John Lennon was in the midst of an incredibly successful solo career when he was assassinated on Dec. 8, 1980. While his music career was cut short, he had some unreleased tapes made into a posthumous album. Later, a few of John Lennon’s unfinished songs were utilized for The Beatles Anthology, but Paul McCartney stopped one song from being released.
Yoko Ono wanted the remaining Beatles to release ‘Grow Old With Me’ in ‘Anthology’
After The Beatles ended, each member began their solo career. John Lennon had a long stretch of success for five years before taking a break, beginning in 1975. However, he returned in November 1970 with Double Fantasy, an album that hit No. 1 worldwide. One song he and Yoko wanted to put on the album was “Grow Old With Me,” but due to a tight deadline, they decided to save it for the following album, Milk and Honey.
“We were working against a deadline for the Christmas release of the album, [and we] kept holding “Grow Old With Me” to the end, and finally decided it was better to leave the song for Milk And Honey so we won’t do a rush job,” Ono said (via Express).
Unfortunately, Lennon was killed a month after Double Fantasy hit shelves, and Milk and Honey was released four years after his death.
Paul McCartney blocked the John Lennon song from ‘Anthology’
In 1994, The remaining Beatles released Anthology, a collection of books and documentaries revealing behind-the-scenes facts about the band and a few unheard songs the band never released. Anthology included two singles, “Real Love” and “Free as a Bird”. The latter featured unfinished audio from Lennon mixed in with new music from the other three members.
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Ono believed “Grow Old With Me” would have been a perfect follow-up single, but Paul McCartney blocked the John Lennon track from being released. According to Express, Macca believed that remastering the audio would have been “laborious” as the original demo “required too much work.” The song never released on Anthology, but it was released later after a diehard Beatles fan did some work on it.
The released version of the song definitely needs more work
“Grow Old With Me” was eventually released, but it still sounds unfinished. The audio is dirty, and Lennon’s vocal performance and instrumentals are hard to hear and non-cohesive. Fortunately, Ringo Starr released a cover version of the song. Starr sings the song himself with background vocals and a bassline provided by Paul McCartney.
The cover was released on Ringo’s 2019 album, What’s My Name, and it also features a bittersweet tribute to George Harrison, who died in 2001. Lennon’s producer, Jack Douglas, orchestrated the strings on the song, including a note from a classic Harrison song.
“And the strings that Jack arranged for this track if you really listen, they do one line from ‘Here Comes the Sun’,” Starr said. “So in a way, it’s the four of us.”
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