Tim Cook highlights The Beatles' last song on Apple Music

Minor errors in your story: "Free as a Bird" was released in 1995, not 1985, and "Real Love" was released in 1996, not 1988. I have good memories of the release of those songs because I worked in radio at the time … and as a young adult then, I never thought I'd have the privilege of talking about brand new Beatles songs to listeners.

You are correct in noting that "Now and Then" was originally planned for release in the same time frame. All three songs originated as demo recordings by John Lennon in 1977.

So the song was originally recorded as a demo by John Lennon in 1977, after the Beatles broke up.  They used AI to strip the vocals and put fresh music behind it.  Did Ringo play drums and Paul play guitar or bass on the re-recorded music backing Lennon's vocals?

If not is it really a Beatles song or more of a John Lennon song?/edit. Actually the wikipedia page for the song has a lot of information on what went into making this release happen.  Interesting read.  In short: Yes, all the Beatles worked on this track at some point over the decades.

cia said:

Did Ringo play drums and Paul play guitar or bass on the re-recorded music backing Lennon's vocals? If not is it really a Beatles song or more of a John Lennon song?

Yes, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney recently recorded their parts for "Now and Then." George Harrison recorded a guitar part for the song back in 1995. To me, this is a true Beatles song.

It would be reasonable to argue that John Lennon is not truly "original" in this recording given that software was used to create a clean audio track of his vocals, removing Lennon's simultaneously-recorded piano performance. In other words, is this essentially an "authorized deepfake?" But given that the vocal track used here was apparently made from his 1977 cassette recording (or if not from it, at least to very closely duplicate it), and also that Paul, Ringo, and the families of John and George were all involved in the making of "Now and Then," my feeling is that this song is very much an authentic, original Beatles song.

As for the AI-based deepfakes that will likely be made in "the style of the Beatles" 20 or 25 years from now when they've all passed … not so much.

The "making of" video on YouTube was actually really neat to watch.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APJAQoSCwuA

john-useless said:

cia said:

Did Ringo play drums and Paul play guitar or bass on the re-recorded music backing Lennon's vocals? If not is it really a Beatles song or more of a John Lennon song?

Yes, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney recently recorded their parts for "Now and Then." George Harrison recorded a guitar part for the song back in 1995. To me, this is a true Beatles song.

It would be reasonable to argue that John Lennon is not truly "original" in this recording given that software was used to create a clean audio track of his vocals, removing Lennon's simultaneously-recorded piano performance. In other words, is this essentially an "authorized deepfake?" But given that the vocal track used here was apparently made from his 1977 cassette recording (or if not from it, at least to very closely duplicate it), and also that Paul, Ringo, and the families of John and George were all involved in the making of "Now and Then," my feeling is that this song is very much an authentic, original Beatles song.

As for the AI-based deepfakes that will likely be made in "the style of the Beatles" 20 or 25 years from now when they've all passed … not so much.

The vocal is not a deepfake. It’s using tech to do what you mentally do yourself any time you listen carefully and try to focus on one part of what you’re hearing. It’s like listening to someone talk to you in a crowded room with other sounds and conversations going on, for instance. Musicians are always mentally focusing on and tracking one vocal or instrument in a song. That’s what this tech did with Lennon’s vocal. It simply lifted the information representing Lennon’s voice out of the mono tape recording and left all the other sounds behind. 

Back in 1995, that tech wasn’t available, so there was no way to set his vocal at an appropriate up-front level without having his piano playing also up-front and too loud. So they put it in the shelf, unfinished. Now they have the means to separate the vocal and make it usable. that’s not the same thing as deepfake, which is creating something fake that never actually happened.