MILK AND HONEY BRANCH

The first branch of John Lennon’s ‘Grow Old With Me’ comes from the album Milk and Honey, which was released on January 23rd, 1984 (M&H 1984). This version contains audio enhancements that changed the sound of Lennon’s original, unreleased home demo.

Milk and Honey was subsequently re-released in compact disc form in the U.S., Europe, and U.K. in 1986, with the CDs produced in Germany (M&H 1986). These two versions are identical, with the exception of a fraction of a second difference in runtime.

The Milk and Honey version of ‘Grow Old With Me’ was subsequently contained on the four disc Lennon box set released in 1990 (Lennon 1990). This version has one second of additional run time. This is accounted for by added silence at the beginning and the end of the song. Lennon 1990 is very similar in sound to M&H 1984 and M&H 1986, though not identical. (See Official Version Analysis).

Milk and Honey was remixed and remastered in 2001 (M&H 2001). The sound of this version of ‘Grow Old With Me’ is considerably different than prior versions, removing the studio effects added to Lennon’s original home demo. Additionally, the 2001 version is a full 5 seconds longer.

The additional run time is due to two things. First, the 1984 version has a slightly faster tempo. It appears to have been sped up slightly. Second, the end of the song in the 2001 version includes Lennon removing his foot from the piano pedal and a short period of silence after that. (See Official Version Analysis.) This was not included in prior versions.

In terms of sound, the 2001 version of ‘Grow Old With Me’ was a dramatic improvement over prior ones. Additionally, hearing the sound of Lennon removing his foot from the footpedal adds to the intimacy of the home recording.

Milk and Honey was subsequently remastered in 2010. This was called the 'Lennon 70 Definitive Remasters’ (M&H 2010). However, this version is nearly identical to the 2001 version. (See Official Version Analysis.)

‘Grow Old With Me’ was also contained on the 2010 John Lennon Signature Box CD (Signature 2010). The Signature Box contained copies of Lennon’s solo albums and was only released on CD. This version is nearly identical to the M&H 2001 and M&H 2010 versions. (See Official Version Analysis.) The John Lennon Signature Box subsequently had an LP-only release in 2015. (NB: I mention this for the sake of completeness but am otherwise focusing exclusively on CD versions.)