My Gen X Playlist: When I’m Sixty Four – The Beatles

I remember chatting with a colleague about our company’s health insurance. I was complaining about our high deductible plan and she confided she was on her husband’s company plan. Wait. I thought your husband was retired, I said. Turns out he is, but he works part time at REI and qualifies for health benefits. Whoa. REI is my favorite store and that got the old noggin thinking about working at REI in retirement. If you ever visited an REI store, you’ll find all employees are genuinely happy and pleasant people. I love that place. And then she told me about the company discount… I was sold. So, maybe you’ll find me at an REI happily working in my golden years.

Back in the day, the typical retirement target age was 65 when Medicare kicked in. Well, that used to be the number. These days I’m not so sure. Even so, it’s curious that Paul McCartney titled a song When I’m 64, one year shy.

A 14-year-old Paul McCartney penned the beginnings of what would become “When I’m Sixty Four.” Though he was a ways away from hitting that milestone when he wrote it, it feels markedly tender now that McCartney is in his 80s.

McCartney is known for his playful style of writing. He wrote many tongue-in-cheek tracks for the Beatles, but “When I’m Sixty Four” has to be one of the most timeless. According to McCartney, the number 64 was an “arbitrary one.” 

“I probably should have called it ‘When I’m 65,’ which is the retirement age in England,” McCartney once explained. “And the rhyme would have been easy, ‘something, something alive when I’m 65.’ But it felt too predictable. It sounded better to say 64.”

– American Songwriter

No use making a mountain out if a mole hill. 64 or 65 – when I get to be that age, it’s basically the same thing. Right?

–

For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

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 till quarter to three
Would you lock the door
Will you still need me, will you still feed me
When I'm sixty-four

You'll be older too
And if you say the word
I could stay with you

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 sixty-four

Every summer we can rent a cottage
In the Isle of Wight, if it's not too dear
We shall scrimp and save
Grandchildren on your knee
Vera Chuck & Dave

Send me a postcard, drop me a line
Stating point of view
Indicate precisely what you mean to say
Yours sincerely, wasting away
Give me your answer, fill in a form
Mine for evermore
Will you still need me, will you still feed me
When I'm sixty-four