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For a man who used to obsess about his relevance after reaching 64 years old, Paul McCartney seems to be doing fine at 68. Yesterday, a full 39 years after his first solo Grammy, Paul McCartney took home the solo rock vocal performance statuette at the Grammy Awards.
To put that feat into perspective, McCartney’s last victory—in 1972 for his arrangement of “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey”—came before most of the major acts at yesterday’s performance (Eminem, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry) were even born.
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McCartney won for a rendition of the Beatles tune “Helter Skelter,” which he recorded for his 2009 live album “Good Evening New York City.” It marked his 14th Grammy, of which 10 were Beatle-related, spanning 1965 to a reissue project in 1997.
Back in 1967, McCartney wondered what his seventh decade would likely hold by asking “Will you still need me, when I’m 64?” At 68, he proved he’s still relevant. As did fellow musical legends Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger and Barbra Streisand, who all performed at the ceremony, and Neil Young, 65, who won the Grammy for Best Rock Song for his “Angry World,” beating out Mumford & Sons, Kings Of Leon, Muse and the Black Keys.
The generation that made rock famous through the second half of the last century obsessed regularly about the obsolescence of old age. “I hope I die before I get old,” The Who sung in 1965. “It’s better to burn out than to fade away,”Neigh Young and Crazy Horse declared in 1979. But many of these old rockers are proving that aging need not entail obscurity. We at NewsFeed salute their endurance, and point out that it’s just as well–with so little money to be made in records any more, these old lions will need to keep the circus on the road if they want to stay filthy rich.
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