The Beatles
Great effort behind “Now and Then”
The Beatles – here in 1969 – were Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon and George Harrison (from left to right)
© IMAGO/ZUMA Wire
Thanks to AI, a final Beatles song was released in November and has been topping the charts ever since. There is a great effort behind this.
But behind the final Beatles act there is an enormous effort that is unparalleled in the realization of a single song. And of course – which has become almost normal in today’s times – artificial intelligence has also made a not entirely insignificant contribution. An overview.
In 1995, the still living Beatles gathered in the studio to garnish their best-of albums “Anthology” with previously unreleased songs. Of all people, the controversial Lennon widow Yoko Ono (90) handed over two cassettes in the 1990s with permission to finish the songs.
John Lennon demos were finalized into songs as early as 1995
The still living members Ringo Starr (83), Paul McCartney (81) and George Harrison met in a studio at the time. There they created two new Beatles songs “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love”. The special thing: They used the demo recordings Lennon left behind as a basis and rearranged the songs around them. The result were two typical Beatles songs that are basically indistinguishable from older recordings.
However, there was another song that disappeared back into the drawers: “Now and Then”. The song was originally composed by Lennon in the late 1970s, and in 1979 he recorded an unfinished version on his legendary grand piano in his New York apartment in the Dakota Building. Unfortunately, Lennon only left a sketchy draft: Although there was an almost finished chorus, large parts of the verses were missing.
The reason for the roll backwards in the 90s: a technical flaw made completion impossible. A very loud hum could be heard on the original track, which could not be completely eliminated with the options available at the time. Although Harrison, McCartney and Starr worked on the song for a total of two days and even recorded a backing track, they abandoned their work unfinished. In a later interview, McCartney spoke of the sound quality of the Lennon demos left behind as “fucking garbage”.
Paul McCartney wanted to release “Now and Then” back then
In 1997, McCartney explained that he actually wanted to release “Now and Then”, but Harrison prevented that. The band was always a democracy, said McCartney, “that’s why we didn’t do it.” However, after Harrison’s death in 2001, rumors continued to arise that McCartney and Starr wanted to complete the project at some point.
In 2012, McCartney announced his intentions in a BBC documentary: “It’s still lying around, so I’m going to […] make him. One day I’ll finish it.” McCartney then confirmed only this year that the old demo recordings and the recordings from the 90s had been brought together. The song was also finished with the help of artificial intelligence .
Also telling the BBC, McCartney explained that the AI was able to filter out Lennon’s singing: “It’s scary, but also exciting.” Paul and Ringo took John’s ’70s vocals and George’s ’90s guitar sounds and added bass, piano, drums and a Harrison-inspired guitar solo. Both can also be heard as background singers in the chorus.
Peter Jackson created the video for the Beatles song “Now and Then”
The whole process was also accompanied visually: The Beatles released one parallel to the song at the beginning of November approximately twelve minute long short film, in which they shed light on the genesis of “Now and Then”. The release of the song is rounded off by one Video directed by “Lord of the Rings” creator Peter Jackson (62).which also brings together all former Beatles members with all sorts of technical gadgets for the song.
Just a few days after the release of “Now and Then”, the record company Universal announced that it would release the compilation milestones “1962-1966 (The Red Album)” and “1967-1970 (The Blue Album)” revised and onto the market . The editions would also include the “new” Beatles song “Now and Then” and a total of 21 additional songs that were not heard in the original edition of the best-of albums.