Ringo Starr Addresses Rumors That John Lennon’s Voice Isn’t on The Beatles’ ‘Now and Then’

Now that The Beatles officially released their long-awaited final song "Now and Then" earlier this month, Ringo Starr is addressing the "terrible rumors" that John Lennon's voice isn't actually included on the track.

"Last year, Paul [McCartney] called and said, 'You remember that unfinished song of John's, 'Now and Then'? Why don't we work on that?'" Starr said in a recent interview with AARP. "He sent it to me, and I played the drums and sang. We had a great track of John singing and playing piano and George [Harrison] playing rhythm guitar."

"There were terrible rumors that it's not John, it's AI, whatever bullsh - - people said," he continued. "Paul and I would not have done that. It's a beautiful song and a nice way to finally close that door."

Lennon started working on "Now and Then" in the late '70s. At that point, it was an unfinished track featuring his piano and vocals. In 1994, Yoko Ono Lennon found the demo years after Lennon's death in 1980 and gave the recording to McCartney, Harrison and Starr.

The trio was determined to finish the song — recording new parts on drums, guitars and bass — but struggled to produce the track with Lennon's existing audio.

"We listened to the track. There's John in his apartment in New York City, banging away at his piano doing a little demo. Is this something we shouldn't do?" McCartney said in a new mini doc on the making of "Now and Then" released earlier this month ahead of the song's unveiling. "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."

In an interview with Variety in July, the All-Starr band frontman confirmed, yet again, that Lennon's actual voice in indeed included on the track.

"It's not down to AI," he reiterated. "It's not like we're pretending anything. That is actually John's voice, Paul's voice and bass playing, George [Harrison] on rhythm guitar and me on drums."

"Now and Then" is a double A-side single, pairing the final Beatles song with their debut 1962 single, "Love Me Do." It also follows "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love," new Beatles songs created from Lennon demos in the mid-'90s and released via the band's Anthology series.