Last week, it was announced that the final Beatles song, “Now And Then,” would be released on Thursday, November 2. Following up on the initial story, Apple Corps Ltd., Capitol, and UMe have shared details and premiere plans for the song’s music video, directed by Peter Jackson, and premiering worldwide on Friday, November 3, via The Beatles’ official YouTube channel.
The song’s visual companion piece centers around The Fab Four’s enduring legacy and timeless sound. “Now And Then” was written and sung by John Lennon, developed and crafted by Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, and finally finished s by McCartney and Starr over four decades later. The double A-side single pairs the last Beatles song with the first: The band’s 1962 debut U.K. single, “Love Me Do,” a full-circle counterpart to “Now And Then.” Both songs are mixed in stereo and Dolby Atmos, and the release features original cover art by renowned artist Ed Ruscha.
Oliver Murray directed the music video, which recounts the story behind the last Beatles song, with exclusive footage and commentary from McCartney, Starr, Harrison, Sean Ono Lennon and Peter Jackson. “When Apple asked me to make the music video, I was very reluctant – I thought my next few months would be a hell of a lot more fun if that tricky task was somebody else’s problem, and I could be like any other Beatles fan, enjoying the night-before-Christmas anticipation as the release of a new Beatles song and music video approached – in 1995, l loved the childlike excitement I felt as the release of Free As A Bird was inching closer,” Jackson offered via press release.
He continued, “To be honest, just thinking about the responsibility of having to make a music video worthy of the last song The Beatles will ever release produced a collection of anxieties almost too overwhelming to deal with. My lifelong love of The Beatles collided into a wall of sheer terror at the thought of letting everyone down. This created intense insecurity in me because I’d never made a music video before, and was not able to imagine how I could even begin to create one for a band that broke up over 50 years ago, had never actually performed the song, and had half of its members no longer with us.”
“I knew The Beatles don’t take no for an answer if their minds are set on something – but they didn’t even wait for me to say no. I found myself swept along as they quickly addressed my concerns. Paul and Ringo shot footage of themselves performing and sent that to me. Apple unearthed over 14 hours of long forgotten film shot during the 1995 recording sessions, including several hours of Paul, George and Ringo working on Now And Then, and gave all that to me. Sean and Olivia found some great unseen home movie footage and sent that. To cap things off, a few precious seconds of The Beatles performing in their leather suits, the earliest known film of The Beatles and never seen before, was kindly supplied by Pete Best,” Jackson added.
The acclaimed director concluded, “Having got to the end, I’m very happy I’m not waiting for the release of somebody else’s Now And Then music video. I have genuine pride in what we made, and I’ll cherish that for years to come. A huge thanks to Apple Corps and the Fabs for giving me all the support I needed – and not allowing me to wriggle away.”
Watch the “Now and Then” trailer below.
[embedded content]