Born to be Old?
Posted: July 6th, 2008, 11:42 am
It's begging week on PBS
that's when they run all the popular shows, the concerts
they want contributions
they have been showing a series of performances by old timers like us
mostly they look terrible, but some of them sound as good or better than ever
the Zombies looked like zombies but they sounded great
Chad and Jeremy weren't the little Ken dolls that they once were
they looked like grandpas
but their harmonies were clean
Eric Burton did well
he made the sun rise over the whorehouse
There was Donovan and the Procol Harem guys
and Petula Clark and what's her name from to sir with love
and even Jerry from the Pacemakers
I had to call him Geriatric with a Pacemaker
this impelled me to go take a look at myself in the mirror
am I a has-been or a-never-have been?
my credulity was a little strained when
I watched this old fat guy
(the lead singer for Steppenwolf)
sing Born to be Wild
and they showed the audience
and it was a bunch of Q-tip headed old women
swaying to the beat and singing the words
it was kinda sad really
I was born to be wild
but I wasn't born yesterday
and neither were they
I think I have been lucky in this respect:
I've never had a hit tune that I had to repeat
night after night after night for years and then have to come back and
do a parody of it for the old-timers
I met a guy one time in the Winedale Pub in Dallas
he said his name was Jimmy Velvet and he had written the tune
Blue Velvet
I'm sure he was a drunken impostor
his royalties weren't too great
because he was soliciting drinks
my point is this:
it doesn't matter if this guy really wrote Blue Velvet
he was using his claim that he had written a hit tune
as his ticket for a drink
is that why we do this?
because we hope that someone
will sing our song after our bodily remains are gone
and we will achieve that degree of immortality?
Is it fear of death that causes us to get old?
or the fear of music?
that's when they run all the popular shows, the concerts
they want contributions
they have been showing a series of performances by old timers like us
mostly they look terrible, but some of them sound as good or better than ever
the Zombies looked like zombies but they sounded great
Chad and Jeremy weren't the little Ken dolls that they once were
they looked like grandpas
but their harmonies were clean
Eric Burton did well
he made the sun rise over the whorehouse
There was Donovan and the Procol Harem guys
and Petula Clark and what's her name from to sir with love
and even Jerry from the Pacemakers
I had to call him Geriatric with a Pacemaker
this impelled me to go take a look at myself in the mirror
am I a has-been or a-never-have been?
my credulity was a little strained when
I watched this old fat guy
(the lead singer for Steppenwolf)
sing Born to be Wild
and they showed the audience
and it was a bunch of Q-tip headed old women
swaying to the beat and singing the words
it was kinda sad really
I was born to be wild
but I wasn't born yesterday
and neither were they
I think I have been lucky in this respect:
I've never had a hit tune that I had to repeat
night after night after night for years and then have to come back and
do a parody of it for the old-timers
I met a guy one time in the Winedale Pub in Dallas
he said his name was Jimmy Velvet and he had written the tune
Blue Velvet
I'm sure he was a drunken impostor
his royalties weren't too great
because he was soliciting drinks
my point is this:
it doesn't matter if this guy really wrote Blue Velvet
he was using his claim that he had written a hit tune
as his ticket for a drink
is that why we do this?
because we hope that someone
will sing our song after our bodily remains are gone
and we will achieve that degree of immortality?
Is it fear of death that causes us to get old?
or the fear of music?