{"id":68922,"date":"2025-08-14T11:51:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T11:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/68922\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T11:51:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T11:51:12","slug":"that-would-be-great-for-you-ringo-how-an-unreleased-john-lennon-demo-saw-three-quarters-of-the-beatles-write-a-song-together-40-years-after-lennons-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/68922\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThat would be great for you, Ringo!\u201d How an unreleased John Lennon demo saw three-quarters of the Beatles write a song together, 40 years after Lennon’s death"},"content":{"rendered":"

It hasn\u2019t been hugely uncommon for Beatles members to collaborate together in the wake of the band\u2019s demise in 1970 \u2013 that infamous rooftop concert<\/a> was their final public appearance. They have, however, usually been a little limited in their scope.<\/p>\n

Ringo Starr guested on George Harrison’s third album, \u201cAll Things Must Pass\u201d, soon after the group\u2019s split and Ringo’s solo career \u2013 which has yielded an exhaustive 21 studio albums since “Sentimental Journey” (1970) \u2013 has seen the drummer frequently join forces with the rest of the Fab Four.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But rarely did more than two Beatles get together for a song. Sure, many of Starr\u2019s albums have featured contributions from Harrison, Paul McCartney<\/a>, and John Lennon<\/a>, but on separate tracks. Harrison\u2019s 1981 single, “All Those Years Ago”, reconfigured as a tribute to John Lennon after his murder the year before, featured Starr on drums and McCartney’s backing vocals. But Starr’s “Grow Old With Me” shattered that precedent in a remarkable way.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

Released in 2019 as part of his 20th album, \u201cWhat\u2019s My Name\u201d, the song started life in Lennon\u2019s imagination. Little came of the demo until it serendipitously ended up in Starr’s hands years after Lennon’s passing.<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn wrote it,\u201d he told TMS Global Entertainment during the record\u2019s press tour. \u201cAnd I like to mention this because Jack Douglas [the record\u2019s producer], sent it to me out of the blue. That’s why I love life. Things just arrive.<\/p>\n

\u201cJack Douglas said, \u2018Did you ever hear what John said on the Bermuda tapes?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

As the name suggests, the Bermuda tapes relate to a series of demo recordings made by Lennon in Bermuda. Most songs would end up on his 1980 album \u201cDouble Fantasy\u201d with Yoko Ono, the last record he released before his death. This idea, however, remained untouched nearly 40 years later.<\/p>\n

All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n

‘Grow Old With Me’: A look back at the song that brought Lennon, McCartney and Ringo back together – YouTube
\n\"'Grow<\/p>\n

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\u201cAt the beginning of the cassette \u2013 I have to well up, I can\u2019t help it. I\u2019ve told this story nine times today \u2013 he says, \u201cOh, that would be good for Richard Starkey. This would be great for you, Ringo!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, \u2018It\u2019s so beautiful.\u2019 We\u2019ll never know why he didn\u2019t finish it, but we did a lot of the track. Paul was coming into town, and I said, \u2018I\u2019d love for you to play on this track.\u2019 I thought he’d be just perfect because he’s so melodic and he can only enhance the track. That’s all he does when he plays, every time.\u201d<\/p>\n

And so, three-quarters of the Beatles featured on the track, with a touching guitar solo<\/a> coming courtesy of Joe Walsh. But, with the memory of another fallen Beatle in mind, Douglas had one final touch in mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cJack, who did the strings, does a George line. He plays a title of one of George’s song in the with the strings, and if you listen to it carefully, you’ll hear it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The melody in question \u2013 spoiler alert \u2013 is from Harrison\u2019s resplendent Beatles hit, \u201cHere Comes the Sun\u201d. It’s a delicate, heartfelt touch<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s like George is on it, too,\u201d Starr smiles, a look of disbelief visible despite his aviator shades covering much of his face.<\/p>\n

In related news, Derek Shulman has revealed how his pre-Gentle Giant band secretly recorded an album with Beatles gear<\/a>, and, following Ozzy Osbourne’s passing, comments on how the Beatles saved his life<\/a> have resurfaced. He compared crossing paths with Paul McCartney in 2001 to meeting Jesus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It hasn\u2019t been hugely uncommon for Beatles members to collaborate together in the wake of the band\u2019s demise…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68923,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,341],"class_list":["post-68922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}