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It finally happened. We actually got a "new" Beatles record in the mid-2020s. If you’d told a fan in the nineties that Peter Jackson—the guy who made Lord of the Rings—would be the one to basically save a lost John Lennon vocal, they’d have called you crazy. But Every Now and Then is real. It’s out. It’s haunting. And honestly, it’s a lot more complicated than just a simple "reunion" track.
Most people think this was just a quick polish of an old tape. It wasn't. This was a decades-long technological nightmare that required a literal AI intervention to solve.
The cassette in the drawer
Back in 1994, Yoko Ono handed Paul McCartney a cassette. It was a grainy, lo-fi recording John had made at his piano in the Dakota building around 1977 or 1978. It had a few songs on it: "Free as a Bird," "Real Love," and this specific demo. George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Paul got together with producer Jeff Lynne to try and finish them. They did "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love," which both came out with that signature, slightly cloudy Lynne production.
But when they got to Every Now and Then, they hit a wall. A big one.
The technical quality was a disaster. On the original tape, John's piano was so loud it almost entirely buried his voice. In the nineties, you couldn't just "un-mix" a mono recording. If you turned up the vocal, the piano got deafening. George Harrison apparently hated the technical struggle so much he reportedly called the demo "f***ing rubbish," not because of the song itself, but because the buzzing and poor audio quality made it feel impossible to work with. They shelved it. For nearly thirty years, it sat there, a legend among bootleggers.
How "MAL" changed the game
Fast forward to the work on the Get Back documentary. Peter Jackson’s team at WingNut Films developed a software they called "MAL" (Machine Audio Learning). It’s not "AI" in the sense of a robot writing lyrics; it’s a source separation tool. It’s trained to recognize the specific frequency patterns of a human voice versus a piano or a guitar.
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Basically, Paul realized that if MAL could strip apart the chaotic rooftop concert audio, it could finally rescue John’s voice from that 1970s cassette.
They ran the demo through the software. Suddenly, John’s voice was dry, clear, and isolated. You could hear him breathe. You could hear the room. Once they had that "clean" vocal, Paul and Ringo could actually play along to it. They weren't playing to a fuzzy ghost anymore; they were playing to their friend.
What’s actually in the final mix?
A lot of listeners get confused about who is playing what. It’s a bit of a musical collage. Paul added a new bass line that’s very "late-era Beatles," melodic and thumping. Ringo did the drums in his signature style—behind the beat, perfectly simple.
But what about George?
Since George passed away in 2001, he obviously couldn't record new parts for the 2023 release. However, the song uses the acoustic guitar tracks he recorded during those failed sessions in 1995. Paul also added a slide guitar solo that serves as a direct tribute to George’s iconic playing style. It’s a weird, beautiful mix of 1977, 1995, and 2023.
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Why it doesn't sound like "Sgt. Pepper"
Some critics complained that the song is too simple. It’s a ballad. It’s melancholic. It’s not "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." But you have to remember where John was when he wrote it. He was in his "househusband" phase, reflecting on his life, his mistakes, and his friendships.
The lyrics are sparse.
"I know it's true, it's all because of you."
It feels like a letter.
The song lacks the experimental psychedelia of their mid-career work because it wasn't written by a group of twenty-somethings in a studio in 1967. It was written by a man in his late thirties looking back. The 2023 arrangement by Giles Martin (George Martin’s son) adds strings that give it a "Strawberry Fields" swell, but the core of Every Now and Then remains an intimate, lonely melody.
Addressing the "AI" controversy
There’s a lot of misinformation out there saying this song is "AI-generated." That is factually wrong.
- No "fake" John: This is 100% John Lennon’s original performance from the demo.
- No "fake" Paul: Every note Paul sings or plays is him.
- The "AI" part: The technology was only used as a "surgical tool" to remove background noise and separate instruments. It’s the same tech used to remaster old movies or clean up historical archives.
If they hadn't used this software, the song would still be sitting in a vault, unlistenable to anyone but the most hardcore bootleg collectors who don't mind the hiss.
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The emotional weight of the ending
The music video, directed by Peter Jackson, leans heavily into the nostalgia. It shows the young Beatles messing around with the older versions of themselves. It’s a bit jarring for some, but it underscores the point of the project: closure.
For Paul and Ringo, this was likely the last time they would ever "collaborate" with John and George. When the song fades out with those final harmonies, it marks the definitive end of the Beatles' recording career. It’s not meant to be a chart-topping pop banger. It’s a goodbye.
How to appreciate "Every Now and Then" properly
To really "get" this song, you shouldn't listen to it on tinny phone speakers. The layers are subtle.
- Listen for the "Count-in": At the very beginning, you can hear the studio chatter. It grounds the song in reality.
- Focus on the Bass: Paul’s bass work here is some of his most emotional in years. He’s not showing off; he’s supporting John’s vocal.
- Compare to the Bootleg: If you can find the original piano demo on YouTube, listen to it first. You will be shocked at how much "junk" the engineers had to strip away to find the song underneath.
- Watch the "Now and Then - The Last Beatles Song" documentary: It’s a short film that shows the actual MAL software in action. Seeing the waveform of the piano literally disappear to leave the vocal alone is mind-blowing.
The song is a bridge across time. It isn't perfect, and it isn't the best thing they ever wrote. But it's a genuine piece of history that survived through sheer technological will and a lot of love from the remaining members.
Actionable insights for the listener
If you’re looking to dive deeper into the technical side of how this was made, look into "De-mixing" technology or "Source Separation" in digital audio workstations. This tech is now becoming available to the public through various plugins, allowing home producers to do exactly what Peter Jackson did—though maybe not with the same multi-million dollar precision.
Check out the Revolver Special Edition (2022) to hear more of this tech in action; that was the first time they really used it to create a new stereo mix from the original four-track tapes. It’s the future of music preservation.