The surviving members of the Fab Four — Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr — came together to release the last Beatles song composed by John Lennon. The song’s record producer, Giles Martin, shared that John wrote the song as a tribute to his bandmates. “Maybe that’s because it makes me happy to think that,” he said.
However, Peter Jackson, the band’s Get Back 2021 documentary director, thinks John wrote specifically to Paul because they shared a mutual experience, adding that this motivated him to finish the song for his late friend. Paul also came under fire for announcing the involvement of AI in its recreation.
Paul and John’s relationship
Although their relationship deteriorated as The Beatles approached their inevitable split, Paul was arguably John’s most trusted mate. “Paul truly loved John, and without question, they missed each other,” Martin said. “There were only four Beatles, and like trauma, they were the only ones who could understand because they’re the only ones who experienced it.”
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The pair eventually made up before John’s tragic murder in December 1980. Paul admitted to thinking about John a lot and has a great relationship with his late friend’s son, Sean. “Paul is a hero to me, on the same shelf as my dad,” Sean said in 2022. “They’ve had tensions in the past, and no one is trying to deny it.”
Martin clarifies Paul’s AI claim
“Now And Then” was produced by Martin and Paul, and features guitar renditions from the late George Harrison, with bass and drums from, respectively, Paul and Ringo. Composer Ben Foster also collaborated with Martin and Paul to add a new overlay of strings.
However, artificial intelligence was used to “separate John’s voice from the instrumentation,” but fans assumed the technology was used to create John’s vocals. “It does involve AI, but not how people think it does. It’s non-generative, purely archeological,” Martin said. “What we’re hearing is what he was singing in the room.” The newly released track is a part of the remastered The Blue Album which was released alongside The Red Album.
So, the answer to this question is, who knows? With the onslaught of AI, anything is possible. Only time will tell.