I'm Obsessed with a Song That Doesn't Exist! …Or Does It?

The new dilemmas of the world we live in.

A few days ago I heard a song I'd never heard before, or at least not this version of it. It's a version of the song Seminare—originally written in Spanish by Charly García during his time with the legendary band Serú Girán. The version I heard, however, was sung by Paul McCartney, in English and with a brand-new piano arrangement… sublime!

I listened to it all day long, singing its praises (to myself) to Paul McCartney's genius, for being able to take a masterpiece of Spanish-language music and create another masterpiece in English. This is no simple feat—many great musicians have failed at similar ventures, to the point that there's a maxim floating around that says if you're not going to produce something better than the original, you shouldn't even dare to touch a masterpiece… but then again, we're talking about Paul McCartney, not just any musician, we're talking about a legend of music for all time. Who but him would have the courage to dare sculpt upon marble that "Da Vinci" began?

I can't deny I also fantasized, inventing stories of how a song in Spanish reached McCartney's ears. Did he like it right away? Did a friend share it with him? Did all the Beatles listen to it together while touring here and there? Did they listen to the entire Serú Girán album?… and the boldest: Did McCartney and García ever play together?

Up to this point, everything was going well. I commented in several groups of music-loving friends about my musical admiration for Paul McCartney and the brilliance of reinforcing certain parts of the song with the entry of bass and drums, and in others, letting the piano be the star. I mean, everything was going well, until I decided to look for a video of the song and headed to YouTube. From here on, everything became murky.

Summary of my internet search: the song never existed. Paul McCartney never made an English version of Seminare. Maybe he never even heard it. Maybe the Beatles never knew about Serú Girán. My entire train of thought collapsed. The song had been written entirely by AI.

I won't drag this story out any longer. I'll leave you with the song, which has become one of my favorites. My credit to those who work every day to make artificial intelligence gift us works as beautiful as this one, although, for me, the one singing will always be Paul McCartney, even though he never did.