Thanks to Paul McCartney and AI technology, the unfinished song demo will finally be finalized now and then. Would John Lennon have allowed this? By: Neil McCormick, Music Critic / The Daily Telegraph
Translated by: Telegrafi.com
Paul McCartney has announced that [the group] The Beatles will return with the last song, complete with the help of artificial intelligence. It's a notion that may seem inherently disturbing to some fans: the beloved band that broke up 53 years ago, with only two members still living, is resurrected by the power of technology. ARE Chat, Paul, Bard and Ringo - The Remanufactured Quartet (and ½).
However, before we get too dystopian about Beatle worlds and visions of Lucy in the SkyNet with Rhinestones [The Beatles have sung the song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds - Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. The title mentioned by the author is related to the apocalyptic artificial intelligence system SkyNet - in the Terminator films - while Rhineston is a fake diamond - translator's note], it is worth taking a closer look at what is really going on.
The song is titled now and then [Now and then], originally recorded on tape as a rough piano demo - by John Lennon in 1978, two years before his murder. It is a reliable recording, with background noise, in which Lennon performs - as expected, in a somber tone - and sings a sweet, melancholic melody in a soft falsetto, breaking into indistinct murmurs to fill in the [later] unfinished verses. The tone is an apology for love and includes an immortal couplet: If you must go / Nda-da-doo doo doo and I want to de-ne-dunna dee / I du-duh come back to me.
The tape was later given to McCartney - by Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono - with John's handwritten note, which simply said "For Paul". It lends a poignant aspect to the song, which could be interpreted as addressing the relationship between the two longtime collaborators: Now and then I miss you / Every now and then I want you to come back to me.
The three surviving Beatles have made an attempt to turn it into a new Beatles song - for the project Anthology in 1995. According to producer Jeff Lynne, they spent a day creating a "backing track, a difficult job that we didn't actually finish". McCartney later claimed that Harrison declared the song "rubbish", prompting them to abandon it.
Since Harrison's death in 2001, the basis of "democratic" power has shifted. "This [song] is still dragging on," McCartney noted in 2012, when he promised to "finish it one of these days."
Well, the day has come because technology has improved. AI [artificial intelligence] has become a useful but often misused term for all sorts of computer programming advances. McCartney did not include Lennon's lyrics in the ChatGPT, to fill in the gaps, nor did he use a vocal emulator to recreate evidence of Lennon's voice - both of which are now possible.
McCartney actually used the technology developed for the documentary Get Back Peter Jackson's 2021 album, where computers were trained to recognize the Beatles' voices and separate them from background noise and other instruments, creating "clean" audio. The isolation and enhancement of Lennon's vocals means the original demo can be brought up to modern studio standards, with McCartney himself finishing the song. Harrison, despite his reported views, will also be there with the 1995 tracks.
However, as Jeff Goldblum, the concerned scientist in [the film] has said Jurassic Park : "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should." There is growing controversy over fake pop being created using AI emulators of current stars, such as Drake, Rihanna and Kanye West.
As it stands, copyright laws make it difficult for AI to make money when it imitates living artists. On the other hand, entirely AI-generated pop could soon flood streaming sites, like a kind of AI muzak [background music played in stores and other public institutions - note transl.], offering low-cost licensed alternatives to human-generated content. And there are concerns about rights holders for dead stars licensing AI-cloned voices. We already have remix albums - of stars from Elvis Presley to Billie Holiday - with new contemporary or orchestral backing tracks. Could we soon be faced with entirely new music, supposedly by [names like] Elvis, Jimi Hendrix, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Amy Winehouse or even The Beatles, without the involvement of their last living members, McCartney and Ringo Starr? Would the late George Harrison agree with this, as his estate heirs apparently did? What would John Lennon do with such an informal and evolving vocal, exploding around the world as a golden note to his stellar career?
McCartney himself admitted he has reservations about using AI in music. “It’s kind of scary, but exciting, because it’s the future. We’ll just have to see where it goes.” But we’re already standing on the precipice of something that will almost certainly change pop music – forever.
Meanwhile, Beatles fans have one last chance to hear the four members of a beloved band as they add a new song to their incredible legacy. A sad ballad of loyalty and reconciliation, it could provide a sweet nod to the Beatles’ history. Let’s be honest, every fan of the band wants to hear it. McCartney has called it “the final Beatles recording.” But is it really? Or, another step toward an AI pop future in which careers never end, but continue to be augmented by ever-more-forged iterations by generations of computers. Maybe it’s time for the Beatles to let it be.Let it be]. /Telegraph/
