2. Original Demo - 1977
“Now and Then” was originally recorded as
a demo by John Lennon at his apartment in
The Dakota, New York. He used a tape
cassette record and would play piano
alongside singing. He would not record the
song again before his death in 1980.
3. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame - 1994
After Paul McCartney inducted John Lennon to the
Rock Hall of Fame, Yoko Ono gave him a tape of
Lennon’s Dakota demos. This included “Free as a
Bird”, “Real Love”, and “Now and Then”.
4. Anthology sessions -1995
The three remaining Beatles: Paul McCartney,
George Harrison and Ringo Starr worked with Jeff
Lynne to finish the songs given by Ono. They would
overdub their respective parts on top of Lennon’s
voice and piano. The were planning to record three
songs for the compilation series Anthology.
5. “Free as a Bird” - 1995
Released in November as the opening track to the
band’s compilation album Anthology 1, the song was
also released as a single the following month. It was
the first original single The Beatles released since 1970
and peaked at #2 in the UK Charts and #6 on the
Billboard Hot 100.
6. “Real Love” - 1996
Released in March as the opening track to Anthology 2,
it would peak at #4 in the UK Charts and #11 on the
Billboard Hot 100. It would be the final Beatles song to
be released before George Harrison’s death in 2001.
7. Anthology 3 - 1997
Despite many expecting a new single for Anthology 3, there wasn’t one. “Now and
Then was intended to be the third and last song for the project, but was
abandoned early on. The reason being George Harrison’s dissatisfaction with the
low quality of Lennon’s original demo recording. Specifically a noticeable ‘hum’
that was impossible to remove with technology of the time.
8. The Beatles: Get Back - 2021
The documentary series led to a new technology brought
by director Peter Jackson called MAL (machine-assisted
learning). This technology could separate different
voices/instrument from the same track. This would be
used for “Now and Then” as a way to remove the noise
from the demo which displeased George Harrison.
9. 2023 sessions
Now they could get rid of the hum, McCartney and Starr would re-record their
respective parts. While Harrison’s guitar parts remained, McCartney would add
guitar solos in George’s style. Paul would also re-record the piano in a style
similar to John Lennon’s original demo. Giles Martin, son of Beatles producer
George Martin would also contribute a string section to the song.
