Paul McCartney employs AI to bring back John Lennon’s voice for the last Beatles track.

Paul McCartney Brings John Lennon’s Voice Back to Life with AI for Final Beatles Song

“For Paul.”

That’s what John Lennon had labeled the cassette tape he gave to his former Beatles bandmate and songwriting partner before his death in 1980. The tape contained several songs, including an unfinished love song called “Now and Then.”

For decades, Paul McCartney had wanted to do something with the song, but the technology just didn’t exist to pull it off. But now, more than 40 years later, McCartney has employed AI technology to bring Lennon’s voice back into the studio for a do-over to create what he’s calling “the final Beatles record.”

It’s widely believed that the recording will be “Now and Then.” Peter Jackson’s 2021 Beatles documentary, “Get Back,” was the catalyst for the new recording.

How AI Brought Lennon’s Voice Back to Life

“Dialogue editor Emile de la Rey trained computers to [recognize] the Beatles’ voices and separate them from background noises, and even their own instruments, to create ‘clean’ audio,” according to the BBC.

“He [Jackson] was able to extricate John’s voice from a ropey little bit of cassette,” McCartney told BBC’s Martha Kearney. “We had John’s voice and a piano and he could separate them with AI. They tell the machine, ‘That’s a voice. This is a guitar. Lose the guitar.'”

“[W]e 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. It gives you some sort of leeway.”

The new-old song will be released this year, McCartney said.

McCartney’s Thoughts on AI in Music

The rock pioneer said he is all in favor of using artificial intelligence in music applications. In fact, he used a similar process last year at the Glastonbury Festival to sing a “duet” with Lennon, according to ABC.

“There’s a good side to it, and then a scary side,” McCartney told Kearney. “We’ll just have to see where that leads.”

McCartney appeared on the show to talk about his new book, “Eyes of the Storm,” which features more than 250 pictures he shot of his fellow Beatles bandmates at the start of the band’s rise to fame in the early 1960s. A photo exhibition by the same name will open later this month at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Get ready to hear John Lennon’s voice once again, thanks to the power of AI.

• Paul McCartney has used AI technology to bring John Lennon’s voice back to life for the final Beatles song.
• The song is believed to be “Now and Then,” an unfinished love song that Lennon had given to McCartney on a cassette tape labeled “For Paul.”
• The new-old song will be released this year.
• McCartney is in favor of using AI in music applications, but acknowledges that there is a “scary side” to it.