Paul McCartney Says “Final Beatles Record” In Works With AI-Assisted John Lennon Vocal
deadline.comPaul McCartney says he’s using artificial intelligence technology to “extricate” the vocals of his former bandmate John Lennon from an old demo to create a “final Beatles record.” In an interview with the BBC, McCartney said the song – which he did not identify, but which many fans believe to be the 1978 Lennon song “Now and Then” – will be released this year.
If the song is, indeed, “Now and Then,” it would be the third and final song worked on by McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr after Yoko Ono gave them Lennon’s 1978 demos for use on the 1995 Beatles Anthology project.
Lennon’s widow provided the surviving Beatles with a cassette tape of the four Lennon demos, but only two of the songs – “Free As A Bird” and “Real Love” – were deemed usable for the project. (The fourth song was “Grow Old With Me.”) “Free As A Bird” and “Real Love” were cleaned up by producer Jeff Lynne and included on Anthology.
McCartney, Harrison and Starr recorded a backing track for “Now and Then,” but McCartney would say in later interviews that the sound quality of Lennon’s voice on “Now and Then” was “rubbish,” and that Harrison nixed its inclusion on the Anthology release.
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