For some reason, even though they are very different, this song reminds me of Bowie‘s last album, Darkstar. Something about the key it is in and the hollowness and grief. So bittersweet. But I’m...
For some reason, even though they are very different, this song reminds me of Bowie‘s last album, Darkstar. Something about the key it is in and the hollowness and grief. So bittersweet.
But I’m not sure this song is a fitting coda to the Beatles canon. It lacks the strong lyricism and catchy melodies that made them such a phenomenon. This song just doesn’t stick in my head.
I think the song is obviously no "Lucy in the Sky" and no "Yesterday", but that's ok. Humankind only gets so many of that caliber... I think it is a fine song - nothing more, and nothing less....
But I’m not sure this song is a fitting coda to the Beatles canon
I think the song is obviously no "Lucy in the Sky" and no "Yesterday", but that's ok. Humankind only gets so many of that caliber... I think it is a fine song - nothing more, and nothing less. Although I do like the overall arrangement, strings included.
That being said, I think it is a fitting final piece to their works, not because of the quality of the song or lyrical themes, but because of this whole AI-dimension to it. I think it is almost sad to see this tech being thrown at anything and everything these days, Beatles included, but given what the Beatles mean to the art and social practice of recorded popular music, I find it quite fitting that they are now also intimately connected to this next step in artistic expression and technological development. It really shows the extent to which the Beatles are part of the broader cultural canon of the West and beyond.
Thanks for sharing that, I would have much the same feelings on the new tune and Scalzi articulates those ideas quite well. I think the original demo has a more haunting and affecting quality to...
Thanks for sharing that, I would have much the same feelings on the new tune and Scalzi articulates those ideas quite well.
I think the original demo has a more haunting and affecting quality to it, but at the end of the day, I'm just glad Paul and Ringo had this unique chance to connect to their past and pay tribute to their friends.
This is very cool, and I really enjoyed that (both the music video and the documentary). However, I can't shake an icky feeling I've got regarding them using John in this way. It comes down to how...
This is very cool, and I really enjoyed that (both the music video and the documentary). However, I can't shake an icky feeling I've got regarding them using John in this way. It comes down to how much we trust Yoko that John would have wanted them to have the song, and how much we trust Paul, George, and Ringo that he would have agreed with how they did it (including putting (AI?) John dancing on the screen).
I'm far from a Beatles expert though, so there could be important context I'm missing. What are we thinking about this?
In my mind, no one, probably including Yoko, spent more time with John than Paul (and then Ringo). They played together for a long time before they were famous. I don't think either of them would...
In my mind, no one, probably including Yoko, spent more time with John than Paul (and then Ringo). They played together for a long time before they were famous. I don't think either of them would do this if they didn't think John would approve. It's not like either of them need the money or anything at this point. I think it's more of them wanting to just finish that last unfinished thing while they could. Probably some form of closure for the both of them as well.
They also released a 12 minute short documentary about the story behind the song.
For some reason, even though they are very different, this song reminds me of Bowie‘s last album, Darkstar. Something about the key it is in and the hollowness and grief. So bittersweet.
But I’m not sure this song is a fitting coda to the Beatles canon. It lacks the strong lyricism and catchy melodies that made them such a phenomenon. This song just doesn’t stick in my head.
I think the song is obviously no "Lucy in the Sky" and no "Yesterday", but that's ok. Humankind only gets so many of that caliber... I think it is a fine song - nothing more, and nothing less. Although I do like the overall arrangement, strings included.
That being said, I think it is a fitting final piece to their works, not because of the quality of the song or lyrical themes, but because of this whole AI-dimension to it. I think it is almost sad to see this tech being thrown at anything and everything these days, Beatles included, but given what the Beatles mean to the art and social practice of recorded popular music, I find it quite fitting that they are now also intimately connected to this next step in artistic expression and technological development. It really shows the extent to which the Beatles are part of the broader cultural canon of the West and beyond.
Sci-fi author John Scalzi wrote up a nice post about this song that I think speaks to what you're saying a bit.
Thanks for sharing that, I would have much the same feelings on the new tune and Scalzi articulates those ideas quite well.
I think the original demo has a more haunting and affecting quality to it, but at the end of the day, I'm just glad Paul and Ringo had this unique chance to connect to their past and pay tribute to their friends.
Label me as noise but yours is such a great username to find in this thread :)
The official music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opxhh9Oh3rg
This is very cool, and I really enjoyed that (both the music video and the documentary). However, I can't shake an icky feeling I've got regarding them using John in this way. It comes down to how much we trust Yoko that John would have wanted them to have the song, and how much we trust Paul, George, and Ringo that he would have agreed with how they did it (including putting (AI?) John dancing on the screen).
I'm far from a Beatles expert though, so there could be important context I'm missing. What are we thinking about this?
In my mind, no one, probably including Yoko, spent more time with John than Paul (and then Ringo). They played together for a long time before they were famous. I don't think either of them would do this if they didn't think John would approve. It's not like either of them need the money or anything at this point. I think it's more of them wanting to just finish that last unfinished thing while they could. Probably some form of closure for the both of them as well.