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91ƵNow and Then91Ƶ: the last Beatles song now available for your ears

Lennon demo reworked by Starr and McCartney with old Harrison bits and the help of AI
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FILE -The Beatles, foreground from left, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, John Lennon and Ringo Starr on drums perform on the CBS 91ƵEd Sullivan Show91Ƶ in New York on Feb. 9, 1964. Sixty years after the onset of Beatlemania and with two of the quartet now dead, artificial intelligence has enabled the release of a 91Ƶnew91Ƶ Beatles song.91ƵNow And Then,91Ƶ will be available Thursday, Nov. 2. (AP Photo/File)

The is here.

Titled 91ƵNow and Then,91Ƶ the almost impossible-to-believe track is four minutes and eight seconds of the first and only original Beatles recording of the 21st century. There91Ƶs a countdown, then acoustic guitar strumming and piano bleed into the unmistakable vocal tone of John Lennon in the song91Ƶs introduction: 91ƵI know it91Ƶs true / It91Ƶs all because of you / And if I make it through / It91Ƶs all because of you.91Ƶ

More than four decades since Lennon91Ƶs murder and two since George Harrison91Ƶs death, the very last Beatles song has been released as a double A-side single with 91ƵLove Me Do,91Ƶ the band91Ƶs 1962 debut single.

91ƵNow and Then91Ƶ comes from the written by Lennon in the 1970s, which were given to his former bandmates by Yoko Ono. They used the tape to construct the songs 91ƵFree As a Bird91Ƶ and 91ƵReal Love,91Ƶ released in the mid-1990s. But there were technical limitations to finishing 91ƵNow and Then.91Ƶ

On Wednesday, a short film titled 91ƵThe Beatles 91Ƶ Now And Then 91Ƶ The Last Beatles Song91Ƶ was released, detailing the creation of the track. On the original tape, Lennon91Ƶs voice was hidden; the piano was 91Ƶhard to hear,91Ƶ as Paul McCartney describes it. 91ƵAnd in those days, of course, we didn91Ƶt have the technology to do the separation.91Ƶ

That changed in 2022, when the band 91Ƶ now a duo 91Ƶ was able to utilize the same technical restoration methods that separated the Beatles91Ƶ voices from background sounds during the making of director , 91ƵThe Beatles: Get Back.91Ƶ And so, they were able to isolate Lennon91Ƶs voice from the original cassette and complete 91ƵNow and Then91Ƶ using machine learning.

When the song was first , McCartney described artificial intelligence technology as 91Ƶkind of scary but exciting,91Ƶ adding: 91ƵWe will just have to see where that leads.91Ƶ

91ƵTo still be working on Beatles91Ƶ music in 2023 91Ƶ wow,91Ƶ he said in 91ƵThe Beatles 91Ƶ Now And Then 91Ƶ The Last Beatles Song.91Ƶ 91ƵWe91Ƶre actually messing around with state-of-the-art technology, which is something the Beatles would91Ƶve been very interested in.91Ƶ

91ƵThe rumors were that we just made it up,91Ƶ Ringo Starr of Lennon91Ƶs contributions to the forthcoming track in September. 91ƵLike we would do that anyway.91Ƶ

91ƵThis is the last track, ever, that you91Ƶll get the four Beatles on the track. John, Paul, George, and Ringo,91Ƶ he continued.

McCartney and Starr built the track from Lennon91Ƶs demo, adding guitar parts George Harrison wrote in the 1995 sessions and a slide guitar solo in his signature style. McCartney and Starr tracked their bass and drum contributions. A string arrangement was written with the help of , son of the late Beatles producer George Martin 91Ƶ a clever recall to the classic ambitiousness of 91ƵStrawberry Fields,91Ƶ or 91ƵYesterday,91Ƶ or 91ƵI Am the Walrus.91Ƶ Those musicians couldn91Ƶt be told they were contributing to the last ever Beatles track, so McCartney played it off like a solo endeavor.

On Friday, an official music video for 91ƵNow and Then,91Ƶ directed by Jackson, will premiere on the Beatles91Ƶ YouTube channel. It was created using footage McCartney and Starr took of themselves performing, 14 hours of 91Ƶlong forgotten film shot during the 1995 recording sessions, including several hours of Paul, George and Ringo working on 91ƵNow and Then,91Ƶ91Ƶ Jackson said in a statement.

It also uses previously unseen home movie footage provided by Lennon91Ƶs son Sean and Olivia Harrison, George91Ƶs wife, and 91Ƶa few precious seconds of The Beatles performing in their leather suits, the earliest known film of The Beatles and never seen before,91Ƶ provided by Pete Best, the band91Ƶs original drummer.

91ƵThe result is pretty nutty and provided the video with much needed balance between the sad and the funny,91Ƶ said Jackson.





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