In with BBC4, former Beatle, Paul McCartney was asked about AI and how it’s been used to make his voice sound younger…
And how it might be used resurrect the voices of his late fellow band members John Lennon and George Harrison,
McCartney explained
We just finished it up and it’ll be released this year.“
He didn’t say the name of the song, but it is expected to be a ’78 composition from Lennon called Now And Then. McCartney was given that demo by Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono in 1994, and it is said to be of a number of songs on a tape labelled “For Paul” that he had made before his death in 1980.
In the mid-’90s, McCartney, Ringo Starr and the late George Harrison worked together unsuccessfully to try and finish their former bandmate’s Now And Then demo, but it was a no-go.
Paul McCartney says artificial intelligence has enabled a "final" Beatles song https://t.co/aVuLHEwryc
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) June 13, 2023
McCartney told Q magazine in 1997,
George didn’t like it.
The Beatles being a democracy, we didn’t do it.”
McCartney also used AI to “duet” with Lennon during his recent tour,
[‘The Beatles: Get Back’ director Peter Jackson] was able to extricate John’s voice from a ropey little bit of cassette.
We had John’s voice and a piano, and he could separate them with AI. They tell the machine,
‘That’s the voice. This is a guitar. Lose the guitar.’”
So when we came to make what will be the last Beatles record, it was a demo that John had [and] we were able to take John’s voice and get it pure through this AI.
Then we can mix the record, as you would normally do. So, it gives you some sort of leeway.”
If John Lennon & the Beatles can make new music, I guess we’re not far away from seeing Marilyn Monroe star in Something’s Got to Give, her last unfinished film shot in 1962. Now AI can finish it, 60 years after her death.
(Photo, YouTube; via HuffPost)
