A new Beatles song has been released, “Now and Then.” Everyone is talking about it despite the fact that it is not the perfect song, but a unique melody that takes us back in time when rock was in its best years.
John Lennon’s voice in those 4 minutes and 9 seconds blew everyone away and, thanks to artificial intelligence, the four of Liverpool were also able to reunite for the last time albeit from a distance.
Here are some trivia and secrets about how the Beatles’ new song came about.
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Now and then, the Beatles’ new song is available
Written and sung by John Lennon (with voice recreated by artificial intelligence), “Now and then” is a new Beatles song developed in the mid-1990s by Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr and now, after more than 40 years, finally finished and released.
Paul himself explained – in an interview for BBC Radio – that an artificial intelligence algorithm was used to extract the voices of John Lennon and George Harrison from some past songs.
It is a very long story about the Beatles’ unreleased track, which, as Paul explained, is a 1978 composition by Lennon recorded as a home audition in the Dakota Building in New York. But it is not the only song contained in the cassette of unreleased tracks delivered by Yoko Ono to McCartney in 1994: there are others that have not yet been released.
Some interesting facts about Now and Then by the Beatles
On the unreleased cassette tape it was simply written “For Paul,” and inside, in addition to the song “Now and Then”, there were other demos by John, “Free As A Bird” and “Real Love,” which were later completed and released as new Beatles songs.
But the song Now and Then needed different technology to be released. And that is why it was initially shelved only to be revived later.
After George Harrison’s passing in 2001, it seemed that everything was over until the documentary “The Beatles: Get Back,” a series directed by director Peter Jackson, was released. On this occasion they were able to experiment with technology that could separate voice and piano.
From here Lennon’s voice was extrapolated and accompanied by George’s 1995 recorded electric and acoustic guitar, a new drum part by Ringo, and Paul’s bass, guitar and piano tuned to John’s original playing. Paul then decided to also include a solo by George as a tribute and the chorus choruses with Ringo.
And that is how the latest song by the Liverpool four, officially back together (albeit distant) thanks to artificial intelligence, was born.
How and where to listen to the Beatles’ new song
As of 3 p.m. Nov. 2, the official video and audio of the Beatles’ new song, Now and Then, is available around the world.
You can listen to it conveniently from Youtube or in the many videos that are spreading across the web, from amateurs, fans and the curious who got to hear those notes and that voice that we have missed so much over the years.
Enjoy the moment, those 4 minutes or so, because as Sean Ono Lennon (John’s son) said, Now and Then “is like a time capsule and it’s as if everything was predestined to be that way.”
Read also: What is generative AI: all the latest developments of a revolutionizing technology
