Dubbed "the last Beatles song", it appeared on a double A-side single, paired with a new stereo remix of the band's first single, " Love Me Do " , with the two serving as "bookends" to the band's history. After Lennon's death in , the song was considered as a potential third Beatles reunion single for their — retrospective project The Beatles Anthology , following " Free as a Bird " and " Real Love ", both based on two other Lennon demos of the same names.
Instead, due to production difficulties, it was shelved for nearly three decades, until it was completed by his surviving bandmates Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr , using overdubs and guitar tracks by George Harrison who died in from the abandoned sessions.
The final version features additional lyrics by McCartney. John Lennon wrote "Now and Then" in the late s, and recorded a five-minute piano demo around on a tape recorder at his home at the Dakota in New York City.
The lyrics are typical of the apologetic love songs that Lennon wrote in the latter half of his career. For the most part the verses are nearly complete, though there are still a few lines that Lennon did not flesh out on the demo tape performance. Referring to the original demo, Craig Jenkins of Vulture said "'Now and Then' languished in an unfinished state, its vocal and piano melodies enshrouded in too dense a thicket of abrasively scratchy hiss to massage into the high-quality recordings the Beatles were known for".
In March , the three surviving Beatles began to work on it by recording a rough backing track that was to be used as an overdub. It included acoustic guitars played by McCartney and Harrison, a rough drum track by Ringo Starr , an electric guitar by Harrison, and a bass and "a few synth [things]" played by McCartney. Producer Jeff Lynne reported that sessions for "Now and Then" actually consisted only of "one day — one afternoon, really — messing with it. The song had a chorus but is almost totally lacking in verses.
