The Beatles beat death for one more tune

Did you read the news today? Oh, boy.

I feel fine because arguably the world’s most influential band — disbanded since 1970 — will release a record later this year, complete with the voice of John Lennon, deceased since 1980.

You say you want a revolution?

This is according to a BBC interview with Paul McCartney, who said that Artificial Intelligence was able to scrape John Lennon’s voice off a demo record he recorded shortly before his death.

We are talking about a love ballad titled   “Now and Then,” that Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, made available to his bandmates with all her loving. Very generous.

From me to you, I am very anxious to hear it. My fiance is not. Her attitude seems to be leave well enough alone. To her, the idea is nowhere man.

Is this like robbing the grave?

Is this creation legitimate “art”?

Last year, using AI, McCartney sang a duet with Lennon at a concert.

While the high-tech spin is new, duets with the dead have been around a long time. Natalie Cole has dueted with her father, Nat King Cole, as has Lisa Marie Presley with Elvis, and Tina Sinatra with Old Blue Eyes. They came together.

Heart warming, or stomach turning? 

Macabre, or nostalgic? Can we work it out?

Given AI, the Beatles could be reunited by IT engineers without the mop tops ever having to lift a guitar. 

They could be relaunched as artists in hip-hop, which developed after they broke up. Or country.

Would an AI version using their voices, but not their human input, still be the Beatles? Or would it be more like a reprint of an original oil painting?

And does it matter if you could not tell the difference?

On the day this story broke, a Senate committee was hearing testimony from a mother who reported receiving a million-dollar ransom demand from kidnappers, who played the terrified pleading of her 15-year-old daughter.

But it was not her daughter, but an AI-generated sound the kidnappers had somehow obtained. It was so true, the mother believed it.

[Advisory: Create a secret safe word for your loved ones. If you ever get a panicked call from that loved one, ask for the safe word. If you don’t get it, you know it’s a scam.]

The idea of the Beatles putting out an AI album they agreed to is one matter, but how about someone doing it without their permission? Then what?

Would you buy, or download, it eight days a week?

How about if it sounded real good? Would you be tempted?

How about if you had a little help from your friends?