The Beatles, an English rock band formed in 1960 in Liverpool, consisted of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Which is acknowledged as one of the most influential bands of all time, and played a part in the development of 1960s fringe culture. The group disbanded on December 29, 1974.
The Beatles broke up more than 50 years ago, on November 2, 2023, at 2 p.m. GMT (10 a.m. ET), the Beatles latest and last song, “Now and Then,” dropped.
I started listening to the Beatles at a very early age. This was entirely my grandpa’s doing. As I got older, the more the Beatles songs stuck to me. The lyrics impacted me, and their use of instruments blew me away. What once started as a way to connect with my grandpa ended with a love of the 60’s band.
As soon as the single dropped, I stopped everything and called my grandpa, I asked if he heard of the single. Coming from a grandparent who calls himself a “Beatlemaniac,” it was not a surprise to hear him say, “I already heard.”
Since the release of “Now and Then,” it’s made a strong impression. It turned into the Beatles’s 18th number-one single. The song made Top 50-USA. The song features all four Beatles singing and playing, despite there being only two living members as of today.
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. John Lennon died of multiple bullet wounds on December 8, 1980, and George Harrison died of lung cancer and a brain tumor on November 29, 2001.
The Beatles recorded “Now and Then” when they were still together. John Lennon wrote the song and demoed it on a handheld cassette recorder in the late 70’s. The band later recorded the demo. However, the song never debuted until this year, with the help of AI.
The audio, recorded originally on a single mono microphone, made it virtually impossible for listeners to distinguish the voices of the other members over the extraneous noise. The demo recording served as the only thing that Starr and McCartney have of their former bandmates, but due to the tape’s grainy quality it made it difficult to separate the melodies. To remedy this, McCartney and Starr used AI to bring Lennon and Harrison’s voices back to life.
The track opens with vocals from Lennon and acoustic and electric guitar from Harrison. With a new drum part from Starr and a new bass, guitar, and piano addition from McCartney. By using machine learning technology, the members managed to isolate Lennon’s voice from the 1970’s tape.
The tape opens with loud and prominent piano and guitar parts. It is a bittersweet rhythm with somber tones. Lennon’s voice joins in shortly. His voice is dampened and less vivid. These vocals are legato and flow with the piano part. The song sounds much crisper than their previous albums. The instruments are very prominent in the single. The song continues its slow tempo until Starr comes in with the drums. The pulse changes up and the drum part becomes an upbeat cadence, turning the song into a wistful tune.
“Now and Then” is a blend of soft vocals and instrumentals. The slow melancholy melody fills one with nostalgia. It is a perfect song to close out the end of the Beatles era.
