The Beatles released their last song ‘Now and Then’ on November 2nd. There is ongoing speculation in the rock world that it was not John Lennon’s original recording that was used in the song, but rather his AI-generated voice. Sir Ringo Starr addressed the rumors about The Beatles’ last single on the latest cover story for AARP. He said:
“There were terrible rumors that it’s not John, it’s AI, whatever bulls— people said. Paul and I would not have done that.
Last year, Paul called and said, ‘You remember that unfinished song of John’s, ‘Now and Then?’ Why don’t we work on that?’ He sent it to me, and I played the drums and sang. We had a great track of John singing and playing piano and George playing rhythm guitar. It’s a beautiful song and a nice way to finally close that door.”
In July, he spoke to People about their process. He said:
“This is absolutely John Lennon’s voice, taken off, as neat as we can, a cassette. And that’s all I can tell you!”
45 Years In The Making, ‘Now And Then’
The new single, ‘Now And Then’ took 45 years in the making; the first notes were written by John Lennon in 1978 and the song was finally completed last year. It will be the last song attributed to Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr and features all four Beatles.
In a recent interview with People, Sir Ringo Starr revealed that they had worked on the song before. He said:
“We did that in the ’90s, George, Paul and I, with the help of Jeff Lynne(the producer at that time), who took John‘s voice off a cassette. Whichever way he did that, I don’t know. Jeff is very… [he] dials in. And he had that job, and he was producing. When we did those two tracks, then we got to the third one, we felt we’d done enough, and we worked on it for 10 minutes.”
The Beatles apparently didn’t work much on ‘Now and Then’ in the 90s.
Was AI Used In ‘Now and Then’?
During the making of The Beatles’ ‘Get Back’ documentary, director Peter Jackson’s film company developed a software that allowed them to “de-mix” mixed recordings of overlapping sounds.
Unlike their later albums, the Beatles recorded their album ‘Revolver’s basic tracks direct to tape, standing in a circle, playing as a band. That made it almost impossible for future generations to separate and isolate the instruments and vocals. This technology was used last year to create a new mix of the band’s Revolver album. The producer Giles Martin clarified the issue in an interview with the BBC. He said:
“It has to learn what the sound of John Lennon’s guitar is, for instance, and the more information you can give it, the better it becomes.”
To answer the question, yes, artificial intelligence was used in the song, but not for John Lennon’s voice.
