) 

4. “Octopus’s Garden” (2019 mix from Abbey Road Anniversary Edition) 

5. “Let It Be” (2021 mix of single version from Let It Be Special Edition)  

6. “Across the Universe” (2021 mix from Let It Be Special Edition)

7. “The Long and Winding Road” (2021 mix from Let It Be Special Edition)

LP 6 (Bonus Blue LP)

Side A:

1. “Now and Then” (new mix)

2. “Blackbird” (2018 mix from The Beatles (White Album) Anniversary Edition)

3. “Dear Prudence” (2018 mix from The Beatles (White Album) Anniversary Edition)

4. “Glass Onion” (2018 mix from The Beatles (White Album) Anniversary Edition)

5. “Within You Without You” (2017 mix from Sgt. Pepper’s Anniversary Edition)

Side B:

1. “Hey Bulldog” (new mix)

2. “Oh! Darling” (2019 mix from Abbey Road Anniversary Edition) 

3. “I Me Mine” (2021 mix from Let It Be Special Edition)

4. “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” (2019 mix from Abbey Road Anniversary Edition) 

CD and DIGITAL/STREAMING TRACK LISTS

RED (1962-1966) Anniversary Edition

(Two-CD stereo; digital and streaming: stereo and Dolby Atmos)

CD 1

1. “Love Me Do” (new mix of original Red version) 

2. “Please Please Me” (new mix of single version)

3. “I Saw Her Standing There” (new mix of Please Please Me version)

4. “Twist and Shout” (new mix)

5. “From Me to You” (new mix of single version) 

6. “She Loves You” (new mix of single version)

7. “I Want to Hold Your Hand” (new mix)

8. “This Boy” (new mix)

9. “All My Loving” (new mix of With the Beatles version)

10. “Roll Over Beethoven” (new mix of With the Beatles version)

11. “You Really Got a Hold on Me” (new mix of With the Beatles version)

12. “Can’t Buy Me Love” (new mix of A Hard Day’s Night version)

13. “You Can’t Do That” (new mix of A Hard Day’s Night version)

14. “A Hard Day’s Night” (new mix of A Hard Day’s Night version)

15. “And I Love Her” (new mix of A Hard Day’s Night version)

16. “Eight Days a Week” (new mix of Beatles for Sale version)

17. “I Feel Fine” (new mix of single version)

18. “Ticket to Ride” (new mix of single version)

19. “Yesterday” (new mix of Help! version)

CD 2

1. “Help!” (new mix of single version)

2. “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” (new mix of Help! version)

3. “We Can Work It Out” (2015 stereo mix from 1 ; new Dolby Atmos mix for digital/streaming)

4. “Day Tripper” (2015 stereo mix from 1 ; new Dolby Atmos mix for digital/streaming)

5. “Drive My Car” (new mix of Rubber Soul version)

6. “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” (new mix of Rubber Soul version)

7. “Nowhere Man” (new mix of Rubber Soul version)

8. “Michelle” (new mix of Rubber Soul version)

9. “In My Life” (new mix of Rubber Soul version)

10. “If I Needed Someone” (new mix of Rubber Soul version)

11. “Girl” (new mix of Rubber Soul version)

12. “Paperback Writer” (2022 mix from Revolver Special Edition) 

13. “Eleanor Rigby” (2022 mix from Revolver Special Edition) 

14. “Yellow Submarine” (2022 mix from Revolver Special Edition)

15. “Taxman” (2022 mix from Revolver Special Edition)

16. “Got to Get You Into My Life” (2022 mix from Revolver Special Edition)

17. “I’m Only Sleeping” (2022 mix from Revolver Special Edition)

18. “Here, There and Everywhere” (2022 mix from Revolver Special Edition)

19. “Tomorrow Never Knows” (2022 mix from Revolver Special Edition)

BLUE (1967-1970) Anniversary Edition

(Two-CD stereo; digital and streaming: stereo and Dolby Atmos)

CD 1

1. “Strawberry Fields Forever” (2017 mix)

2. “Penny Lane” (2017 mix)

3. “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” (2017 mix from Sgt. Pepper’s Anniversary Edition)

4. “With a Little Help From My Friends” (2017 mix from Sgt. Pepper’s Anniversary Edition)

5. “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” (2017 mix from Sgt. Pepper Anniversary Edition)

6. “Within You Without You” (2017 mix from Sgt. Pepper’s Anniversary Edition)

7. “A Day in the Life” (new edit with a clean start: 2017 mix from Sgt. Pepper’s Anniversary Edition)

8. “All You Need Is Love” (2015 stereo mix from 1; new Dolby Atmos mix for digital/streaming)

9. “I Am the Walrus” (new mix of Magical Mystery Tour version)

10. “Hello, Goodbye” (2015 stereo mix from 1; new Dolby Atmos mix for digital/streaming)

11. “The Fool on the Hill” (new mix of Magical Mystery Tour version)

12. “Magical Mystery Tour” (new mix of Magical Mystery Tour version)

13. “Lady Madonna” (new mix)

14. “Hey Jude” (2015 stereo mix from 1; new Dolby Atmos mix for digital/streaming)

15. “Revolution” (new mix of single version)

CD 2

1. “Back in the U.S.S.R.” (2018 mix from The Beatles (White Album) Anniversary Edition) 

2. “Dear Prudence” (2018 mix from The Beatles (White Album) Anniversary Edition)

3. “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” (2018 mix from The Beatles (White Album) Anniversary Edition)

4. “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” (2018 mix from The Beatles (White Album) Anniversary Edition)

5. “Glass Onion” (2018 mix from The Beatles (White Album) Anniversary Edition)

6. “Blackbird” (2018 mix from The Beatles (White Album) Anniversary Edition)

7. “Hey Bulldog” (new mix)

8. “Get Back” (2015 stereo mix of single version from 1; new Dolby Atmos mix for digital/streaming)

9. “Don’t Let Me Down” (2021 mix of single version from Let It Be Special Edition) 

10. “The Ballad of John and Yoko” (new mix of single version)

11. “Old Brown Shoe” (new mix of single version)

12. “Here Comes the Sun” (2019 mix from Abbey Road Anniversary Edition) 

13. “Come Together” (2019 mix from Abbey Road Anniversary Edition) 

14. “Something” (2019 mix from Abbey Road Anniversary Edition) 

15. “Octopus’s Garden” (2019 mix from Abbey Road Anniversary Edition) 

16. “Oh! Darling” (2019 mix from Abbey Road Anniversary Edition) 

17. “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” (2019 mix from Abbey Road Anniversary Edition) 

18. “Let It Be” (2021 mix of single version from Let It Be Special Edition)  

19. “Across the Universe” (2021 mix from Let It Be Special Edition)

20. “I Me Mine” (2021 mix from Let It Be Special Edition)

21. “The Long and Winding Road” (2021 mix from Let It Be Special Edition)

22. “Now and Then” (new mix)

From Rolling Stone US.