Can you imagine watching one of The Beatles’ early rehearsal sessions? I’m talking about before Ringo Starr was even in the band, just John Lennon and Paul McCartney exchanging ideas and working on songs, completely oblivious to how much they would change the world. That band and those songs were going to have a massive impact on music and culture as we knew it then and know it now, but unfortunately, it wasn’t built to last.
There are pros and cons to joining a band from a young age. The pros are that you tend to be friends with the people you’re working with before your bandmates. This means the foundation of your musical outfit transcends record sales and success. It puts you in a good position to deal with the hard times, for instance, if you’re struggling to conjure up a hit at some point in your career.
However, there are difficulties that can come with this approach as well. One of the main ones is that your taste hasn’t fully developed when you’re young. As such, the music you want to make now might align, but will you all still have the same opinions, ideas and direction when you get older? Chances are, you won’t, and this is a problem that The Beatles faced.
While they were predominantly on the same page for the early days in the Beatles’ career, opinions began to shift as time went on. John Lennon wanted to move away from love songs and embrace something with a touch more honesty, embracing his emotions and his view on the world around him in a bid to create something honest and true.
When you spoke about his favourite Beatles song, he fondly mentioned tracks like ‘Help’, revelling in the fact that the song is as honest a song as he will ever write. When you consider the work he did throughout his solo career, it’s evident just how much he was craving the freedom to write about societal, political and internal issues. Look no further than songs such as ‘Working Class Hero’, ‘Mother’ and ‘Imagine’ for examples.
However, just because Lennon was embracing activism more during this period, it didn’t mean that he didn’t have time for the occasional love here and there. After all, he was completely besotted with Yoko Ono at the time, so it is hardly a surprise that the occasional declaration of love passed those freedom-fighting lips.
Arguably one of his sweetest love songs during this period was one that he never got the chance to finish: ‘Grow Old With Me’. Lennon only ever recorded a home demo of the track, with the intention of finalising it at a later date. Unfortunately, he died before he had the chance to do this. Yoko Ono loved the song and so decided to release the demo track on the 1984 posthumous album Milk And Honey.
The track was very well received. Paul McCartney particularly loved it and the sentiment behind it, so much so that when they were releasing some Beatles reunion tracks in the ‘90s, he was keen on using this one. Unfortunately, it proved impossible, as the cassette rattling in the background couldn’t be removed, and it was present throughout Lennon’s vocals. George Harrison was relieved that they couldn’t use the song, as he thought it was too sad, given that Lennon was no longer able to grow old with Yoko Ono.
Regardless of the political views that John Lennon felt compelled to write about later in his career, he always had time for a love song, and when that time presented itself, he was quick to show he was still one of the best at it.
