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Read the original blog post5.55am
31 March 2008
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Written by: Lennon
Recorded: November 1980
Producers: John Lennon, Yoko Ono
Released: 23 January 1984
John Lennon: vocals, piano
Available on:
Milk And Honey
John Lennon Anthology
Wonsaponatime
Based on a poem by Robert Browning, Grow Old With Me was one of John Lennon ‘s final recordings. It was released on the posthumous 1984 collection Milk And Honey .
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5.47pm
18 April 2013
Offline Looks like Paul and Ringo covered this:
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11.41am
28 March 2014
Offline What a shame….The man, the Legend deserved to grow old! 
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8.38am
Reviewers
17 December 2012
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As @Joe notes in his article about this song, it was partly inspired by John watching a movie about baseball:
Later that day Lennon called Ono to say he had been watching a 1950s film about a baseball player, in which the player’s girlfriend had sent him a poem by Robert Browning. Lennon hurriedly wrote Grow Old With Me based on the words, which were taken from the poem Rabbi Ben Ezra.
Which film it was was unknown, but it seems Beatles scholar Kenneth Womack has identified the film: discovering a 1978 made-for-TV movie called A Love Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story was shown on TV in Bermuda while John was there and the song was written.
Womack told the Observer that Lennon had clearly been moved by a scene in which Eleanor – played by Blythe Danner – reads a letter in which Gehrig referred to the first lines from Rabbi Ben Ezra, Browning’s 1864 historical poem inspired by a 12th-century scholar.
“Thanks very much for sending me that book of poems. I especially liked the one by Robert Browning that goes, ‘Grow old along with me! / The best is yet to be’…”
More here.
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12.02pm
Moderators
15 February 2015
Offline Browning is nice 🙂 and I do love this song. I just love the idea of loving someone enough to want to spend your twilight years with them, being boring but content. Very wholesome. 
In context, obviously, it’s quite heartbreaking 
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5.13pm
2 May 2013
Offline Makes a grown man sob uncontrollably and wonder “What if?”. Cuts to the quick. The single-tracked, solo piano demo is the best version IMO, the acoustic guitar demo has a different feel somehow. Whatever has been added on Milk And Honey simply doesn’t work and detracts, although the version with George Martin’s orchestration does and keeps the heart-rending feel of the piano demo in place. I like Ringo’s cover too, thought the fact that Paul joined him was a lovely touch, and kept much of the intended feeling. Nicely understated and not played to (sometimes intended, sometimes not) comic effect as many of Ringo’s songs can come across like due to his lugubrious voice, it sounds heartfelt and beautifully contained, coming across like a tribute. Shame the Threetles chose not to tackle it seeing as how George Martin managed to make something of the demo.
9.49pm
14 June 2016
Offline Old Soak said
Makes a grown man sob uncontrollably and wonder “What if?”. Cuts to the quick. The single-tracked, solo piano demo is the best version IMO, the acoustic guitar demo has a different feel somehow. Whatever has been added on Milk And Honey simply doesn’t work and detracts, although the version with George Martin’s orchestration does and keeps the heart-rending feel of the piano demo in place. I like Ringo’s cover too, thought the fact that Paul joined him was a lovely touch, and kept much of the intended feeling. Nicely understated and not played to (sometimes intended, sometimes not) comic effect as many of Ringo’s songs can come across like due to his lugubrious voice, it sounds heartfelt and beautifully contained, coming across like a tribute. Shame the Threetles chose not to tackle it seeing as how George Martin managed to make something of the demo.
Here are those versions for reference
Milk And Honey Version
Anthology Version (With George Martin Orchestration)
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6.14am
30 August 2021
Offline Old Soak said
Shame the Threetles chose not to tackle it seeing as how George Martin managed to make something of the demo.
There’s a nice AI version of this on YouTube. I wouldn’t mind if Paul and Ringo had a go at it even now. There’s precedent for still using the Beatle name even if all four aren’t on it (Most notably Yesterday of course) and also for using guest musicians so maybe get Dhani on guitar – or even Eric Clapton! Any thoughts?
The Beatles – Grow Old With Me – Lyric Video (AI Cover) – YouTube
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8.06am
26 January 2017
Offline Funny that people are mentioning that it could’ve been tackled by the remaining Beatles. The Now And Then demo reminds me of Grow Old With Me , but I find Grow Old With Me to be a little bit more poignant emotionally. I think even if not a full Beatles song, its something that Ringo’s drums in particular wouldve added a lot to, but it still works extremely well as a home demo. Just makes me so sad about John’s passing. Truly a one of a kind songwriter who still had plenty left in the tank.
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12.20pm
14 June 2016
Offline sir walter raleigh said
Funny that people are mentioning that it could’ve been tackled by the remaining Beatles. The Now And Then demo reminds me of Grow Old With Me , but I find Grow Old With Me to be a little bit more poignant emotionally. I think even if not a full Beatles song, its something that Ringo’s drums in particular wouldve added a lot to, but it still works extremely well as a home demo. Just makes me so sad about John’s passing. Truly a one of a kind songwriter who still had plenty left in the tank.
I was thinking about this. Despite all the eulogies over the years I don’t think people really comprehend what was lost when John was killed. His loss only hurts more the years pass, thinking what he would say and do today, and what else he would have already done. John and Paul together as a team again, even if just cameo form, would be unable to be topped in history. We were robbed of that. People get labelled legends all too easily these days, and then you consider someone like John Lennon . He’s a musical and creative God in that case. And at the same time all very human. RIP.
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9.28pm
26 January 2017
Offline Yes, especially hearing his voice so clear on Now And Then , he’s reached a status that’s hard to put into words. What an insane career in music, yet we are constantly reminded of his humanity and how fragile life is, especially in the US. I often think about Paul’s interview in New York protesting gun violence, when he says the he lost a close friend to gun violence, so the issue is especially important to him. I myself was in a shooting a couple of years ago so its a close issue for me too.
John is probably the most legendary musician of the 20th century, but was also a father, husband, and friend with flaws and struggles. In the end his life was cut short way too soon and we still feel it to this day.
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