Real Love (Beatles song)

"Real Love"
Song by John Lennon
from the album Imagine: John Lennon
Released10 October 1988
RecordedOctober 1979, New York City
Length2:48
Label
Songwriter(s)John Lennon
Producer(s)
"Real Love"
Single by the Beatles
from the album Anthology 2
B-side"Baby's in Black" (Live)
Released4 March 1996
RecordedJuly 1980, Bermuda
February 1995, Hog Hill Mill, Sussex, England
Length3:54
LabelApple
Songwriter(s)John Lennon
Producer(s)George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Jeff Lynne
The Beatles singles chronology
"Free as a Bird"
(1995)
"Real Love"
(1996)
"Now and Then" / "Love Me Do"
(2023)
Audio sample
Music video
"Real Love" on YouTube

"Real Love" is a song written by the English musician John Lennon, formerly of the Beatles. He recorded six demos of the song in 1979 and 1980 with "Real Life", a different song that merged with "Real Love". In 1988, the sixth take was posthumously released for the documentary soundtrack Imagine: John Lennon. In 1995, a different take was completed by his former Beatles bandmates (Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr) as part of the Beatles Anthology project, along with "Free as a Bird".

The song was released as a Beatles single in 1996 in the United Kingdom, United States and many other countries. It respectively reached number 4 and number 11 in the UK and US singles charts, and earned a gold record more quickly than a number of the group's other singles. The song was not included on the BBC Radio 1 playlist, prompting criticism from fans and British Members of Parliament. The track opened the Beatles' Anthology 2 album. "Real Love" was the last new Beatles song released in the lifetime of George Harrison, who died in 2001, and the last single by the group until "Now and Then" in 2023.