Soon it will feel like “Yesterday” all over again.
That’s because there will be a brand new Beatles song — yes, you read that right — coming here, there and everywhere in just one week.
On Thursday, it was announced that “Now and Then” — featuring all four members of the Fab Four — will be released on Nov. 2 as the first new Beatles tune since “Real Love” in 1996.
Written and sung by John Lennon, the song was first recorded by the late Beatle in the late ’70s when he was living in the Dakota Building on New York’s Central Park West — where he was murdered 53 years ago on Dec. 8, 1980.
In 1994, the “Imagine” singer’s widow, Yoko Ono, gave the demo to his Beatles bandmates Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison — who died from lung cancer in 2001 — and they tried to complete the recording but were unable to because of technological limitations.
But after new technology allowed director Peter Jackson to isolate voices and instruments in 2021’s “The Beatles: Get Back” documentary, the surviving members of the group — McCartney and Starr — set out to complete “Now and Then” with their upgraded tool kit in 2022.
Rounding out Harrison’s electric and acoustic guitar, which was recorded in 1995, Starr added drums to the track, while McCartney laid down bass and piano — plus an slide guitar solo inspired by Harrison.
Both McCartney and Starr also recorded vocals for “Now and Then,” while Sir Paul produced the song with Giles Martin, son of the Beatles’ studio guru George Martin.
“There it was, John’s voice, crystal clear. It’s quite emotional,” says McCartney, 81, in a press release. “And we all play on it, it’s a genuine Beatles recording. In 2023 to still be working on Beatles music, and about to release a new song the public haven’t heard, I think it’s an exciting thing.”
Starr, 83, also felt the spirit of Lennon: “It was the closest we’ll ever come to having him back in the room, so it was very emotional for all of us. It was like John was there, you know. It’s far out.”
Before the single’s release on Nov. 2, a 12-minute documentary, “Now and Then — The Last Beatles Song,” will premiere on the Fab Four’s YouTube channel on Nov. 1.
Meanwhile, expanded and newly mixed editions of the classic Beatles collections “The Red Album” and “The Blue Album” will be released on Nov. 10, with the latter updated to include “Now and Then.”
“It was incredibly touching to hear them working together after all the years that Dad had been gone,” says Sean Lennon, John’s son with Ono, in the press release. “It’s the last song my dad, Paul, George and Ringo got to make together. It’s like a time capsule and all feels very meant to be.”
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