The Poles mysterious 1988 cover of John Lennon’s ‘Grow Old With Me’
I’ve previously detailed 1980s cover versions of John Lennon’s song ‘Grow Old With Me,’ including ones by Foreign Affair (1984), Marco Bonino (1985), and John Vickers (1987). There are two other known cover versions from the ‘80s. Both come from a band called The Poles and have a great deal of mystery associated with them.
The Poles released an A side single of ‘Grow Old With Me’ in 1988. It was backed with ‘Now You See Me (Now You Won’t),’ a song attributed to John Colchester. John Colchester is also listed as producer. The single artwork is attributed to ‘Asp.’
This cover version of ‘Grow Old With Me’ was released on Warm Records as catalogue number WARM 1. Warm was a relatively short-lived, independent United Kingdom label.
Of historical significance, The Poles made the first known cover versions of ‘Grow Old With Me’ with a female lead singer. While Foreign Affair’s cover is ostensibly a male-female duo, Kelvyn Hallifax is very much in the lead throughout.
The Poles also released the single ‘Letters to Send’ that same year (1988), backed with ‘Grow Old With Me.’ The former is listed as written by ‘Asp/Aldridge/Hurley’ and as ‘GPO Mix.’ The B side, ‘Grow Old With Me,’ is listed as ‘Nat West Mix.’
This single is listed on the back sleeve as ‘Produced and conceived by ASP. An ASP production (today’s maverick is tomorrow’s genius)’. It also says on the back sleeve ‘The success of any initiative is that it is young, new, fresh and different - SO KEEP IT WARM’.
This single is also listed as WARM 1, the same catalogue number as the previous single from The Poles. The Warm Records address is provided on the back sleeve.
The Poles two cover versions of ‘Grow Old With Me’ are very similar. The single sleeves of both are artwork of poles.
To say that there is limited information beyond this would be an understatement. I have found no additional information about The Poles. It does not appear that they put out any more music under this name. I also see nothing further attributed to John Colchester. Searching for Asp, Aldridge, Hurley hasn’t been fruitful either.
The mix names do appear to have an explanation. Nat West is shorthand for the National Westminster Bank in the UK. Similarly, GPO is the abbreviation for the General Post Office. Other than that, who The Poles were is a mystery.
If you have information about The Poles and their covers of ‘Grow Old With Me,’ please leave a comment or contact me.
Listen to The Poles two versions of ‘Grow Old With Me’ below. Note that I had both professionally transferred from 45” record to digital. As a result, they have notable crackles and pops. These songs are linked here for educational purposes only.
The Poles A side single of ‘Grow Old With Me.’
The Poles ‘Nat West Mix’ of ‘Grow Old With Me.’