Beatles Reunion Song Myths #1: George Martin declined to produce the sessions due to his hearing.
George Martin produced almost all of the Beatles’ oeuvre. However, he did not produce the group’s ‘90s ‘reunion’ songs. The company line at the time was that Martin declined to produce the songs due to his failing hearing. However, this is not true.
Come Together: How the Beatles reunited to make new music in the ‘90s Part 3
Here, in the third and final part of this series, we look at the second ‘90s reunion song, ‘Real Love,’ as well as the consideration of the song ‘Now And Then.’
Come Together: How the Beatles reunited to make new music in the ‘90s Part 2
In Part 1 of this three-part essay, we looked at how the decision came about to make new music. Here, in Part 2, we look at how the first ‘reunion’ song – ‘Free As A Bird’ – came to be, as McCartney, Harrison, and Starr said it at the time.
Come Together: How the Beatles reunited to make new music in the ‘90s Part 1
We look back at how the Beatles two ‘90s Anthology ‘reunion’ songs came to be, as McCartney, Harrison, and Starr said it at the time. In Part 1 of this three-part essay, we look at how the decision came about to make new music.
How the Beatles Anthology documentary came to be…as the Beatles said it
Here, we look at a chronology of how the Beatles Anthology documentary came to be, as John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr said it.
Recent articles about John Lennon’s ‘Grow Old With Me’ – Summer 2025
Over the summer, there were eight articles published that mentioned John Lennon’s ‘Grow Old With Me.’ I will discuss each article here.
The One Reunion Song the Beatles Didn’t Finish…and the Real Reason Why
A Paul McCartney quote from the ’90s provides an explanation why the reunited Beatles never worked on ‘Grow Old With Me.’
“John’s original demo required too much work,” McCartney purportedly said. There’s only one problem. McCartney never said it.
Recent cover versions of ‘Grow Old With Me'
On a recent search I came across six new cover versions of John Lennon’s ‘Grow Old With Me.’ Three of them were released this year, and three were from previous years.
The dinghy
John Lennon became inspired to learn how to sail after a trip on a sailboat named ‘Imagine’ in Florida in 1980. He subsequently instructed his assistant to buy a simple sailboat. First, however, Lennon would begin his marine adventures with an even more basic boat.
A boat named ‘Imagine’
Many are familiar with the story of John Lennon’s sailing trip to Bermuda and stay on the island in the summer of 1980. It relit Lennon’s creative spark, leading to recording songs for ‘Double Fantasy’ and ‘Milk and Honey,’ including ‘Grow Old With Me.’ However, the story of how that journey came to be is less familiar.
‘Memories’ and ‘Howling at the Moon’
I wrote last about John Lennon’s unreleased demo ‘Tennessee,’ inspired by the playwright Tennessee Williams. Lennon subsequently wrote a snippet of another unreleased song called ‘Howling at the Moon,’ playing it on electric guitar.
A Stretcar Named Desire
We’ll start our story about ‘Grow Old With Me’ at its earliest kernels. In the mid-1970s, John Lennon wrote an unreleased song called ‘Tennessee,’ based on playwright Tennessee Williams. He had reportedly recently read Williams’ ‘A Streetcar Named Desire.’