‘Last Beatles Song’ Doc: Paul McCartney Says John Lennon ‘Would’ve Loved’ for Bandmates to Finish His Demo

Tomorrow, Nov. 2, the Beatles will release their long-awaited final song, "Now and Then," more than 50 years after their last album Let It Be. And ahead of its release, director Oliver Murray has just shared a 12-minute film telling the story behind the single, which grew out of a late '70s John Lennon demo.

Now and Then – The Last Beatles Song includes exclusive footage and commentary from Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, John Lennon's son Sean Ono Lennon and Peter Jackson, who directed the "Now and Then" music video, set for release on Friday. The mini doc features clips of old Beatles recording sessions and shots of the surviving members working on the final song after Lennon's death.

"When we lost John, we knew that it was really over. But in 1994, amazingly, an interesting opportunity arose where we could make more music together," McCartney says in the doc.

John Lennon started working on "Now and Then" in the late '70s, before his death in 1980. In 1994, Yoko Ono Lennon found the demo, an unfinished track featuring his piano and vocals, and gave the recording to Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

"We listened to the track. There's John in his apartment in New York City, banging away at his piano doing a little demo," McCartney recalls. "Is this something we shouldn't do? Every time I thought like that, I thought, wait a minute, let’s say I had the chance to ask John, 'Hey, John, would you like us to finish this last song of yours? I’m telling you, I know the answer would’ve been, 'Yeah!' He would've loved that."

Around the time they fleshed out two other Lennon demos, the trio recorded new instrumental parts in an effort to finish the song, but the technological shortcomings of the '90s held them back. "Every time we wanted a little more of John's voice, this piano came through and clouded the picture," McCartney explains. "I think we kind of ran out of steam a bit, and time. It was like, I don't know, maybe we'll leave this one.' 'Now and Then' just kind of languished in a cupboard."

In 2001, Harrison died, "which kind of took the wind out of our sails," McCartney continues. "It took almost a quarter of a century for us to wait until the right moment to tackle 'Now and Then' again."

McCartney and Starr revisited "Now and Then" in 2022 and set out to complete it, now with advanced recording technology. They cleaned up Lennon's old audio and recorded more new parts, including backing vocals, Starr's drums, McCartney on bass, a piano to match Lennon's original playing and a Harrison-inspired slide-guitar solo. "There it was, John's voice, crystal clear," McCartney reflects.

"My dad would've loved that, because he was never shy to experiment with recording technology. I think it's really beautiful," Lennon's son Sean says.

The surviving members decided to add in a string section, but they couldn’t tell the musicians it was for a Beatles track. In the interest of keeping the final song under wraps, McCartney pretended he was recording a new solo song.

McCartney says in the doc that completing the track helped him reflect on how fortunate he was to have worked with his Beatles bandmates.

"All of those memories come flooding back, my God, how lucky was I to have those men in my life and to work with those men so intimately and to come up with such a body of music," McCartney says at the conclusion of the doc. "To still be working on Beatles music in 2023, wow."

"Now and Then" will be released as a double-A-side single with "Love Me Do," the song that marked the Beatles recorded debut in the U.K.

Watch Now and Then – The Last Beatles Song for the full story below.