Beatlemaniacs celebrated John Lennon’s 83rd birthday
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Songs from half a century ago have made sense again
On October 9th, Beatlemaniacs have an annual reason to gather to celebrate John Lennon’s birthday. The founder of The Beatles would have turned eighty-three years old, quite a rock and roll age, judging by the lifestyle that Paul McCartney or Mick Jagger lead now. And despite his physical absence of 42 years, Lennon, like his living and living colleagues, regularly makes the news.
For the modern Beatle story, we have technology to thank first and foremost. That same artificial intelligence, now called by all and sundry the killer of any creative process, has given fans of The Beatles and those simply not indifferent to music many exciting moments.
Peter Jackson’s monumental documentary The Beatles: Get Back served as a magnifying glass into the recording process of Let It Be, one of the band’s classic albums. And it was artificial intelligence that allowed the project team to turn the sound recorded more than half a century ago into a new audio adventure. In fact, the computer learned to distinguish between the voices of the quartet members and the sound of the instruments they played, which made it possible to “disassemble” the archival mono recording and make a new mix for the album’s songs.
A year after the film’s release, Paul McCartney prepared almost a duet with John for the Got Back tour, highlighting Lennon’s vocals using the same technology. The result is that Paul (on stage) and John (on screen) perform I’ve Got A Feeling, bringing the audience to euphoria at every show. Artificial intelligence helped McCartney complete the song Now and Then, a demo of which Lennon recorded in 1971, but the verses, unlike the chorus, then resembled sketches rather than finished lyrics. The track was promised to be released at the end of this year, which will probably give Beatlemaniacs new joy.
The explosion of technology and its influence on the musical process is, of course, impressive, but in the case of Lennon it does not change much. The same voice sounds on both the polished and archival recordings. Sometimes harsh and even rude, but at the same time filled with vulnerability and doubt and, of course, rock and roll passion. Everyone who worked with The Beatles in the studio said in their memoirs that the musician himself hated his own voice and constantly asked to edit it somehow. But in the end, it was Lennon who voiced thoughts in his songs that very radically influenced the worldview of millions of people.
Lennon was killed at the age of forty, and his musical career was hardly long-lasting, but even in the time allotted to him, he managed to grow incredibly as a poet. The lightweight songs that characterized the early Beatles evolved into what critics later dubbed confessional rock. Lennon turned the soul-searching characteristic of many creative people into songs, which for some became much more useful than visits to psychologists.
There are many stories among local Beatlemaniacs about how, inspired by the songs of The Beatles, people either learned English or were much more attentive to it than the Soviet school curriculum required. And especially Lennon’s later compositions turned linguistic knowledge into something very useful for the mind and heart. But even what can be difficult to understand can be felt, because Lennon was anything but an indifferent person in his songs.
On the occasion of the musician’s birthday, the other day we sat in one of the capital’s clubs in a cozy group, reminisced, made toasts and, of course, sang a lot. All these songs are essentially artifacts from a past life, but every time humanity falls into another madness, Lennon’s lines take on great meaning again and again. Songs, despite the confidence of some romantics, cannot stop bullets and missiles. But they can help imagine a better life. It’s easy if you try.
Newspaper headline:
Under Lennon’s banner
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