The Beatles have released a new documentary on YouTube that reveals the making of their final song, "Now and Then," which was featured as an iHeartRadio World Premiere on BIG 95 KBGO Thursday.
The 12-minute doc features interview clips with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, the late George Harrison, director Peter Jackson and Sean Lennon, the youngest son of John Lennon.
They tell the story of how, in the mid-'90s, Yoko Ono gave Paul, George and Ringo tapes of three home recordings John had made, with hopes that they would be able to add their parts to them for The Beatles' Anthology project. They were successful with two of them, "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love," but with the third song, "Now and Then," they faced a major challenge.
The tape of "Now and Then" was of poor quality, with John's voice and piano mixed together and a TV playing in the background. The Beatles tried to isolate John's vocal from the noise, but they couldn't do it with the technology available at the time. They also felt that the song was incomplete and needed more lyrics and structure.
However, after Peter Jackson, director of their 2022 documentary Get Back, was able to isolate certain tracks for the Let It Be film using new De-Mix technology, Paul sent him the tape of "Now and Then" in hopes that he could achieve the same results.
He did, and with the guitar tracks George laid down in 1995 (he passed in 2001), Paul and Ringo redid their parts, and so we now have the last song ever recorded to feature all four Beatles.
The documentary also shows how Sean Lennon helped with the lyrics and the production of the song, as well as how Paul and Ringo felt about working on it.
The song is described as a "beautiful ballad" that reflects John's feelings about his life and his love for Yoko. It is also a tribute to the enduring bond between the four Beatles, who created some of the most iconic music in history.
The documentary can be watched on The Beatles' official YouTube channel.
[Source: Classic Hits Today]