The separation of The Beatles often felt like the end of the entire rock revolution. After growing to know the Fab Four like old friends throughout the 1960s, witnessing them feud over commercial decisions. Artistic differences sparked a musical grieving that swept the rock landscape. While the four members would never reconvene, John Lennon occasionally provided a hand to his old bandmates.
When working on his first solo albums, Lennon inclined to save content for himself. It included the songs about primal scream therapy on Plastic Ono Band. Even though The Beatles had broken up on paper, Lennon was still prepared to employ Ringo Starr in his songs. He employed him with the drummer giving the ideal pulse to compositions like ‘God‘ and ‘Mother‘.
As Starr progressed in his solo career, he found himself relying on the assistance of his friends. Throughout his career highs, such as 1973‘s Ringo, Starr would get songs provided by his fellow Beatles. Some with George Harrison assisting him in writing the tune ‘Photograph‘ and John Lennon providing the song ‘I’m The Greatest‘ for the album.
Even though he wasn’t giving away any of his A-material, Lennon continued collaborating with Starr for a few more years. He offered him cheerful tunes like ‘Cooking in the Kitchen of Love‘. Starr profited from having a Beatles touch on his records. Lennon’s donations ended once he decided to leave the music industry.
After Lennon won his battle to stay in America, the birth of his son Sean caused him to reconsider his objectives. Because he didn’t have to deliver an album for the first time. Lennon took time off to raise his child. He barely picked up his guitar for five years as he cared for Sean. However, after a terrible experience at sea, Lennon decided that it was time for him to return to music in the 1980s.
Creating a song conversation between him and his wife, Yoko Ono, Double Fantasy would become one of Lennon’s late-career triumphs, reminding Beatles fans of the young excitement that he brought to his music on tracks like ‘Watching the Wheels‘ and ‘Clean Up Time‘. While Lennon was assassinated just a few weeks after the album’s release, it wasn’t the last we heard from him.
Around the same time, Lennon was working on the follow-up. He used his tapes of new songs in the posthumous album Milk & Honey. Although every track matches Lennon’s voice well, he originally planned to save the song ‘Grow Old With Me‘ for one of Ringo’s albums. The music, which sounds like a sweet ballad, was intended to be in the style of wedding classics, with Lennon crooning throughout.
While Starr said he couldn’t record it, he did admit to crying when he heard the track. He added, “At the very beginning of this CD (of demos), John says, ‘Oh, that sounds like a good song for Richard Starkey.” This is ideal for you, Ringo.’ “I’m still in tears thinking about it.”
With the benefit of hindsight, Starr did ultimately dust up the tune for 2019‘s What’s My Name. He finally gets to hear the song as Lennon may have intended it to sound.
