Ringo Starr Talks New Beatles Track ‘Now And Then’
The Beatles will release their final song, “Now And Then,” this Thursday (Nov. 2). The surreal idea of there being a new song from the Fab Four is very overwhelming. It’s a feeling not lost on Ringo Starr.
The iconic drummer shared in an interview with Radio Times magazine (h/t Loudwire) that Paul McCartney simply called him up to ask what he thought about completing “Now And Then.” Obviously, Starr was game. He also noted, “It was the closest we’ll ever come to having him [John] back in the room, so it was very emotional for all of us. It was like John was there, you know?”
“Now And Then” is available for pre-order in a variety of formats at The Beatles.com. Those formats include digital, cassette and a number of vinyl pressings.
A mini-documentary film about the final Beatles song will be released on November 1 via YouTube.
Where Did “Now And Then” Come From?
As previously reported, the track’s origins stem from a John Lennon demo that was first worked on by McCartney, Starr and George Harrison in 1995 as part of The Beatles Anthology. Thanks to technological advances developed by Peter Jackson and his team while making the 2021 docuseries The Beatles: Get Back, “Now And Then” has been completed.
Back in June, “Now And Then” caused a slew of headlines when McCartney talked about how artificial intelligence was used to finish it. Sir Paul told BBC Radio 4, “We were able to take John’s voice and get it pure through this AI so that then we could mix the record as you would normally do — it gives you some sort of leeway.”
This then led Macca to release a statement via social media clarifying some reports on this topic. He said, “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.”
McCartney added, “We’ve seen some confusion and speculation about it. Seems to be a lot of guess work out there. Can’t say too much at this stage but to be clear, nothing has been artificially or synthetically created. It’s all real and we all play on it. We cleaned up some existing recordings – a process which has gone on for years. We hope you love it as much as we do. More news in due course.”
