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Paul McCartney told the BBCs Radio 4 Today program there will be one final record by The Beatles, with a debate already staring about the method used Artificial Intelligence.

McCartney doesnt identify the song by name, but said it originated from a cassette John Lennon had recorded as a demo tape.

When we came to make what will be the last Beatles song, it was a demo that John had that wed worked on, McCartney told the BBC.

McCartney said he learned how AI could be used from director Peter Jackson, director of the acclaimed Beatles 2021 documentary, Get Back.

They then decided to use the technique on the Lennon demo.

He was able to extricate Johns voice from a ropey little bit of cassette, McCartney told the BBC. It had Johns voice and a piano.

McCartney related how Jackson could separate Lennons voice from the instrument through the use of AI.

They could tell the machine Thats a voice. This is a guitar. Lose the guitar, and he did that, so it has great uses, McCartney said.

We were able to take Johns voice and get it pure through this AI so that then we could mix the record as you would normally do, so it gives you some sort of leeway, McCartney said in his BBC interview.

So theres a good side to it and theres a scary side and well just have to wait and see where it leads, McCartney told the BBC.

McCartney agreed to the BBC interview to promote his new book, 1964: Eyes of the Storm which contains photographs by a young McCartney during the year when Beatlemania swept the U.S., like it had already done in Britain.

It reveals McCartney to be a gifted amateur photographer in addition to his musical and songwriting talents.

Although McCartney did not name the song given the AI treatment and set to be released later this year, Beatles sleuths are centering on a Lennon song titled Now and Then as a likely candidate.

A number of reasons seem to indicate they could be right.

Now and Then had been included among of small number of demo tapes recorded o a cassette that Lennon left behind following his murder in December, 1980.

Lennon wrote For Paul on the cassette, which included several songs.

Two of the others, Free as a Bird and Real Love, were completed by McCartney, along with George Harrison and Ringo Starr, so all four Beatles were featured on the two recordings: Lennon through his original demo recordings, with McCartney, Harrison and Starr adding their contributions through overdubbing.

Both were released as new Beatles songs when they were respectively released on The Beatles Anthology 1 and Anthology 2.

Anthology 1, released in 1995 included Free as a Bird, while Anthology 2 released in 1996 had Real Love.

When Anthology 3 saw release, also in 1996, some Beatles aficionados expected to see another Lennon demo the one titled Now and Then included but it was not on the track list.

In later interviews, McCartney revealed they had indeed worked on the song, but Harrison didnt like it, calling it rubbish so all three ceased working on it.

If Now and Then is the song McCartney is referring to as the final record by The Beatles, it creates a question of how Harrisons part would be included.

The tantalizing confirmation by McCartney that he, Harrison and Starr worked on the track before dropping it due to Harrisons lack of enthusiasm is intriguing.

Does that mean Harrison had already played a guitar solo and maybe even added a vocal harmony that has now been enhanced by AI?

If he didnt, does that mean AI has been used to emulate a Harrison guitar solo and maybe even to emulate Harrisons voice for a high harmony?

I hope thats not the case. Enhancing what Harrison has already done is one thing which is what it seems like the AI enhancement was used for to extricate Lennons vocal from a demo recording.

However, using AI to create something simply to emulate what Harrison may have done is another matter. To quote Winston Churchill, its something up with which I will not put. (Churchill didnt like ending sentences with prepositions).

Of course, Sir Paul and Peter Jackson wont be swayed by that, but, as I said, debate is already beginning among music fans as to whether AI should be used to enhance recordings by The Beatles.

But has that already been done? In his BBC interview McCartney makes it sound as if AI has already been utilized by Jackson to enhance the sound on the hours-long Get Back documentary.

Now, I wonder if AI was used to access that secret recording of what Lennon and McCartney thought was a private conversation after Harrison angrily quit the group for a time during the Get Back sessions.

In that conversation, Lennon told McCartney they didnt give Harrison any bandages for his wounded feelings.

The Beatles often used technology to enhance their recordings. Even in their early days, they and producer George Martin would often double-track the lead vocals, which is one of the reasons they seemed to jump right out of the speakers.

In later days, they used everything from tapes loops to guitar recordings played backwards on tracks from Revolver.

Martin has said he cut up tapes of different sound effects, tossed them in the air, then gathered and spliced them together to create that cacophony of sound on Being For The Benefit of Mr Kite!

Think of how Lennon and Martin used studio effects to electronically alter Lennons voice on Lucy in The Sky With Diamonds.

Even earlier, on the Rubber Soul album, producer Martin used studio effects to speed up the arrangement for his classical harpsichord solo on what many consider one of Lennons greatest songs, "In My Life."

As for the results of the previous two Lennon demos enhanced by his fellow Beatles and producer Jef Lynne, of ELO and Traveling Wilburys fame, they were fine and did nothing to reduce The Beatles legacy, even if they didnt quite rise to the level of Strawberry Fields Forever or I Am the Walrus.

I became curious about Lennons demo of Now and Then and a search revealed numerous recordings of the song mostly enhanced by fans adding their own musical flourishes. Some are pretty good, with one group even claiming to be The Beatles playing the song on Anthology 3. I guess they forgot Now and Then is not included as an Anthology 3 track.

Now and Then does have an intriguing chord structure and a haunted Lennon vocal.

In 2016, a new video surfaced of Free as a Bird filled with references to other Beatles songs. Ive had lots of fun trying to spot them all from time-to-time.

Adding to the fun is that The Beatles from their various incarnations pop up throughout the video, such as the lovable mop-tops of their early era to the uniforms and mustaches from their Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band days.

Of course, I could look up all the references to songs by The Beatles in the Free as a Bird video, but wheres the fun in that? OK, the tombstone engraved with the name Eleanor Rigby may be a bit obvious, but other references take a bit more detecting.

I prefer that sense of accomplishment when I spot a nurse selling poppies from a tray.

One more thing. Paul McCartneys late wife, Linda, once related the last words Lennon said to McCartney during their final conversation together:

Think about me every now and then, old friend.

When that final recording by the Beatles is issued, Ill be listening.

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An AI in the Life: The Beatles and Artificial Intelligence - Mcalester News Capital