The Beatles release a ‘brand new’ single today, “Now And Then”! A surprising and unexpected occurrance considering that only two members of the ‘fab four’ are still with us. The track was written by John Lennon in 1979, the year before his untimely assassination in New York, with the intention that the group reformed, recorded it and it would serve as their comeback single.

George Harrison, however, was not in favour of the song, and it remained a demo track, with Lennon’s vocal and a piano until 1995, when the three surviving members of the band did make a comeback of sorts with the top ten hits “Baby It’s You” and “Free As A Bird”, along with the albums “Live At The BBC” and “Anthology 1”. “Now And Then” was revisited and finally recorded with Harrison at this time, but once again, did not see release in any format.

Now in 2023, Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Ringo Starr, have finally sat down and put the final touches to the song using John’s original demo tape and George’s 1995 work on the track to enable “Now And Then” to become a Beatles single some 44 years after it was originally intended! Ringo, now 83 and Paul, now 81, are releasing the single as a double A sider along with their official debut single, “Love Me Do”, from 1962, which initially went to No.17 in the UK and No.1 in America, although a 1982 re-issue saw the single reach a new high of No.4 in the UK.

It must be stressed that there is nothing cosmetic or artificial about this new version, which has been co-produced by Sir Paul and Giles Martin, son of Sir George Martin, The Beatles regular producer, along with additional production from ELO’s Jeff Lynne, later one of The Travelling Wilbury’s along with George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan and Tom Petty. “Now And Then” will feature on a new, expanded edition of “1967-1970” (The Blue Album), due for release this month.

The Beatles – “Now And Then”

“1967-1970” in expanded form is set for release on 10th November