When I'm 64...

This thread is dedicated to Paul McCartney who will be 64 in exactly five days.

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

This great man, besides making part of the greatest band in history, went on to influence millions with his retro-style. With Honey Pie, and When I'm 64, he showed us that old didn't mean bad. With Black Bird, Yesterday, and Mother Nature's Son, he showed that simplicity often overcomes complexity in both brilliance and style. Here's to the man, the dead man, the walrus, Sir Paul McCartney. May he live another 30 years.

Thank you for the lyrics, now I sing along to it...

Happy 64th McCartney.

Siblesz,

Thank you for this tribute. Thank you for reminding me of his great quiet Beatles work as well. I am utterly amazed at McCartney, the styles he has covered. Pop, Rock, Love, Hip-Hop, Classical, and recently, with his newest album, a Harrisonesque deepness, an appreciation for the simpler things.
I've always loved McCartney & His work, it is excellent, and his non-musical commitments are very admirable, especially for someone like myself.

To impress some people, and maybe just to scare some people (myself) his Guinness World Records, along with Achievements and miscellania:

* Appears in the Guinness Book of Records several times.
o "Yesterday" listed as the most covered song in history with over 3000 existing versions
o The most successful popular-music composer and recording artist ever with sales of 100 million singles and 60 gold discs.
o Honoured by Guinness in 1979 with a unique rhodium disc, recognising this achievement
o The largest stadium audience in history when 184,000 paid to see him perform at Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro in April 1990
o The fastest ticket sales in history, which took place in 1993 when 20,000 tickets for 2 shows in Sydney, Australia sold out in eight minutes
o Was involved with the fastest-released single in history; on July 2, 2005 his performance of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" with U2 at Live 8 was released 45 minutes after the performance took place. (The single reached #6 on the Billboard charts just hours after the single release, and hit #1 on numerous online download charts across the world.)
* The only artist to have UK number one singles as a soloist ("Pipes of Peace"), and part of a duo ("Ebony and Ivory" with Stevie Wonder), trio ("Mull of Kintyre" with Wings), quartet ("She Loves You", among many others, with The Beatles), quintet ("Get Back" The Beatles with Billy Preston) and sextet ("Let It Be" with Ferry Aid). He was also a member of charity ensembles Band Aid and Band Aid 20, both of which had a UK number ones with "Do They Know It's Christmas?".
* Has a record twenty-nine US number one singles, twenty of them with The Beatles, and the rest from Wings and his output as a solo artist.
* "Yesterday" was confirmed as world's most popular song with over 6,000,000 airplays in the USA alone.
* Received an honorary Doctorate of Music from the University of Sussex.
* The first rock musician ever to receive the Order of Merit of Chile for "services to music, peace, and human understanding."
* First recipient of the Swedish Polar Music Prize ("Nobel Prize for music").
* 1998 Winner of Lifetime Achievement Award. From People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), according to another website.
* Between his work with The Beatles and as a solo artist and leader of Wings, McCartney has written or co-written more than 50 Top Ten singles. When combined with The Beatles' 49 Top 40 U.S. singles, Paul McCartney is the most successful pop-music composer ever and the second greatest hitmaker, behind Elvis Presley.
* Is the richest rock star in the world, with an estimated personal fortune of £762 million in 2004, estimated at £1.Billion as of 2005/6.
* He owns properties: Peasmarch Farm, East Sussex; a ranch in Arizona; a house in St John's Wood; Wycliffe Hall, Co Durham; a house in Beverly Hills; a house in Hove, Sussex
* Was the only Beatle to achieve any qualifications at secondary school, doing particularly well in Art.
* Made an honorary detective by the NYPD.
* The only Beatle to ever have been nominated for an Academy Award in his own right, for the title songs to the movies "Vanilla Sky" and "Live and Let Die".
* In 1997 he was knighted (Knight Bachelor) for his services to music. He dedicated his knighthood to fellow Beatles John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr and the people of Liverpool. Aides commented that he won't be calling himself "Sir Paul"; "He's always been a modest chap and he won't be getting us all bowing and scraping," one aide said. (Harrison joked at the time that he and Starr were "already calling him 'His Lordship'".)
* Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 (as a solo artist).
* Has never been able to read musical notation; instead, writes and plays by ear.
* Paul and Linda McCartney featured on an episode of The Simpsons in which they spoke to Lisa about vegetarianism on the roof of Apu's shop.
* An average football fan, he supports Everton F.C.

Hear, hear! To Paul McCartney, the Beatle we all know and [hopefully] love! (Not to put down the other ones, mind you) To keep the atmosphere up, I'll mention the songs I've Just Seen A Face and Here, There, and Everywhere, though the latter may make you all a bit tired. Oh, and, wow, that's a lot of facts there, I only knew a handful of those.

Originally Posted by The Seleucid Empire

Hear, hear! To Paul McCartney, the Beatle we all know and [hopefully] love!

Heather Mills McCartney seems not to....

Other than that, good on the man, maybe he'll release a special birthday rendition of it.

* Has never been able to read musical notation; instead, writes and plays by ear.

Score! If he can do it I can (OK not neeearly as well )

A truely influential man of music really

Too bad his birthday has to be marred by divorce.

Happy birthday Paul. May you live another 64 years...

Originally Posted by Justinian

Happy birthday Paul. May you live another 64 years...

Holy ****... 128 years? Poor Paul...

More like "check it out! Paul McCartney still sounds good at 128!"

He'll probably die in the studio or in front of a piano

He'll die during a concert.

Heather Mills McCartney seems not to....

In all fairness, they have both cited the media being a huge splitter. Hell, even Heather has publicly stated she doesnt want any money, though she could get between 50-400 Million USD.

Bah, I know what shall happen. Paul McCartney shall die, singing The End, after just finishing Live & Let Die.

Or he'll just die peacefully in his house, as normal people do.

Oh man that's a great song! it has to be one of my top favorite Beatles songs.

Originally Posted by Antoninus Pious

In all fairness, they have both cited the media being a huge splitter. Hell, even Heather has publicly stated she doesnt want any money, though she could get between 50-400 Million USD.

Just because she's publicly said something doesn't make it true, however, by any means. Then again my view of her is probably coloured by the British media's "gold-digger" epithet.

I think when he first wrote "When I'm 64" that 64 seemed a lot older than it is today. A more proper title would be "When I'm 74"
64 is the new 54 anyway.