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.

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.

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.

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.

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.