A 12-minute documentary titled Now and Then – The Last Beatles Song will investigate the creation of The Beatles‘ final song and pay tribute to their enduring legacy as an iconic musical group. Oliver Murray is directing the documentary, and it will premiere on Wednesday, November 1, 2023, at 3:01 a.m. EST on Disney+.
The makers of the upcoming documentary recently released a trailer that includes audio from an archived interview with George Harrison. The clip begins with Paul McCartney’s audio confession about how John Lennon’s death devastated him and signaled The Beatles’ end.
New interviews with John Lennon’s son, Sean Ono Lennon, and surviving The Beatles’ members, McCartney and Ringo Starr, are included in the clip.
The Beatles shelved Now and Then for more than three decades
John Lennon originally wrote and recorded the song “Now and Then” around 1979 as a solo piano home demo, but he left it unfinished. In 1994, Yoko Ono, Lennon’s widow, presented McCartney with two tape cassettes containing his unreleased home recordings.
Reports expected The Beatles’ 1995–1996 project, The Beatles Anthology, to feature the song as its third single, following two Lennon demo-based tracks. However, they didn’t include the track on Anthology 3 and shelved it for three decades. One of the main reasons for shelving “Now and Then” was because George Harrison didn’t like it. During a 1997 interview with Q, McCartney admitted that Harrison disliked the track, and The Beatles honored democracy.
Three decades later, fans eagerly await the release of the highly anticipated track “Now and Then” on Thursday, November 2, 2023. McCartney and Starr infused the song with 1995 guitar recordings by Harrison and a string arrangement. Furthermore, they have confirmed the release of a music video for the single. Director Peter Jackson has included never-before-seen footage from the recording sessions for The Anthology in the video.