Ringo Starr Records a John Lennon Song (with a little help from Paul McCartney)

On Ringo Starr’s new album What’s My Name, he includes a recording of one of the last songs written by John Lennon, “Grow Old With Me.” The touching track also features another Beatle, Paul McCartney, playing bass and singing backing vocals.

Ringo Starr recently explained to Billboard how Jack Douglas, who produced Lennon’s Double Fantasy, approached him about a tape of demos Lennon had made in Bermuda in 1980. Starr said that listening to the tape was “very emotional” for him. And it was on that tape he found one song that Lennon had never released, “Grow Old With Me.”

So Starr called McCartney, who agreed to help out. One final additional touch was that Douglas added a string section to the song. And unknown to Starr, Douglas added a brief musical riff from George Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun” (listen closely at around the 1:40 mark). Thus was created a bit of a Beatles reunion of sorts.

The lyric video below for Starr’s recording of “Grow Old With Me” includes Lennon’s handwriting to help display the lyrics. Check it out.

The recording touched Starr. As he explained to Billboard, “It moved me. I did my best and it’s very me, but you know, [Lennon] wrote those words and he’d written songs for me before, so I thought, ‘No, I’m gonna do it.'”

If you listen closely, in addition to the Harrison reference in the music, you may hear Starr’s message to Lennon. At around the 3:02 mark, you can hear in the background, Starr saying, “God bless you, John.”

John Lennon and Yoko Ono originally planned to include “Grow Old With Me” on Double Fantasy (1980). But the song was not ready when they wanted to release the album, so they saved it for what they hoped would be their next album.

Lennon’s demo of “Grow Old With Me” with Ono was released after his death. Lennon’s version appears on the 2010 posthumous album, Milk and Honey. You may hear Lennon’s version below.