The Beatles may be potentially teasing the release of their “final” song after the band’s social media accounts have shared a cryptic post.
READ MORE: The Beatles: every song ranked in order of greatness
Today (October 25), a clip of an orange and white cassette tape with the tape reel winding was posted on the band’s X/Twitter and Instagram accounts as well as the landing page of The Beatles’ official website.
The bottom left corner of the tape reads “Type I (Normal) Position” and there appear to be words on the bottom right corner of the tape that are intentionally blurred out. Below the visual is an email subscription box in which fans can use to subscribe to the band’s mailing list for any news and updates.
It appears that this may be linked to the long-awaited release of Paul McCartney’s and Ringo Starr’s AI-developed “final” track to feature all four members.
https://t.co/WD7FPPbm1P pic.twitter.com/xEXToI76E2
— The Beatles (@thebeatles) October 25, 2023
Back in June, Sir Paul McCartney said that artificial intelligence had allowed him to create a “final” song by The Beatles — which at the time was set for release later in the year.
The legendary singer-songwriter and bassist discussed the prospect during an interview with Radio 4’s Today Programme, and revealed that AI technology allowed him to “extricate” John Lennon’s vocals from an old demo track — meaning he could complete the song.
Though it has not been confirmed by Macca, it seems likely that the track will be one developed by John Lennon back in 1978, titled ‘Now And Then’.
“[Peter Jackson] was able to extricate John’s voice from a ropey little bit of cassette,” he said during the Radio 4 interview, discussing how the method used in the Get Back documentary helped him work on ‘Now And Then’. “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.”
Ringo Starr previously shared his thoughts on the upcoming “Last” Beatles song, saying that the final result sounds “beautiful”.
Speaking with Variety, the musician clarified that the song is made using authentic recordings from the time and that fans needn’t worry about the whole thing being reliant on artificial intelligence.
musicians George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, circa 1965. Credit: Bettmann via GETTY
“It’s not down to AI,” he said. “It’s not like we’re pretending anything. That is actually John’s voice, Paul’s voice and bass playing, George [Harrison] on rhythm guitar and me on drums.
“The two things that are new are Paul’s bass and me on drums… I really worked at it just months ago here. And it works,” he added. “It’s a beautiful song. You know, for all the madness going on around it, it’s still a beautiful track. And our last track.”
According to the interview, the “new” song is one that McCartney, Starr and Harrison first attempted to make in the ’90s using scraps of songs that they found written by Lennon.
As for why they chose to revisit the project in 2023, Starr joked: “I don’t know. Paul must’ve had a slow day.”
“He says, ‘You know that track we did? Do you want to work on that?’” he added, saying how he went to re-record the drums and backing vocals for the song. “It is moving, because the four of us are there, and there won’t be ever again.”
In other Beatles news, George Harrison’s witty response to being stabbed 40 times was revealed in a new biography.
Titled George Harrison: The Reluctant Beatle, the biography discussed the 1999 incident, which left the musician fighting for his life. In the book, the incident is described in detail and it is also revealed how Harrison described the attack to his son Dhani with a darkly witty sense of humour.
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