The most awaited song Now and then, by The Beatles, was finally released on Thursday. Using artificial intelligence, the surviving band members dusted off an old demo recorded by John Lennon in the 1970s. The result is moving.

The melancholic ballad was originally written in 1977 by John Lennon, leader of the Fab Four. In the demo, the latter accompanies himself alone at the piano in his New York apartment.

With the help of producer Giles Martin, Paul McCartney spent several years breathing new life into the song, which also features a guitar part recorded by George Harrison in 1995 and drums and vocals by Ringo Starr in 2022.

In a short explanatory film entitled Now and then – The last Beatles songwe learn that detailed work on the title began in 1994 when Yoko Ono, John Lennon’s widow, sent three demos to Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the late George Harrison.

The first two songs, Free as a bird And Real lovewere launched in 1995 and 1996 as part of the extensive multimedia project The Beatles Anthology.

It was close to having John in the same room as us.

The third part had been omitted, John Lennon’s voice was buried under the sound of his piano. The Beatles then decided to wait as they did not have the necessary technical means to properly isolate each individual track.

Technology by Peter Jackson

This technological breakthrough came almost 30 years later when Peter Jackson was working on it Come back, the almost eight-hour documentary series about the creation of the album let it be.

We have developed technology that allows us to record any soundtrack and extract the different components into separate tracks using machine learningexplains the director Now and then – The last Beatles song.

The original recording of John Lennon was sent to Peter Jackson’s team, who managed to greatly improve the quality so that the singer’s voice was no longer overwhelmed by the piano. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr then recorded new bass parts, drums, and additional vocals and strings to complete the song.

My father would have liked it because he was never afraid to experiment with new recording techniques. I think it’s really beautifulsays Sean Lennon, son of John Lennon, in the Beatles short film.

With information from Rolling Stone and CBC News