'I love the song': Canadian Beatles fans react to new track 'Now and Then'

Beatles fans from around the world never fathomed their favourite band would drop a new track half-a-century after they broke up.

They’re now taking in every beat.

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When asked how he feels listening to the new song, Mathieu Lacourse says he feels emotional and nostalgic.

"I feel like I'm 12 years old, I guess, when I discovered The Beatles for the first time,” he said.

Since then, the band has been engrained in his life. The now 40 year-old sound engineer in Longueuil, Que. named his company Studio Bulldog after the song “Hey Bulldog.” He also has a bulldog named Ringo.

"I thought these were the best songs I've ever heard. I was hooked on the technologies they used, their harmonies, and how inventive they were," said Lacourse.

Sébastien Tremblay, president of The Beatles Quebec fan club, says listening to the song brings up a lot of emotions.

“I’ve heard bootlegs before, but to have the other Beatles working on the song, it's totally different. It's great. It's really great. I love the song,” said Tremblay.

Tremblay, who has been a fan since he was seven, calls today’s release a gift.

"For me, The Beatles will always be alive. But to release something new, it's great. I don't think they will release anything else like that."

Holly Tessler, a Beatles expert with the University of Liverpool told CTV News today is a significant day in The Beatles' history.

"In one way, it's a bit strange to think a group that had broken up in 1970 is in 2023 releasing its last ever song, but I mean that's where we're at with technology," said Tessler.

The new song was made with the help of AI technology that was used to extract John Lennon's vocals from an old demo recorded on a cassette.

"It's a great thing, really, and a poignant thing to be able to reach out across the past and work with audio that was recorded, especially with two members of the group who aren't here anymore," Tessler added.

Tessler says the popularity of the Beatles decades later speaks to how universal their music is, and how people can identify with the lyrics, which resonate with every generation.

“What this allows is for a younger generation to experience the excitement of what it would be, what it is, to hear a new Beatles recording and to be able to rush out to a shop and buy it and listen to it and engage with it as you would have in the ‘60s,” said Tessler. “The story of The Beatles themselves, it really is a rags-to-riches story, in that it is so unlikely a group from Liverpool in the ‘60s could make it as big as they did, it was absolutely unprecedented.”