Today I turned 60. (And the crowd goes wild).
I’m guessing most Eltonites would guess that I would write about “Sixty Years On,” which of course would make complete sense. The only thing: It’s a pretty sad (albeit beautiful) song:
Who’ll walk me down to church when I’m sixty years of age
When the ragged dog they gave me has been ten years in the grave
And señorita play guitar, play it just for you
My rosary has broken and my beads have all slipped through…
…I’ve no wish to be living sixty years on
Well, I want to embrace turning sixty, I want to regale anyone who will listen with the story that got me to me, I want to raise a glass or two to what lies ahead.
So…I decided to search through my favorite Elton John lyrics site to see what else EJ and BT might have had to say about “sixty” or getting older in general…(Note that many of these words were written at a very young age):
- You know I’m no longer thirty these days, I’m happy to play one or two hands of cards (Weight of the World)
- Wheezing like a freight train hauling sixty tons of steel (Jimmie Rodgers Dream)
- Yeah Mona Lisa’s getting older (Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters Part II)
- The world is changing, we’re getting older (12)
- Undecided with the guardians of the older generation (First Episode at Hienton)
- Old ’67 what a time it was, what a time of innocence, what a time we’ve lost / Raise a glass and have a laugh, have a laugh or two, here’s to old ’67 and an older me and you (Old ’67)
- You just seem older than yesterday and you’re waiting for tomorrow to call (Roy Rogers)
- For I just get ugly and older (Social Disease)
- And all you ever learned from them until you grew much older (The Greatest Discovery)
- I was thirty, I look like fifty, but I feel like sixty three (Whipping Boy)
- I can feel the time closing in, I can feel the years crawling through my skin / And if I doubt myself I can count on the rain to cover the tears of this aging game (You Can Make History Young Again)
- I may be just an old soldier to some but I know how it feels to grow old (Talking Old Soldiers)
- The old girl hobbles, nylons sagging, talks to her sisters in the ground (Emily)
- Our summer of love has come and gone / Us sixties kids are getting on / We had a dream way back then / No reason why we can’t dream again (A Little Peace)
- I’ve been waltzing on the edge looking for a chance to seize the day / Dancing out the clock and collecting time before it slips away (Back from Yesterday)
- Now things have changed, I feel so old (Breaking Hearts Ain’t What It Used to Be)
That’s just a smattering, I’m sure.
I’ve already written about getting ready to turn 60 in (I’m Gonna) Love Me Again, so I think my 60th birthday anthem is going to be I’m Still Standing. It’s a great anthem song for a lot of reasons, but it’s going to be my anthem because it’s sassy, it’s over the top, and there’s glitter.
I don’t feel 60, but I’m cool with being 60. After all…
Don’t you know I’m still standing better than I ever did
Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid
I’m still standing after all this time
Picking up the pieces of my life without you on my mind
I’m still standing yeah yeah yeah
Here’s the original video for your enjoyment (and the glitter):
Yeah yeah yeah…
The Captain and the Kim 