ANTHOLOGY BRANCH

The second ‘Grow Old With Me’ branch comes from the 1998 album John Lennon Anthology (Anthology 1998). This version added an arrangement, scored by George Martin, as well as an uncredited bass part played by Giles Martin.

The original Anthology version is a full 16 seconds longer than the 1984 Milk and Honey version (3 minutes and 20 seconds compared to 3 minutes and 4 seconds). It is 11 seconds longer than M&H 2001 and 2010.

The extended run time is caused, in large part, by the repetition of the line “God bless our love” at the end of the song. On this version, the line is repeated four times instead of two.

The Anthology version was also released on Wonsaponatime, which distilled Anthology’s four CDs into a single CD (Wonsa 1998). This version is nearly identical to Anthology 1998. (See Official Version Analysis.)

The 2005 compilation album Working Class Hero: The Definitive Lennon also included the Anthology version of the song (WCH 2005). It is nearly identical to the 1998 versions. (See Official Version Analysis.)

The Anthology version of ‘Grow Old With Me’ was also included on the 2010 compilation Gimme Some Truth box set (GMST 2010). This version, similarly, sounds nearly idential to the 1998 and 2005 versions. (See Official Version Analysis.)