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The Beatles ‘Final Track’ Might Not Be So Final, Filmmaker Peter Jackson Reveals

The Beatles ‘Final Track’ Might Not Be So Final, Filmmaker Peter Jackson Reveals

The Beatles released what is supposedly their final song last week. But filmmaker Peter Jackson says the long-disbanded group could have a couple more hits on the horizon—if we’re lucky.

The single Now and Then debuted on Thursday, Nov. 2nd, and pleased both fans and critics. John Lennon wrote the tune in 1978, two years before he was murdered outside his New York apartment and eight years after the band broke up. Jackson was able to get his hands on a demo Lennon recorded, use his filmmaking know-how to separate the vocals from the instruments, and add Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr to the background.

Fans have been led to believe that Now and Then was a rare one-off chance for the Beatles to get back together. But according to a recent interview with the Sunday Times, Jackson collected various recordings while he was directing his docu-series The Beatles: Get Back. And he thinks he could bring a few more singles to fruition.

“We can take a performance from Get Back, separate John and George, and then have Paul and Ringo add a chorus or harmonies. You might end up with a decent song,” he explained. “But I haven’t had conversations with Paul about that. It’s fanboy stuff, but certainly conceivable.”

‘Now and Then’ is Likely the Last John Lennon Original

However, there is little chance that fans will ever get another Lennon original. Any further songs would be old, already-released tunes mixed with modern songwriting by McCartney and Starr, the only living Beatles. As far as the world knows, no more unheard recordings are sitting on a shelf somewhere.

Jackson explained that he got the Now and Then demo from Paul McCartney, who had gotten it from Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono. McCartney inspired Jackson to bring the music to life.

“It felt so wrong to have a Beatles song all to myself. It’s not a classic in the sense of I Am the Walrus or Penny Lane — it’s not complex like that. It’s simple, but it’s got a haunting quality. Whenever anyone asks why I like the Beatles, I just say they make me happy. With the world in the state it is, we need the Beatles to appear again, as if a flying saucer has touched down and they’ve got off and are providing us with their one last song to cheer us up.”