The ‘final song’ from The Beatles “Now And Then” will be released thanks in part to AI technology.
Remember Peter Jackson’s The Beatles: Get Back docuseries in 2021? Well, some of those same software tricks developed for that series have been used to bring a brand new Beatles song to life!
We’ll gain a ton more insight on November 1 when a short film ‘Now and Then – The Last Beatles Song’ premieres on The Beatles’ YouTube channel.
Apparently some artificial intelligence software used during Get Back was able to separate John Lennon’s vocals from a demo tape he left to Paul McCartney. Of course Paul and Ringo Starr are still around to contribute. Meanwhile, George Harrison’s guitar is taken from an abandoned 1995 session where the three former Beatles attempted to breathe new life into Lennon’s demo. Here’s part of the press release about “Now and Then”:
Paul McCartney: “There it was, John’s voice, crystal clear… 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.”
Ringo Starr: “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. It’s far out.”
“Now and Then” was written and sung by John Lennon is the late 1970s at his home in the Dakota building in New York City.
In 1994, Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono gave the demo to Paul McCartney on a cassette labelled ‘For Paul’ that also included Lennon’s demos for “Free As A Bird”, “Real Love”, and “Grow Old With Me”; all of which had been eventually released following Lennon’s death.
The Beatles will stage a simultaneous worldwide premiere of the documentary short on November 1st at 2:30pm CT. The song itself will follow at 9:00am CT on November 2nd.
