When I was 32 even reaching 64 seemed impossibly far off in Daydreaming on the Porch

When I get older, losing my hair
Many years from now
Will you still be sending me a valentine,
Birthday greetings, bottle of wine?
If I’d been out til quarter to three
Would you lock the door?
Will you still need me, Will you still feed me,
When I’m 64?

.. I could be handy mending a fuse
When your lights have gone
You can knit a sweater by the fireside, Sunday mornings, go for a ride.
Doing the garden, digging the weeds
Who could ask for more?
Will you still need me, Will you still feed me,
When I’m 64?
When I’m 64

The Beatles

Many years ago when I was teaching, I brought a class of eighth graders to a classroom where they had a music appreciation class, taught by a university music major, once a week. It was a very small school, and I had only 22 students in that entire grade. By the spring of that year I had grown quite attached to them. They were like an extended family. We enjoyed each other. We liked each other, even though I was their English and history teacher.

So one afternoon, to my surprise, the song the instructor was teaching them to sing was “When I’m 64” by the Beatles. I had never paid too much attention to it before, but for some reason, seeing those end-of-school-year, mischievous, happy kids singing that song of aging and love, just tickled me. I watched the expressions on their faces. I savored the little ironies. They were just having fun in their irrepressible way.

I’ve been thinking about that song lately. I’m not sure why, but it has something to do with my own aging. I can personally relate to the words, as any person in their 70s might. But even as a young teacher back in 1983, 32 years old, I appreciated the words quite a lot. What I enjoyed, too, was seeing those 13 and 14-year-olds having a great time with this song by a group which I and my peers had grown up with, and who were emblematic of my times and generation. Now a younger generation was getting to know the Beatles and each successive generation.

“When I’m 64” (Remastered)
Such a great song.

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