NOW LIVE! Watch the documentary and learn the full story behind ‘Now And Then’ – with exclusive footage and commentary from Paul, Ringo, George, Sean Ono Lennon and Peter Jackson.https://t.co/UaCIMywCOX #NowAndThen @johnlennon @PaulMcCartney @GeorgeHarrison @ringostarrmusic… pic.twitter.com/9OZL5VdGMR

— The Beatles (@thebeatles) November 1, 2023

The Beatles have released a 12 minute short film just ahead of their planned issue of “Then And Now” that tells the story of how a failed demo tape evolved into the band’s final song. The track has already dominated headlines, not least because it features Lennon and Harrison via AI technology supplied by filmmaker Peter Jackson.

When Jackson made his ground-breaking film documentary Get Back, examining The Beatles’ recording of their last studio album of the same name, he utilised the technology to isolate conversations the members had with each other during recording. It was again used in 2022’s reissue of Revolver. Paul McCartney sent the demo to Jackson who was able to separate Lennon’s vocals on the tape, allowing McCartney and Ringo Starr to record the song as if the former members were still there with them.

McCartney had previously said that isolating Lennon’s voice without the piano on the demo tape was always a persistent challenge and prevented the band from being able to work on “Then And Now.” With Jackson’s help, Lennon’s voice was successfully pulled from the demo tape and allowed the band to complete the song.

Speaking about the process, McCartney said, “Every time I wanted a little bit more of John’s voice, this piano came through and clouded the picture. I think we kind of ran out of steam a bit and time, and it was like, ‘well, I don’t know, maybe we’ll leave this one. Now And Then just kind of languished in a cupboard. And then in 2001, we lost George, which kind of took the wind out of our sails. It took almost a quarter of a century for us to wait until the right moment to tackle Now And Then again, with the technology that Peter Jackson and his team had worked out during the Get Back movie.”

After the re-release of Revolver, McCartney sent Jackson the demo. He continued, “It was like, John’s there, you know? It’s far out. So in the mix, we could lift John’s voice without lifting the piano, which had always been one of the problems. Now we could mix it and make a proper record of it.”

“Now And Then” will be released today at 2PM and a video directed by Jackson will follow tomorrow, Friday 3 November.

Paul McCartney shared the project during a Radio 4 interview last month, revealing his plans to produce a final Beatles song with AI assistance. Speaking on using artificial intelligence to create new music, McCartney said, “It’s kind of scary but exciting, because it’s the future. We’ll just have to see where that leads.”

The track has not entirely been created through AI means however, putting fans’ minds at rest as concerns arise around the increase in artificially produced art. McCartney shared more on the process of putting this new track together, saying Peter Jackson (who created the Get Back Beatles documentary) “was able to extricate John’s voice from a ropey little bit of cassette. We had John’s voice and a piano and he could separate them with AI. They tell the machine, ‘That’s the voice. This is a guitar. Lose the guitar.”

In his Radio 4 interview, McCartney shared, “So when we came to make what will be the last Beatles record, it was a demo that John had that we worked on and we just finished it up to be released this year. We were able to take John’s voice and get it pure through this AI so that then we can mix the record, as you would normally do. So it gives you some sort of leeway. So there’s a good side to it and then a scary side.”

Ringo Starr has commented on the new song, also clarifying that it isn’t an entirely AI-driven project. Speaking to Variety, Starr shared that McCartney, himself and George Harrison had a demo of John Lennon singing that they had previously considered turning into a full song back in the 90s. The remaining band members are now taking advantage of the advanced technology on offer to them to allow them to use the original clips of Lennon’s singing.

Starr said, “It’s not down to AI. It’s not like we’re pretending anything. That is actually John’s voice, Paul’s voice and bass playing, George on rhythm guitar and me on drums. And the two things that are new are Paul’s bass and me on drums. … I really worked at it just months ago here. And it works. It’s a beautiful song. You know, for all the madness going on around it, it’s still a beautiful track. And our last track.”

When asked why they had chosen to work on the track again now, Starr said, “I don’t know. Paul must’ve had a slow day. He says, ‘You know that track we did? Do you want to work on that?‘” McCartney sent Starr the files, with Starr sharing, “I drummed on it and I sang on it” before McCartney added strings to the track with Giles Martin. Starr shared his feelings on the final Beatles track, saying, “It is moving, because the four of us are there, and there won’t be ever again.”

Starr also shared in a separate interview, “It moves me because, you know, I miss those two. But Paul and I are great friends so life goes on.”

There is currently no release date for the final Beatles track, but McCartney shared, “We hope you love it as much as we do. More news in due course.”

Been great to see such an exciting response to our forthcoming Beatles project. No one is more excited than us to be sharing something with you later in the year.

We’ve seen some confusion and speculation about it. Seems to be a lot of guess work out there. Can’t say too much…

— Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) June 22, 2023