My Gen X Playlist: Veronica – Elvis Costello

I used to say I wanted to live to the ripe old age of 80 and then I’d be fine to let go. It was a good round number. My grandparent’s lifespan reached past 80 and I always thought they lived a good long life. Funny thing, though. As you get older, that number keeps getting closer and the thought of pushing it out becomes stronger. Unfortunately, recent numbers are not on my side.

. . . life expectancy in the U.S. has declined significantly over the past few years, falling from 78.8 years in 2019 to 77 in 2020 and 76.1 in 2022 — undoing over two decades of progress.

The picture is especially concerning for men, whose life expectancy is now 73.2 years, compared with women’s 79.1. This 5.9 year gap is the widest between the two genders since 1996.

. . . “a lot of these drivers of worsening life expectancy in particular for men are preventable causes of death.”

– statnews

Preventable. That’s the key word. That means I have a say in influencing this number and it’s not all left to chance.

Even with the knowledge of decreasing life expectancy, I’ve been rethinking my number. I’d like to push past 80. My new number is a healthy 90. I found a list of daily practices to increase your chances to live to 90: 

Manage stress levels, get good sleep, eat healthy, exercise often and refrain from smoking. 

Nothing earth shattering here. I will say, I wish smoking wasn’t bad for you. I love smoking, but don’t do it due to health concerns. Sometimes there is nothing like a good cigarette.

My only concern about pushing up the number is memory health. If my mental faculties begin to decline, I may have to rethink this number.

Elvis Costello released Veronica in 1989. He co-wrote it with Paul McCartney and it was inspired by Costello’s grandmother.

The song, Costello says, was written about his grandmother’s Alzheimer’s disease, and the lyrics vividly explore the reality of dealing with the past and present of a loved one in varying degrees of normality, abnormality, heartbreak, and helplessness. Musically, the upbeat, catchy feel is a startling contrast to the tragedy in the lyrics, which swing from the verses wistfully remembering the person she was.

– Daviddas

All I can do is lead as healthy of a life that I can. Everything else is out of my hands.

–

For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

Is it all in that pretty little head of yours?
What goes on in that place in the dark?
Well I used to know a girl and I would have
sworn that her name was Veronica
Well she used to have a carefree mind of her
own and a delicate look in her eye
These days I'm afraid she's not even sure if her
name is Veronica

[Chorus:]
Do you suppose, that waiting hands on eyes,
Veronica has gone to hide?
And all the time she laughs at those who shout
her name and steal her clothes
Veronica
Veronica

Did the days drag by? Did the favours wane?
Did he roam down the town all the time?
Will you wake from your dream, with a wolf at
the door, reaching out for Veronica
Well it was all of sixty-five years ago
When the world was the street where she lived
And a young man sailed on a ship in the sea
With a picture of Veronica

On the "Empress of India"
And as she closed her eyes upon the world and
picked upon the bones of last week's news
She spoke his name outloud again

[Chorus]

Veronica sits in her favourite chair and she sits
very quiet and still
And they call her a name that they never get
right and if they don't then nobody else will
But she used to have a carefree mind of her
own, with devilish look in her eye
Saying "You can call me anything you like, but
my name is Veronica"

[Chorus]