Marco Bonino’s 1985 cover version of John Lennon’s ‘Grow Old With Me’
As described elsewhere, the studio-constructed German duo Foreign Affair made the first known cover version of John Lennon’s song ‘Grow Old With Me’ in 1984, shortly after the release of the Lennon and Yoko Ono album Milk and Honey. The second known cover version comes in 1985 from Marco Bonino.
That year, Bonino covered the song on his Unknown Greatest Hits? album on Homberger Records (HR 196969). Bonino, born in Turin, Italy in 1952, is an active singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.
Bonino started his professional career in the early 1970s. In 1981, he released the album Help Me to Hear. He subsequently released Unknown Greatest Hits? in 1985. Bonino has gone on to have a long career as a musician.
Bonino’s adoration of the Beatles is obvious. His YouTube channel and Facebook page are full of cover versions of their songs. Bonino also covers their solo work.
It is no surprise then that Bonino covered Lennon’s ‘Grow Old With Me’ in 1985. In fact, the album cover itself says, “Contiene l'inedito di John Lennon «Grow old with me»” which translates to, “Contains the previously unreleased John Lennon song ‘Grow Old with Me.’”
Bonino recorded a second version of the song in 2020 that is on YouTube. There he writes (using Google to translate from Italian to English):
I have been arranging and singing this unreleased John Lennon song since 1982. In 2016, I produced it for The Rokes; they sang it in Italian (with lyrics by Gian Pieretti) and included it on the album *ROKES 4Ever* (Azzurra Music, 2016). This is my version. Long live The Beatles and long live John!!!!!!!!!
P.S. This was my father's favorite song; sadly, he has not been with me since December 2018. I dedicate it to him once again!!
The listing of 1982 is surely an error in memory of when the song was originally released on Milk and Honey. You can listen to The Rokes version that Bonino refers to here. (NB: It is sung in Italian as Bonino indicated.)
Listen to Marco Bonino’s 1985 cover of ‘Grow Old With Me.‘ It starts at the 18:38 mark.