EXCLUSIVE: "Now and Then" (also known as "I Don't Want to Lose You" or "Miss You") is a song that features a posthumous contribution from John Lennon. The origin of the song traces back to a demo recorded by Lennon in the late 1970s, one of many that he made during this period. After Lennon's death in 1980, Yoko Ono entrusted several of Lennon's home demos to Paul McCartney with the prospect of having The Beatles' remaining members work on them. Two of these— "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love"—were completed and released as part of The Beatles' Anthology project in the mid-1990s, featuring contributions from McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. "Now and Then" was the third Lennon demo considered for the project. McCartney, Harrison, and Starr attempted to record additional instrumentation and provide backing vocals to Lennon's original demo. However, the project was ultimately abandoned and the song was never officially completed or released by The Beatles in any official capacity. The reasons for "Now and Then" not being completed and released by the surviving Beatles include technical issues with the demo's sound quality, as well as reported dissatisfaction from George Harrison with the track. Nonetheless, the song occupies a special place in The Beatles' lore as a "what could have been" piece, a haunting echo from their past with the poignant significance of Lennon's involvement from beyond the grave.
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