The legendary English rock band is back with a new song, with the help of AI.
Billed as the band’s ‘final song’ together, The Beatles finally released Now and Then—a fitting tune for longtime lovers of the Fab Four. After decades, the Lennon-penned songs that were handed in demo form to Paul McCartney in 1994 came to completion.
To recap, McCartney and the rest of The Beatles turned the 1978 cassette recordings of John Lennon into songs, Free As a Bird and Real Love, which both became Top 5 hits in the UK in December 1995 and March 1996, respectively. This time, the final song, Now and Then, which was produced with the help of artificial intelligence, entered at Number 42 before jumping into the top spot, previously held by Jung Kook’s Standing Next to You and Taylor Swift’s Is It Over Now?
‘Now and Then’: The Beatles’ Final Song
In stark contrast to the relatively straightforward process of producing Free as a Bird and Real Love, completing Now and Then turned into a demanding and challenging endeavor. Initially, the song’s scarcity of substantial verses and the presence of background noise led to the belief that it might be irreparable, a point where most might have given up. However, McCartney’s relentless determination and unwavering faith in the song’s potential refused to let it go.
With the making of The Beatles: Get Back documentary series, Peter Jackson’s company was able to develop software that allows the de-mixing of muddled recordings of overlapping sounds. This technology allowed for the lifting of Lennon’s voice from the original cassette recording, removing the background hiss and the hums that hampered previous attempts to complete the song.
With Lennon’s voice now crystal clear, the song was finalized last year by the remaining Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, who added instrumentation and light orchestration. This also involved incorporating George Harrison’s electric and acoustic guitar parts, originally recorded in 1995.
Despite the time it took to complete, Now and Then serves as a poignant and fitting conclusion to the band’s musical legacy, with a chorus that reads like a heartfelt love letter to their former bandmates: “And now and then/ If we must start again/ Well, we will know for sure/ That I love you.â€
While most fans were absolutely thrilled with how it turned out, a few had some reservations, especially regarding the use of AI. Probably this is not how Lennon would have wanted the song to sound, and maybe it could not live up to the iconic hits that preceded it. Nevertheless, looking back on the band’s incredible journey, Now and Then stands as a powerful tribute to nostalgia and a profound yearning for the past. As the late George Harrison aptly put it, “To hear John’s voice, that’s what we should cherish.“
