The Beatles’ last song Now and Then release divides fans as millions love the ‘final masterpiece’

The final Beatles song has sent millions of fans into a spin, with some describing it as “terrible” while others said it was a “masterpiece”. Have your say.

Paul McCartney answered criticism of their storied White Album in an interview for the release of their Anthology series in the mid 1990s with “It was great, it sold, it’s the bloody Beatles White Album … shut up.”

One imagines the legendary rocker might offer the same response to the contrarians who aren’t into Now and Then, a John Lennon demo now billed as the Last Beatles Song.

Beatles biographer Philip Norman isn’t a fan.

“I think it is absolutely terrible … you don’t know it is the Beatles … it is such a mess,” he said in London.

But for every critic who hasn’t warmed to the moody and bittersweet song, there are millions of fans who have embraced this historic musical event which started with a basic Lennon vocal and piano, and was completed with AI technology, a string section and additional singing and playing by McCartney, Ringo Starr and the late George Harrison.

The Beatles last song is simply beautiful. Picture: Supplied.

“Now n Then absolutely incredible biblical celestial heartbreaking and heartwarming all at the same time long live The Beatles,” posted Liam Gallagher, whose Oasis hits were anchored by the Beatles musical DNA.

Rolling Stones reviewer Rod Sheffield declared it their “final masterpiece.”

“The Beatles’ “Now and Then” is the final masterpiece they — and we — deserve. It’s a tribute to Paul’s obsessive devotion that he spent so many years bringing his friend’s song into the world,” he posted.

The two prevailing gripes from those who are opposed to this offering, from the band who changed the world six decades ago, centre on the employment of AI technology to allow them to finish the Lennon track gifted by Yoko Ono to McCartney, Harrison and Starr in 1994 when they were working on the red and blue retrospective Anthology records.

The other complaint is that it doesn’t sound like a Beatles song, created and recorded by the Fab Four together.

The Beatles and their producer George Martin were early and voracious adopters of new recording technology so of course they would have played with AI had they been in a studio together in 2023.

And Now and Then is, unmistakably, a Beatles song.

Vinyl copies of Now and Then are already sold out. Picture: Supplied.

From the classic “one-two” count-in to Lennon’s wistful vocal. From the swelling strings and lap steel solo inspired by Harrison but played in 2023 by McCartney. Now and Then captures the essence of the four men whose talents and chemistry set the pop benchmark by which all others are measured.

Its lyrics and melody may be simple but Now and Then packs a complex emotional punch; many fans have shared how the track moved them to tears. Lennon’s yearning vocal goes straight for the heartstrings.

All vinyl and cassette stock of Now and Then, which also features a remastered version of their debut single Love Me Do, sold out in Australia ahead of the release.

The Now and Then video, directed by film-maker Peter Jackson who made the acclaimed Get Back doco series, is bound to trigger more big emotions when it premieres on Saturday.

MCCARTNEY: ‘I WAS LUCKY TO HAVE THEM’

An emotional McCartney shared his joy at “reuniting” with his late bandmates to complete the final Beatles single Now and Then.

In a short film about the making of the song, written by Lennon in 1978 in his New York home, McCartney said all his memories of his years with the iconic band “came flooding back” as he listened to the final mix of the historic single.

“My God how lucky I was to have those men in my life, and to work with those men so intimately, and to come up with such a body of music,” McCartney said.

“To still be working on Beatles music in 2023: Wow! We’re actually messing around with state-of-the-art technology, which is something the Beatles would’ve been very interested in.

“Now and Then is probably the last Beatles song and we’ve all played on it so it is a genuine Beatles recording.”

Sean Ono Lennon said in the film that listening to the recording, finished by McCartney and Starr this year after shelving work on the track in 1995, was “incredibly touching.”

Sean Ono Lennon shares his love of hearing his father sing on new Beatles song. Picture: AP

“It was incredibly touching to hear them working together after all the years that my Dad had been gone,” Lennon said.

“It’s the last song that my Dad and Paul and George and Ringo will get to make together.”

He also shone a light on his father’s creative process when Lennon had taken time out from music to care for his young son with wife Yoko.

“There’s this impression that my Dad stopped doing music for a while to raise me, which I think is partially true in terms of him not touring and not fulfilling any major record label obligations,” Lennon said.

“But he was always playing music around the house, he was always making demos and I do remember him recording into these tape cassette recorders.

“Mum had these handful of songs that my Dad hadn’t finished and she gave them to the other Beatles.”

Starr said when he and McCartney heard Lennon’s voice after AI technology isolated it from the piano on the demo tape, “it was the closest we’ll ever come to having him back in the room.”

The short film also precedes the release of the Now and Then video on Saturday.

Acclaimed film director Peter Jackson has shared the “sheer terror” of making his music video debut for The Beatles’ last ever single.

Beatles fanboy Jackson, who was the genius behind the smash hit documentary series Get Back, wanted to “do a runner” when asked to create a video for the single Now and Then.

The Kiwi filmmaker said he just wanted to be a fan and enjoy “the night-before-Christmas anticipation as the release of a new Beatles song and music video approached.”

“To be honest, just thinking about the responsibility of having to make a music video worthy of the last song The Beatles will ever release produced a collection of anxieties almost too overwhelming to deal with,” Jackson said in a post on The Beatles website.

“My lifelong love of The Beatles collided into a wall of sheer terror at the thought of letting everyone down.

“This created intense insecurity in me because I’d never made a music video before, and was not able to imagine how I could even begin to create one for a band that broke up over 50 years ago, had never actually performed the song, and had half of its members no longer with us.”

Now and Then was written by John Lennon in the late 70s and given to McCartney, Starr and Harrison by Yoko Ono in 1994 as they were working on The Beatles Anthology Project.

While the surviving trio finished off the demos of other Lennon songs given by Ono – the singles Free As A Bird and Real Love – Now and Then wasn’t completed.

“Back in 1995, after several days in the studio working on the track, George felt the technical issues with the demo were insurmountable and concluded that it was not possible to finish the track to a high enough standard,” Olivia Harrison said.

But the AI technology which helped Jackson restore the sound quality of vocals and instruments for the Get Back series was then put to use to complete Now and Then, isolating Lennon’s voice from the piano on the demo so they could be faithfully remixed.

Jackson said he gave the Fab Four’s team a raft of roadblocks to creating the Now and Then video in an attempt to get out of the gargantuan task.

“I told (them) how the lack of suitable footage worried me,” he said.

But The Beatles’ estate would not take no for an answer. After yet another trawl through the treasure troves of the Beatles vaults did unearth some precious gems including “14 hours of long forgotten film shot during the 1995 recording sessions, including several hours of Paul, George and Ringo working on Now And Then.”

British rock band The Beatles in a promotional picture from 1966, the year of the band's seventh album release, Revolver'. Picture: Supplied / Universal Music Australia

Sean Lennon and Olivia Harrison also found unseen home movie footage to share with Jackson.

And there was also “a collection of unseen outtakes in the vault, where The Beatles are relaxed, funny and rather candid.”

“To cap things off, a few precious seconds of The Beatles performing in their leather suits, the earliest known film of The Beatles and never seen before, was kindly supplied by Pete Best,” Jackson said.

The Now and Then video will premiere on Saturday.

Originally published as The Beatles’ last song Now and Then release divides fans as millions love the ‘final masterpiece’