London: Sir Ringo Starr has teamed up with Sir Paul McCartney to record a version of a lost demo written by John Lennon less than a year before his death.
Lennon penned Grow Old With Me during the sessions for Double Fantasy, the final album he made before being shot and killed outside his Manhattan apartment in 1980.
Ringo Starr, formerly of The Beatles, performs in concert with Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band at The Met in Philadelphia last month.Credit:AP
Starr, the former Beatles drummer, 79, was introduced to the song by record producer Jack Douglas, who produced the Grammy-winning album Double Fantasy, which is also credited to Lennon's widow Yoko Ono.
Star enlisted the help of McCartney, 77, to play bass on the track, which he admitted had brought him to tears when he first heard it.
He said: "Jack asked if I ever heard The Bermuda Tapes, John's demos from that time. And I had never heard all this.
Paul McCartney has recorded a lost John Lennon song with Ringo Starr.Credit:Invision/AP
"The idea that John was talking about me in that time before he died, well, I'm an emotional person.
"And I just loved this song. I sang it the best that I could. I do well up when I think of John this deeply. And I've done my best. We've done our best."
"The other good thing is that I really wanted Paul to play on it, and he said yes. Paul came over and he played bass and sings a little bit on this with me. So, John's on it in a way. I'm on it and Paul's on it," Starr said.
"It's not a publicity stunt. This is just what I wanted. And the strings that Jack arranged for this track, if you really listen, they do one line from Here Comes The Sun.
"So in a way, it's the four of us."
The Beatles, from left, Ringo Starr; Paul McCartney; John Lennon; and George Harrison in 1966.Credit:AP
The track features on Starr's 20th solo album What's My Name, out on October 25.
News of the release come as Lennon's sister, Julia Baird, 72, announced Beatles fans will be able to following in his footsteps and wander through the grounds of the children's home which inspired Strawberry Fields Forever.
From Saturday, visitors will have the chance to walk through the gardens of the Strawberry Field home in Woolton, Liverpool, where Lennon would play as a boy.
The musician used to climb over the wall to gain entry to the Beaconsfield Road home, which he later immortalised in song, but the Salvation Army is now opening the site's famous red gates to the public as a tourist attraction and youth training centre.
Baird, 72, who is also honorary president of the Strawberry Field project, said the grounds of the home had been a "sanctuary" for the musician as a youngster.
PA
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