On Saturday 5 July 1980, John Lennon wrote 'Grow Old With Me' while holidaying in Bermuda. His handwritten lyrics bore the annotation: "Fairylands July 5, 1980 Bermuda". The song was considered for the Double Fantasy album but was not included; it was released posthumously on the 1984 collection Milk And Honey.
The Robert Browning connection
'Grow Old With Me' was based on 'Rabbi Ben Ezra', a poem by the Victorian poet Robert Browning. The song's central lyric ā "Grow old along with me / The best is yet to be" ā is drawn directly from the poem's opening lines:
Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made:
Our times are in his hand
Who saith, 'A whole I planned,
Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!'Robert Browning, 'Rabbi Ben Ezra'
Lennon had been challenged to write the song by Yoko Ono, who had written 'Let Me Count The Ways' after the sonnet of the same name by Elizabeth Barrett Browning ā Robert Browning's wife. The two songs were conceived as a pair, a musical dialogue between Lennon and Ono mirroring the literary relationship between the two Victorian poets.
How Lennon discovered the poem
Later on 5 July 1980, Lennon called Ono to tell her he had been watching a 1950s film about a baseball player, in which the player's girlfriend had sent him a poem by Robert Browning. The film was most likely the 1978 made-for-TV movie A Love Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story. In the film, Eleanor Gehrig's character, played by Blythe Danner, reads a letter in which her husband writes: "Thanks very much for sending me that book of poems. I especially liked the one by Robert Browning that goes, 'Grow old along with me! / The best is yet to be.'"
Lennon arranged for a collection of Browning's poems to be sent to Bermuda. The discovery of the poem ā and its resonance with the themes of love and ageing that Lennon and Ono were exploring in their music that summer ā gave the song its emotional foundation.
Lennon and Ono as the Brownings
The parallel between Lennon and Ono and the Brownings went further than the songs. The couple had the idea of dressing as Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning on the cover of Double Fantasy. According to those close to them, Lennon and Ono believed they may have been the reincarnations of the two poets.
The Bermuda summer of 1980
The summer of 1980 was a period of intense creative renewal for Lennon. He had spent much of the previous five years as a house husband at the Dakota Building in New York, raising his son Sean. The Bermuda trip ā which Lennon had sailed to himself, navigating through a storm in the North Atlantic ā marked his return to active songwriting. He wrote or completed a significant portion of the Double Fantasy material during his time on the island, communicating with Ono in New York by telephone and cassette tape.
'Grow Old With Me' was among the most personal of the songs written that summer. Lennon was 39 years old when he wrote it. He was murdered at the entrance to the Dakota Building on 8 December 1980, five months after writing the song.
Release history
'Grow Old With Me' was considered for Double Fantasy but was not included on the album as released in November 1980. It was released posthumously on Milk And Honey in January 1984, in a version featuring Lennon's home demo recording with orchestral overdubs added by producer Jack Douglas. A version by Mary Chapin Carpenter reached the US country charts in 1993. The song has since become one of the most frequently performed of Lennon's solo compositions at weddings and memorial services worldwide.
Summary
| Date written | Saturday 5 July 1980 |
|---|---|
| Location | Fairylands, Bermuda |
| Based on | 'Rabbi Ben Ezra' by Robert Browning |
| Companion song | 'Let Me Count The Ways' by Yoko Ono (after Elizabeth Barrett Browning) |
| Considered for | Double Fantasy (1980) |
| Released on | Milk And Honey (January 1984) |
| Lennon's age when written | 39 |
Frequently asked questions
When did John Lennon write 'Grow Old With Me'?
John Lennon wrote 'Grow Old With Me' on 5 July 1980 in Bermuda. His handwritten lyrics were annotated "Fairylands July 5, 1980 Bermuda". He was 39 years old.
What poem is 'Grow Old With Me' based on?
'Grow Old With Me' is based on 'Rabbi Ben Ezra' by the Victorian poet Robert Browning. The song's central lyric ā "Grow old along with me / The best is yet to be" ā is drawn directly from the poem's opening lines.
Why wasn't 'Grow Old With Me' on Double Fantasy?
'Grow Old With Me' was considered for Double Fantasy but was not included on the album as released in November 1980. It was released posthumously on Milk And Honey in January 1984.
What is the connection between 'Grow Old With Me' and Yoko Ono?
Yoko Ono challenged Lennon to write 'Grow Old With Me' after she had written 'Let Me Count The Ways', based on the sonnet of the same name by Elizabeth Barrett Browning ā Robert Browning's wife. The two songs were conceived as a pair, mirroring the literary relationship between the two Victorian poets.
What was John Lennon doing in Bermuda in 1980?
Lennon sailed to Bermuda in the summer of 1980, navigating through a North Atlantic storm, as part of a creative renewal after five years as a house husband. He wrote or completed much of the Double Fantasy material during his time on the island, communicating with Yoko Ono in New York by telephone and cassette tape.
Where was 'Grow Old With Me' released?
'Grow Old With Me' was released on Milk And Honey in January 1984, in a version featuring Lennon's home demo with orchestral overdubs added by producer Jack Douglas. It has since become one of the most frequently performed Lennon compositions at weddings and memorial services worldwide.
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