"Grow Old with Me" is one of the final songs written by John Lennon. It was recorded by Lennon as a demo while in Bermuda in 1980, and later appeared on the posthumous album Milk and Honey in 1984. It was also considered as a possible reunion single by his former bandmates during the making of The Beatles Anthology.

Origins and inspiration
The song was inspired from two different sources: from a poem penned by Robert Browning titled "Rabbi ben Ezra" and a song by Lennon's wife Yoko Ono called "Let Me Count the Ways" (which in turn had been inspired from a poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning).

Lennon and Ono had for some time admired the poetry of Robert and Elizabeth Browning, and the two songs were purposely written with the couple in mind.

Ono woke up one morning in the summer of 1980 with the music of "Let Me Count the Ways" in her head and promptly rang Lennon in Bermuda to play it for him.

Lennon loved the song and Ono then suggested to him that he should write a Robert Browning piece to accompany it. That afternoon, John was watching TV when a film came on which had the poem "Rabbi Ben Ezra" by Robert Browning in it. Inspired by this turn of events, Lennon wrote "Grow Old with Me" as an answer to Ono's song, and rang her back to play it to her over the phone.

In October 2020 it was reported that the baseball film which Lennon had been watching in Bermuda was A Love Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story, about Lou Gehrig, a baseball player who died of a rare nervous system disorder which later came to bear his name in popular media. Kenneth Womack made the discovery "after watching dozens in search of the mysterious film in question, I began to study TV guides from that period. John was a regular subscriber". Upon realising A Love Affair had been screened at the time Lennon was staying in Bermuda, Womack made the connection, concluding: "The mystery, quite suddenly, was solved".

Recording
The two new songs, "Grow Old with Me" and "Let Me Count the Ways" were originally meant for inclusion on the Double Fantasy album. However, Lennon and Ono, working on a tight deadline to get the album finished and released before Christmas, had decided to postpone recording of the song until the following year (1981) for the follow-up album, Milk and Honey. This never happened owing to Lennon's murder in December 1980.

Had the song been fully finished and recorded, Lennon and Ono had envisioned it as a "standard, the kind that they would play in church every time a couple gets married, with horns and other arrangements". A few different home recordings of it were made by Lennon and Ono and one of these versions was released on "Milk and Honey". Recorded in the couple's bedroom on a cassette with a piano and rhythm box, it was the last recording ever made of the song by Lennon.

In 1998, at Ono's request, George Martin created an orchestrated version of the recording, which was released on the John Lennon Anthology box set. This version was later included on the compilations Working Class Hero: The Definitive Lennon and Gimme Some Truth. The Ultimate Mixes.

In 2009, an acoustic version and an alternative piano arrangement came to light and now circulate among Lennon collectors.

Personnel
John Lennon – vocals, piano

John Lennon Anthology version
John Lennon – vocals, piano
George Martin – orchestral arrangement

Reception
Ultimate Classic Rock critic Stephen Lewis rated "Grow Old with Me" as Lennon's 2nd greatest solo love song, calling it "as sparse and soul-baring as anything Lennon had done since 1970's Plastic Ono Band".

Attempted Beatles version
In 1994, Yoko Ono gave Paul McCartney some cassettes containing demo recordings of four of John Lennon's unfinished songs: "Grow Old with Me", "Free as a Bird", "Real Love" and "Now and Then" with "for Paul" written on them in John's handwriting. The three remaining Beatles (Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr) never attempted to work on "Grow Old with Me" in a similar way that they had with the other Beatles "reunion" songs. "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love" were the only ones completed. They did work on "Now and Then" but decided to abandon it because Lennon's original demo required too much work to bring it up to the standard needed for an official release.

Ringo Starr's version
Lennon's bandmate Ringo Starr covered "Grow Old With Me" for his 2019 album What's My Name. Paul McCartney sang background vocals and played bass, and Jack Douglas, who produced Lennon's Double Fantasy and Milk and Honey, arranged strings – including a George Harrison quote. "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".

 Personnel 
 Ringo Starr – vocals, drums
 Paul McCartney – backing vocals, bass
 Joe Walsh – guitar
 Jim Cox – piano
 Allison Lovejoy – accordion
 Rhea Fowler – violin
 Bianca McClure – violin
 Lauren Baba – violin
 Isaiah Cage – cello
 Jack Douglas – string arrangement

 Production 
 Wesley Seidman – assistant engineer

Other cover versions 
The song has been covered by a few artists over the years.  Mary Chapin Carpenter recorded it in 1995 on the Lennon tribute album Working Class Hero: A Tribute to John Lennon and it went to #17 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart. It was re-released on her 1999 compilation album, Party Doll and Other Favorites.

Indie pop supergroup The Postal Service recorded a version of the song for the 2007 compilation album Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur.

Glen Campbell recorded it on his 2008 album Meet Glen Campbell and stated in interviews that he received permission directly from Yoko to record it. He stated erroneously that it had never previously been recorded.

See also
 The Beatles Anthology''
 The Beatles bootleg recordings

References

External links
 
 Grow Old With Me Ukulele Chords by John Lennon

John Lennon songs
Songs written by John Lennon
Songs about old age
Songs released posthumously
1984 songs
2008 singles
Glen Campbell songs
Song recordings produced by John Lennon
Song recordings produced by Yoko Ono
"Grow Old with Me"는 존 레논에 씌여진 마지막 곡 중 하나이다. 1980년 버뮤다에서 여름 휴가를 보내는 동안 씌여졌고, 데모로만 남아있던 곡은 레논의 사후 앨범 《Milk and Honey》에 수록되어 발표되었다.

유래와 영감 
이 곡의 제목과 가사에서는 19세기 영국 시인 로버트 브라우닝이 아브라함 이븐 에즈라에 대해 쓴 시 "Rabbi Ben Ezra"의 시작 부분 두 줄 "Grow old along with me!  The best is yet to be"가 인용되고 있다.

1980년 여름 어느 날 밤, 레논의 아내 오노 요코는 로버트 브라우닝의 아내 엘리자베스 배럿 브라우닝이 쓴 시 "How Do I Love Thee?"로부터 영감을 얻어 "Let Me Count the Ways"라는 곡을 작곡, 버뮤다에서 여름 휴가를 보내고 있던 레논에게 전화를 걸어 들려주었다. 이에 레논이 무척 마음에 들어하자, 오노는 레논에게 자신의 곡에 대한 응답송으로 로버트 브라우닝의 시로부터 어떤 곡을 만들 수 없을 지 제안했다. 마침 그 날 오후 레논은 어느 야구 선수에 관한 1950년대 영화를 보게 되었고, 극 중 그 야구 선수의 여자 친구가 로버트 브라우닝의 시("Rabbi Ben Ezra")를 그 야구 선수에게 보내는 장면에서 깊은 인상을 받았다. 이 사건에서 영감을 받은 레논은 오노의 곡에 응답을 하는 곡을 곧 썼고, 오노에게 전화를 걸어 자신이 쓴 곡을 들려주었다.

가사 
"Let Me Count the Ways"과 "Grow Old with Me"는 브라우닝 부부의 시를 평상시 존경해 온 레논 부부가 브라우닝 부부의 시로부터 영감을 얻어 의도적으로 서로를 향해 쓴, 대화를 나누는 형식의 곡이었다. 그리고 레논의 "Grow Old with Me"는 레논에게 메시지를 전한 오노의 곡 "Let Me Count the Ways"에 대한 응답송이었다.

녹음 
원래 "Grow Old with Me"는"Let Me Count the Ways"와 함께 《Double Fantasy》 앨범에 포함될 곡이었다. 하지만, 레논과 오노는 크리스마스 이전에 앨범을 완성하고 발표하기 위해 마감 기한을 맞추려고 노력했으며, 다음 앨범 《Milk and Honey》을 위해 다음 해까지 녹음을 연기하기로 결정했다. 하지만 1980년 12월 레논의 사망으로 이것은 결코 실현되지 않았다. 레논은 호른과 다른 편곡을 통해 이 곡을 "커플들이 결혼할 때 마다 연주될 수 있는 웨딩송의 스탠다드"로 구상했었다.

이 데모는 "Grow Old with Me"의 몇몇 홈 데모 중 하나이며 《Milk and Honey》를 통해 발표됐다. 피아노, 리듬 박스와 함께 카세트가 있는 부부 침실에서 녹음된 이 데모는 "Grow Old with Me"의 마지막 데모로 알려져 있으며, 공식적으로 공개된 "Grow Old with Me"의 유일한 데모이다. 피아노, 또는 어코스틱 기타와 함께 녹음된 다른 카세트 테이프의 데모들은 부트렉 상인들을 통해 발매됐다. 이 데모들은 도난당한 데모들로 여겨지고 있다.

1998년 오노의 요청에 따라 조지 마틴은 《John Lennon Anthology》 박스 세트에서 오케스트레이션 버전을 제작했다. 이 버전은 나중에 편집 앨범 《Working Class Hero: The Definitive Lennon》와 《Gimme Some Truth》에 포함됐다.

참여 인원 

 존 레논 – 보컬, 피아노

John Lennon Anthology 버전

 존 레논 – 보컬, 피아노
 조지 마친 – 오케스트라 편곡

커버 버전 

 캐나다 가수 피터 랜달은 1990년 앨범 《Better Times》을 통해 이 곡의 커버 버전을 녹음하고 발표한 최초의 가수였다.
 메리 채핀 카펜터는 1995년 앨범 《Working Class Hero: A Tribute to John Lennon》에서 "Grow Old with Me"의 커버 버전을 녹음했다. 이 버전은 주로 레논의 독창적인 홈 녹음 형태가 그대로 유지되고 있다. 대부분의 노래에서 채핀은 피아노와 함께 노래를 부르는 것을 특징으로 한다.
그룹 영스타운은 2001년 그들의 두번째 앨범 《Down For the Get Down》에서 이 곡의 커버 버전을 발표했다.
2005년 포스탈 서비스는 국제사면위원회의 캠페인 "Make Some Noise"를 통해 이곡의 일렉트로니카 풍 커버 버전을 발표했다. 이 커버 버전은 2007년 자선공연 앨범 《Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur》를 통해 발표됐다.
2008년 글렌 캠벨은 그의 앨범 《Meet Glen Campbell》에서 이 곡의 커버 버전을 발표했다.

같이 보기 
 비틀즈 앤솔로지
 Let Me Count the Ways

각주 

1984년 노래
존 레논의 노래
존 레논이 작곡한 노래