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The Beatles — When I'm Sixty-four
Album: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Avg rating:
7.9

Your rating:
Total ratings: 1317









Released: 1967
Length: 2:37
Plays (last 30 days): 0
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 it 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.
Comments (197)add comment
I thought Paul's voice sounded funny. I just read that he recorded this in another key and had them speed up the recording to make him sound younger. Did everybody else in the world know this before me?
love the touch of a Scottish burr he does before the Vera Chuck and Dave line
 cambuddyf wrote:
Interestingly written earlier in their career.

An example of pros/cons of McCartney - clever tune but granny music. Still - better that Maxwell's Silver Hammer and Your Mother Should Know.   
 
You're Mother Should Know is incredible. I love it.
Mellow-ish, but poignant
Will you still need me Will you still feed me When I’m 104
 kurtster wrote:
Just pulled out the vinyl a couple of hours ago and ripped it.  Turn 64 in a couple of weeks.  Never thought that I would ever make it this far in life way back when this song was brand new.

Shit howdy. 

 
Do they still feed you.  Do they still need you?
Interestingly written earlier in their career.

An example of pros/cons of McCartney - clever tune but granny music. Still - better that Maxwell's Silver Hammer and Your Mother Should Know.   
So used to listening to this album that at the end of this, I always expect "Ah ah ah ah. Lovely Rita Meter Maid..."
 michaelmuller wrote:
Hmm.... sounds a little sped-up. I know it's the right song, but it doesn't sound like Paul. It's definitely up a step.

 
Oh, that George Martin! *shakes fist*
 kurtster wrote:
Just pulled out the vinyl a couple of hours ago and ripped it.  Turn 64 in a couple of weeks.  Never thought that I would ever make it this far in life way back when this song was brand new.

Shit howdy. 

 

I just turned 64 the week before last.  If I'd known I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself.
Hmm.... sounds a little sped-up. I know it's the right song, but it doesn't sound like Paul. It's definitely up a step.
 GetBakedTonight wrote:
John L called these type songs 'Pauls granny music'.

 
Yep.  Cradle (John's "Say Goodnight") to grave ("Paul's granny music"), and everything in between.  The Beatles covered it all.
Just pulled out the vinyl a couple of hours ago and ripped it.  Turn 64 in a couple of weeks.  Never thought that I would ever make it this far in life way back when this song was brand new.

Shit howdy. 
my wife is getting really pissed off at me since I sing this almost daily, and will until February 2017
Hey....who are you calling old? Kettle - Pot?
Can't help expecting to hear "Lovely Rita" next!
George Martin really was such an important part of the Beatles, it can't be overstated. Not only with stuff like this but even the earliest, simplest songs. The recordings were always so clean and powerful.
And for the honor of late Sir George Martin.
 
 twoplain2sea wrote:
Admittedly, Sixty-four isn't an advanced age, just new 30's.

 
Totally agree, I'm nearly there. Time flies, but life is so much more enjoyable...
I thought this was very unique mixed in on the Pepper album but I couldn't belive some of the later ones or the fact that McCartney even made them
John L called these type songs 'Pauls granny music'.
 pankman wrote:
Imagine: if the Beatles had ever recorded a song with nothing but burps and farts, I bet people would rate that song 8+ … laughable. By the way: sucko-barfo.

 
You know my name... Look up the number
outstanding 
Imagine: if the Beatles had ever recorded a song with nothing but burps and farts, I bet people would rate that song 8+ … laughable. By the way: sucko-barfo.
 jayvee2 wrote:
Prophetic when you think of which Beatles did...and didn't...reach this ripe old age. RIP, John and George.
 
And Paul... :o Triangles!
 Dazzerb wrote:
PSD quick......{#Arghhh}

 
You and I are very different people!
Admittedly, Sixty-four isn't an advanced age, just new 30's.
One of the many things I love about The Beatles is their appreciation for music that was more from their parents' era than their own. {#Wink}
Easily a 10+
PSD quick......{#Arghhh}
 (former member) wrote:


It is soooo incredible how this song sounds deceptively like a simple pop song, but the lyrics match the best of Shakespeare...

this song is from the single best album in the history of humanity...

 
 
Goodness!
They're clever, but "the best of Shakespeare?" 
Polonius, perhaps. 
 
Great song, great album! This seems to be the pre-remaster version. The bass is a bit muddy. 
doing the garden digging the weeds, who could ask for more.. {#Cheesygrin}
 rdo wrote:


I do not want to denigrate them but there is a zombie like aspect to their followers
 
But we're happy zombies.
 scraig wrote:


 
From the preview / advert for "The World According to Garp" no?  

Great song. 

 cosmiclint wrote:

If anyone is qualified to make that judgement, it's romeotuma {#Yes}
 
Thank you!  Everybody in my alien space craft loves this song from the best album of all time...

hope life is grand for you these days, cosmiclint... 
Prophetic when you think of which Beatles did...and didn't...reach this ripe old age. RIP, John and George.
only 9 years to go!
{#Eh}  ..... shit, 7 months to go for me.  Hopefully!!
 kingart wrote:
Anyway who denigrates the Beatles needs a lobotomy to get the mind right. 

 

I do not want to denigrate them but there is a zombie like aspect to their followers
 heinz51 wrote:
Released Date is 1. July 1967

 

The summer of love. The next year was the year of death and destruction
nope, she gone.....
 GeneP59 wrote:
Only ten to go.  {#Eek}

 
Ditto! Wooooosh.
as john lennon said more of "paul's granny shide"
 dew34 wrote:
Four months to go.....will I make it? Dad died before 65!!{#Dancingbanana}

 
You made it! Dew? Dew?!? DEW!!!??
 dew34 wrote:
Four months to go.....will I make it? Dad died before 65!!{#Dancingbanana}

 

Well I guess I can wish you a Happy 64 now in July
Sucko-Barfo
Only ten to go.  {#Eek}
Four months to go.....will I make it? Dad died before 65!!{#Dancingbanana}
Nine to go...time soars                              just landed on five-five
{#Bounce}
The days are long, the years are short.
Six years to go. Can't believe it. Where the hell has the time gone?
So glad that I too was blessed to grow up with the Beatles.  The days of expectation waiting for the next single, next album to be released were magic.  When I first heard this I really never expected to REACH  64 - life of "sex, drugs and rock'n'roll"!  Now I have passed it and am not yet past it!  What an album!  Still sounds great today.{#Cowboy}
Don't comment that often, but last month I pulled up youtube in my four classes that I taught that day (my birthday) and I played this song stating that "this is honor of me". I was 19 years old when I first heard it in '67, wow 45 years later.
And then the Wilburys? Hell yeah Bill, hell yeah. 
+2 months and she's still here.
Brilliant.  Not so far away, now. And the answer, to date, has been no.
 George_Tirebiter wrote:
Two years . . . . {#Drunk}
 



One year and three months—On the flip side, I was blessed to have grown up with The Beatles.
 romeotuma wrote:


Everybody in my hotel room loves this song, and this whole album, which is the best album in the history of our solar system...


 

 
If anyone is qualified to make that judgement, it's romeotuma {#Yes}
Two years . . . . {#Drunk}
 LPCity wrote:
When I'm 6' 4"?

Sorry, I keep coming up 2" short...
 


And that's just perfect, dear.
;)
When I'm 6' 4"?

Sorry, I keep coming up 2" short...
Anyway who denigrates the Beatles needs a lobotomy to get the mind right. 
Wikipedia says this about Paul McCartney's age —

Born 18 June 1942 (age 69)

 
johnjconn wrote:
Paul can answer all of his own questions from this song by now
 
{#Roflol}

because they could
Released Date is 1. July 1967
I could be handy mending a fuse
When your lights have gone. 

Classic! 

 Stingray wrote:
THIS SONG WAS POSSIBLY MADE FOR YOU,
FELLOW RADIO-RP listeners!

"WHEN I HAD BEEN 64!"

PS
I AGREE WITH THE MAINSTREAM (HERE),
it's one of the best albums ever been made!
  
 fredriley wrote:

No, it's "when I am 64" - present tense, not pluperfect.
 
I think what Stingray might have been getting at (aside from his repeated references to what he considers the advanced ages of other RP listeners), is that if McCartney were to sing this song today, it would not be appropriate for him to say "...when I am sixty-four".  Since Sir Paul is now at least sixty-eight years old, he should sing "when I was sixty-four".

Duh??
 Stingray wrote:
"WHEN I HAD BEEN 64!"
 
No, it's "when I am 64" - present tense, not pluperfect.


Sgt. Pepper's John Lennon  by rising70
https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_first_rays/

John Winston Ono Lennon, (9 October 1940 - 8 December 1980)
 
Copyright All rights reserved

.


hippiechick wrote: John writes music, Paul writes ditties.

{#Yell}{#Headache}{#Mad}{#Fight}                            {#Propeller}

It's comments like these that frost my petunias.  "We Can Work it Out", "Getting Better", hardly a ditty, my dear. 

Up to and including:

"Let It Be,"
"Yesterday,"
"Eleanor Rigby,"
"Hey Jude,"
"Get Back,"
"Penny Lane,"
"Blackbird,"
 "Oh! Darling,"
 "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," "Can't Buy Me Love," "Hello, Goodbye," "The Long and Winding Road," "Maxwell's Silver Hammer," "Paperback Writer," "Michelle," "Golden Slumbers," "Back in the USSR," "Fixing a Hole," "Lady Madonna," "You Never Give Me Your Money," "Helter Skelter," and "Yellow Submarine," (Ringo sang it, but Paul wrote the song.)


Together, they were golden.




 Proclivities wrote:

I remember reading somewhere that McCartney wrote this song when he was sixteen years old.
 
This song was mentioned on Jeopardy last night — they said Paul wrote it for his father, who was 64 at the time. 

Much better tunes on this classic LP.
The Beatles 4th best album which means that it is only super fabulous!{#Lol}
THIS SONG WAS POSSIBLY MADE FOR YOU,
FELLOW RADIO-RP listeners!

"WHEN I HAD BEEN 64!"

PS
I AGREE WITH THE MAINSTREAM (HERE),
it's one of the best albums ever been made!
 h8rhater wrote:

Release date June 1, 1967.  I'm guessing kindergarten.

 
Yes, 1967.  Kindergarten for me too - a  few months later.

This was the very first album I bought.
 parrothead wrote:
This album was released June 1 1969. I was prepairing for 1st grade then.
 
Release date June 1, 1967.  I'm guessing kindergarten.

This would be so much better if it segued into Lovely Rita.
 parrothead wrote:
This album was released June 1 1969. I was prepairing for 1st grade then.
 

1967, actually.
eeeek! I was i HS when this came out.
This album was released June 1 1969. I was prepairing for 1st grade then.
Uh, oh!   I'm 64 now.   How did that happen?

Beatles "Sgt. Pepper" by ~JSaurer
©2008-2010 ~JSaurer

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Airbrush, water colours, coloured pencils, 1996

I'm busy with caricatures of Rock musicians since the late 70s.
Lots of them were released on CD-covers, calendars and music magazines.
The original size is mostly A3 (30 x 42 cm)


 WonderLizard wrote:

Okay, I don't get it. romeotuma is positive and upbeat, and y'all dump on him—Poacher's dis is completely uncalled for. What? You'd rather have the unrelentingly mindless and negative Excelsior back? So what if romeotuma has a limited vocabulary, and so what if he only rates the songs he considers 10s? Jeez, give a little...

 
Yes, I don't understand either, people getting uptight over someone enjoying everything they hear on RP.  We need more upbeat, positive people in the world like Romeotuma!

 gatorade wrote:
This album changed EVERYTHING in Rock and Roll. For sure Godlike.
 
It changed a good deal . . . then. Not sure about the impact on the long run.
This album changed EVERYTHING in Rock and Roll. For sure Godlike.
 WonderLizard wrote:
thewiseking wrote:

 Sappy McCartney crap

hippiechick wrote:
John writes music, Paul writes ditties.
 
Look, Sir Paul's post-Beatle output even grates on me. That's not the point. This is a sophisticated rendition of a time-honored Tin Pan Alley arrangement with, for the time (yes, there is context), a fairly challenging lyric. He was barely 25 when he wrote this, and we were all a lot younger. The very idea of reaching the age of 64—I'm still not there, but fast closing! {#Lol}—was as alien as little green men. So, I think it took a bit of cheek to even broach the topic to a generation of fans who had largely adopted "Hope I die before I get old" as a mantra. Besides, the clarinet's 4th harmony in the third verse is to die for.
 
I remember reading somewhere that McCartney wrote this song when he was sixteen years old.


 Tizmself wrote:


It rates up there I'll give you that. But since you rate every song a 10, your ratings do not really mean much. And then there are your comments......they are soooo painful for the mind......

 
Okay, I don't get it. romeotuma is positive and upbeat, and y'all dump on him—Poacher's dis is completely uncalled for. What? You'd rather have the unrelentingly mindless and negative Excelsior back? So what if romeotuma has a limited vocabulary, and so what if he only rates the songs he considers 10s? Jeez, give a little...

thewiseking wrote:

 Sappy McCartney crap

hippiechick wrote:
John writes music, Paul writes ditties.
 
Look, Sir Paul's post-Beatle output even grates on me. That's not the point. This is a sophisticated rendition of a time-honored Tin Pan Alley arrangement with, for the time (yes, there is context), a fairly challenging lyric. He was barely 25 when he wrote this, and we were all a lot younger. The very idea of reaching the age of 64—I'm still not there, but fast closing! {#Lol}—was as alien as little green men. So, I think it took a bit of cheek to even broach the topic to a generation of fans who had largely adopted "Hope I die before I get old" as a mantra. Besides, the clarinet's 4th harmony in the third verse is to die for.


 hippiechick wrote:

John writes music, Paul writes ditties.

Anyway, who ever thought, when this song came out, that I would be staring 64 down someday. Sigh...

 
That's right, ditties — like Helter Skelter and Let Me Roll It - just to name two.


 ICHawk wrote:

Darn it! In my head, I was hearing (and hoping for ) the segue into 'Lovely Rita.' 


 
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

No the answer is NO, the one legged old bag took him for a small fortune...though thankfully not the sum she wanted.


 Tizmself wrote:


It rates up there I'll give you that. But since you rate every song a 10, your ratings do not really mean much. And then there are your comments......they are soooo painful for the mind......
 
Indeed. RP's pet twat troll. 
 romeotuma wrote:


This song is from the best album of all time...
 

It rates up there I'll give you that. But since you rate every song a 10, your ratings do not really mean much. And then there are your comments......they are soooo painful for the mind......

Darn it! In my head, I was hearing (and hoping for ) the segue into 'Lovely Rita.' 


 ThePoose wrote:
Yeah, Sir Paul, now you're looking back at 64. How's the view?
 
I guess he can afford the cottage in the Isle of Wight now...

thanks for the shot back in time - that was fun!  Great tune from the Masters!
Blech!

I don't know, maybe needs more frying pan? 
 thewiseking wrote:

Sappy McCartney crap


 
John writes music, Paul writes ditties.

Anyway, who ever thought, when this song came out, that I would be staring 64 down someday. Sigh...

The theme song for my birthday today.

Sappy McCartney crap


Yeah, Sir Paul, now you're looking back at 64. How's the view?
 Aegean wrote:
O.K., if we needed proof that Bill must be sliding into senility, we now have it!
 
No need to get nasty.

I've heard a lot of stuff today I haven't heard before.  When I turned RP on this morning, there was some cool swing coming out the speakers.  Some Cab Calloway soon after.

Averaged over any given period, I think Bill does a great job.

 The_Enemy wrote:
HEY!

This is the 2nd time today a track from this album has been played.  In fact, RP has been playing The Beatles almost everyday lately!!!

What's with that? Who do I complain to? RANT!  GROWL!!  NASTY COMMENTS ABOUT YOUR ANCESTRY!!!
 

Friggin' idiots like you are wrecking the song comments pages.  I happen to like The Beatles.  I even have this album.  I'm ok if Bill even wants to play MORE Beatles.

Go listen to some AM radio for awhile, you jerk! {#Iamwithstupid}

 handyrae wrote:


Sort of. I think being married to Sir Paul would have to abuse on some level. I don't think he beat her or anything though.
 
I find it hard to believe that, after all his cattin' 'round, that Macca could ever be monogamous, so my thought was that maybe this had something to do it. Linda could handle it, Heather couldn't, is my supposition.

Don't trust anybody over seventy.
EssexTex wrote:
Irony
Oooooh, I get it: "Cherry blossom girl, via con me when I'm sixty-four." What does "via con me" mean?
EssexTex wrote:
Irony
Exactly! The answer to this musical question would be
BigTimber wrote:
Creepy Starbucks guy, stop dying your thin hair.
now even the facelift is sagging. (i'm 60)
Irony
Yes! Three good ones in a row! I guess Bill feels bad about playing that Pierces atrocity and is making up for it.
"Garp? It sounds like a fish!"
"Will ya still be sending me VALENTINES?"
I'm supposed to be hearing Lovely Rita next. But Steely Dan will do...
kcar wrote:
Does anyone here seriously believe Heather Mills' tales of abuse, neglect and emotional distress? I'm not looking for a fight, just polling fellow RPers.
I think she's full of poop. He might have been motivationally abusive because he's ridiculously famous and she can't understand his mentality that goes with it but I mean come on, he's a Beatle, man.
Creepy Starbucks guy, stop dying your thin hair.