In early 2019, as if it were a top-secret military operation Jack Douglas passed along to me John Lennon’s demo of “Grow Old With Me.”

He said that Ringo was recording it for his upcoming album and had charged Jack with producing a string arrangement.

So I charted it out and made some preliminary sketches. A few months later I re-did that upon hearing Ringo’s version and new key.

In early July Jack and I got together to hammer out our first official draft. We sent it off for approval, and got ready to record it with a string quartet. Feedback came back the day before the session with one enthusiastic note—“more!”

Happy to oblige, we did that. (Our first draft was a bit conservative as we didn’t want to get anywhere close to “stepping on” Ringo’s vocal, Paul McCartney’s bass, Jim Cox’s, piano, or Joe Walsh’s guitar!!)

With the session too close to wait for approval of our revision I prepped the parts to send off to Black Ribbon Printing for the session the following morning.

We recorded at United Recorders Studio A (the same room in which I recorded my orchestrations for Dave Porter’s score to Flesh and Bone). The quartet played it down so well, and effortlessly navigated the few changes we got from Ringo in the booth.

Next, Allison Lovejoy laid in her accordion and that was it!

A John Lennon song, Paul on bass, and Ringo singing and playing the drums, it just seemed self-evident to get George in there. And we did.

Just before the bridge is a subtle nod to George’s “Here Comes the Sun.” Needless to say, I’m very proud be a part of this.

Thanks to Jack for bringing me along for the ride.