How sailing to Bermuda relit John Lennon's creative spark
John Lennon’s sailing trip to Bermuda in June of 1980 and the storm that he and the crew encountered had a profound impact on him.
Marco Bonino’s 1985 cover version of John Lennon’s ‘Grow Old With Me’
In 1985, Italy’s Marco Bonino released the second known cover version of John Lennon’s song ‘Grow Old With Me’ on his Unknown Greatest Hits? album.
Nowhere is the place to be
As the storm that engulfed the Megan Jaye subsided, John Lennon and the rest of the crew talked about life at sea. The discussion made its way into one of Lennon’s lyrics.
The first cover version of John Lennon’s ‘Grow Old With Me’
The first known professional cover version of John Lennon’s ‘Grow Old With Me’ was released by Foreign Affair in 1984 shortly after the album Milk and Honey’s release.
The Storm: Part 2
With the rest of the crew incapacitated and Captain Halsted needing sleep, John Lennon was at the helm of the Megan Jaye in the midst of a serious storm.
The Storm: Part 1
On the third day of John Lennon’s sailing trip to Bermuda in 1980, the journey took a turn. There was a storm.
Marking one year of GrowOldWithMe.org
Today marks the 46th anniversary of John Lennon writing his lyric sheet for ‘Grow Old With Me.’ It’s also one year since I launched this site dedicated to the song. Here is a summary of articles published over the last year.
Recent articles about John Lennon’s ‘Grow Old With Me’ - Spring 2026
There were eight mentions of John Lennon’s ‘Grow Old With Me’ in articles that crossed my desk this spring. Here, I look at each.
Chartering the Megan Jaye
John Lennon had been inspired by his sailing trips around Oyster Bay and Cold Spring Harbor in May of 1980. Soon, Lennon began to envision going on a considerably longer sailing journey.
Recent articles about John Lennon’s ‘Grow Old With Me’ – Winter 2025/2026
Here are six articles that mentioned John Lennon’s ‘Grow Old With Me’ that crossed my desk this winter.
Sailing in Oyster Bay and Cold Spring Harbor
Continuing with the origin story of John’s Lennon’s ‘Grow Old With Me,’ Tyler Coneys and Lennon took the sailboat he had purchased from Coneys Marine out onto Cold Spring Harbor. Coneys taught Lennon the fundamentals of sailing for several weeks in May of 1980.
A dreamer’s dream realized
As discussed previously, John Lennon was inspired to learn how to sail after a trip in 1980 on a sailboat named Imagine. He subsequently instructed his assistant to purchase the “‘dumbest’ and simplest” one-sail sailboat.
Beatles Reunion Song Myths #2: ‘Now And Then’ originally intended to be third song
Most fans believe that ‘Now And Then,’ which Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr completed under the Beatles moniker in 2023, was originally slated to be the third reunion song on Anthology 3. However, that is not true.
Recent articles about John Lennon’s ‘Grow Old With Me’ – Fall 2025
Here are three articles that mentioned John Lennon’s ‘Grow Old With Me’ that crossed my desk this fall.
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.