This is a nothing diary, but something compels me to to post it anyway.
You know the classic Beatles' song “When I'm 64”? (Will ya still need me, will ya still feed me...)?
Well, today I turn 64. My reflections on this are wholly nonpolitical, and have little or nothing to do with the Social Security, etc., that will kick in after my next birthday.
No, they are more about grammar and about how we see the world through the lens of language.
In fact, I was 19 when this song was released, and I always liked it. But it wasn't until the past few years that future verb tense of the title phrase began to become more meaningful. As my personal clock ticked on—59, 60, 61—I definitely would sing or hum the song with more personal emotionality, more feeling.
So here I am now, and I can in fact no longer sing that song with the same feeling. My internal grammarian wants to correct the future tenses to the present tense, something like “Do you still need me, will you still feed me, now I'm 64”.
It all has the feeling of a major life milestone, yet, what does it all mean anyway?
To make matters even more confusing, this will all have to be recomputed in just one year. That's right, one year from today, being 64 will be in the past tense! My new refrain will be, “Did you still need me, did you still feed me, when I was 64!”
In a way, this year between 63 and 65 is a major transition, not only in terms of the song, but it terms of my civil status. I will have reached the official age for medicare and I'll be within a year of so-called full Social Security (see below); perhaps more importantly, the significance of “When I'm 64” will begin to fade away into irrelevance, because there will be no further updates available. Past is past.
I suppose I could just change the age in the song. (I wonder what Paul McCartney did five years ago when he entered this zone of transition.) “When I'm 84” has a certain flair to it, but “When I'm 104” could actually scan if you read it as “one oh four”. That's the version I like. Optimism! Hope! Maybe there's still life in that old song after all.
As for Social Security, that date is not very interesting to me, because I'm one of those lucky, miserable souls who worked a combination of government (Civil Service) and non-government (Social Security) type jobs, so I am eligible for a modest Civil Service pension. Unfortunately, some long-ago legislative bean counter decided that if I also received a Social Security annuity, I would be double dipping, so my Social Security will be cut back to almost nothing. Just another whack at the federal employee. There have been various attempts to correct this injustice over the years, but since federal employees (and teachers, who are the main group that tend to land into this trap) always seem to be a little less important than a new kind of bomber or cost-cutting initiative.
Well, that's the end of this note. Happy Birthday to all you other Christmas babies out there, and Geðileg Jól to everyone.
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 one-oh-four?
oo oo oo oo oo oo oo oooo
You'll be older too, (ah ah ah ah ah)
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 one-oh-four?
Every summer we can rent a cottage
In the Isle of Wight, if it's not too drear
We shall scrimp and save
Grandchildren on your knee
Vera, Chuck, and 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 one-oh-four?
Whoo!
Greg Shenaut