OAN’s James Meyers
3:10 PM – Thursday, October 26, 2023
The last song to be released by the Beatles, called “Now and Then,” was made possible thanks to Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The long-awaited “final” Beatles song, featuring all four band members, will be released next week due to the same AI technology that was used to enhance the audio on Peter Jackson’s documentary Get Back.
“There it was, John’s voice, crystal clear,” Paul McCartney said in a statement. “It’s quite emotional. And we all play on it, it’s a genuine Beatles recording. In 2023, to still be working on Beatles music, and about to release a new song the public haven’t heard, I think it’s an exciting thing.”
The song would not have been released without the use of AI, which is now helping shape the music industry.
Additionally, the song was first written and demoed in the late 1970s by John Lennon, who died in 1980. In 1994, Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono gave the demo to Paul McCartney on a cassette labeled “For Paul,” which included Lennon’s demos “Free As a Bird” and “Real Love.”
McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison, who died in 2001, also recorded new parts and finished a rough mix for “Now and Then” in the late 1990s.
However, with the limitation in technology at the time, it prevented the band from finishing the song since they could not separate Lennon’s vocals from the piano to achieve a “clear, unclouded mix.”
The AI technology was able to separate Lennon’s vocals from the piano, allowing the band to mix in acoustic guitar recorded by Harrison, a new drum track from Starr and new guitar, bass, piano, and slide guitar tracks from McCartney.
“It was the closest we’ll ever come to having him back in the room, so it was very emotional for all of us. It was like John was there, you know,” Starr said. “It’s far out.”
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