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10.46am
8 January 2015
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Ron Nasty said
We know that through this Paul had a great knowledge of, and affection for, the Big Band and Jazz of the '20s and '30s. Jazz Me Blues, dating back to at least 1921, and recorded by multiple artists, including the great Bix Beiderdecke, seems a tune of the era Jim might well have been familiar with, and might well have made Paul aware of.
That's very ragtime even without the prominent piano part! Ragtime accentuates that two-step vamp rhythm (a lot of it is to do with the left hand style on the piano and the way the right hand's melody dances around it), and it can be overlooked how popular that jazz style remained. Imagine Honey Pie played in that style on the piano, you can see it, can't you. The great Tin Pan Alley tunes, particularly the ukulele ones, often have a component of this, like Ukulele Lady. I'm always impressed by Ringo's deft work on When I'm 64, unhurried and spot on.
I'm like Necko only I'm a bassist ukulele guitar synthesizer kazoo penguin and also everyone. Or is everyone me? Now I'm a confused bassist ukulele guitar synthesizer kazoo penguin everyone who is definitely not @Joe. This has been true for 2016 & 2017 
but I may have to get more specific in the future.
10.05pm
28 November 2016
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I'm brand new here. Picked this song to comment on because I just turned 64 this month. Obviously it has new meaning.
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27 November 2016
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2.21pm
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20 August 2013
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Bikerman69 said
I'm brand new here. Picked this song to comment on because I just turned 64 this month. Obviously it has new meaning.
Does she still need you? Does she still feed you, @Bikerman69?
Have you heard Paul's solo song "Biker Like an Icon"?
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1.15pm
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20 August 2013
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A nice essay about this song. http://www.afr.com/lifestyle/w.....203-gu53vf
Here's a little bit of the article:
George Martin (the band's legendary producer) called When I'm Sixty-Four the album's "jokey song", a classic counterpoint to George Harrison 's sombre, spiritual and sitar-influenced Within You Without You which started Side Two. Yet Paul McCartney 's jaunty, music hall melody now causes more angst and introspection than any of the other more exulted tracks on the album.
Why? Because Baby Boomers regard it with special dread.
If you had the misfortune to be born in the 1950s, celebrating your 64th has become far more gut-wrenching than your 60th ever was. Or your 65th could ever possibly be. As a rite of passage, it's simply the pits. Search the web and you'll find entreaties from both sexes complaining about the pressure they felt. Some post photos of themselves looking hot. Subtext? "Be honest – does my backside look 64 to you?"
And let's remember this: 50 years ago, 64 was definitely old. In the year McCartney was born (1942) average life expectancy for a British male was 63. By 2030 (according to Imperial College London research) it will be 86 years (88 for British women).
No wonder 84 is being called "the new 64". Perhaps McCartney should update the title?
Still, few who grew up with the Beatles providing the soundtrack of their youth can reach this age without humming the tune and pausing for self-reflection. Am I who I expected to be at 64? Is the person lying next to me who I expected to be with at 64? How does my own complicated life compare to the sublime domesticity envisaged by McCartney's youthful protagonist proposing to the girl he wants to spend a life with: "And if you say the word/I could stay with you"?
Much more at the link. Check out the feminist take on the song.
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3.12pm
8 January 2015
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The AFR is known for interesting journalism at times, unfortunately the Boomers it describes are pretty much the reason why Millennials here can't afford homes and are either still with parents or renting for life. (I feel sorry for Paul Simon though). Typical of Boomers to decide the song is all about them and fret they don't match up to whatever they're imagining about it.
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7.04pm
19 October 2016
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You know you're old when you refer to your ass as your "backside."
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Ahhh Girl, ewe27.21pm
13 November 2016
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Completely and utterly off topic, but @Pablo Ramon I laugh every time I see your profile picture. Caveman is quite underrated in my opinion.
As for When I'm Sixty-Four ... I always enjoy it when Paul sings "Grandchildren on your knee" in a Scottish accent. I try to replicate every time!
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Pablo Ramon said
You know you're old when you refer to your ass as your "backside."
Yet, you would be younger than those who refer to it as their posterior. 
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6.34pm
19 October 2016
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GardeningOctopus said
Completely and utterly off topic, but @Pablo Ramon I laugh every time I see your profile picture. Caveman is quite underrated in my opinion.
As for When I'm Sixty-Four ... I always enjoy it when Paul sings "Grandchildren on your knee" in a Scottish accent. I try to replicate every time!
Well, I have fond memories of Caveman. When I was a teenager and cable TV first came to our area my dad, uncharacteristically, signed up for a package that included HBO and Cinemax. One of those channels happened to have Caveman in its regular rotation at that time and I must have watched it a half a dozen times. I think it was quite entertaining, or at least something about it appealed to a teenage boy...Barbara Bach in a loincloth...
1.58am
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27 November 2016
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So my parents and I were having an argument over the line
'Grandchildren on your knee, Vera, Chuck and Dave'. All the lyric sheets say 'Chuck', I hear at 'Chuck', but my mum thinks it's 'Jock', because he starts singing with slight Scottish accent and Jock is a Scottish name...
I know the lyric sheet says Chuck, but do you think it is likely he started with Jock before someone recommended Chuck, or my mum is reading into it too much?
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2.09am
17 October 2013
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'Chuck' is short for Charles , as in Chuck Berry.....Friendly nickname a grand parent in Paul's time might use....Not so much nowadays. Paul just being colloquial and chirpy ...........Two vowels in Vera two in Chuck and Dave.......they fit......Doubt any more to it than that. Jock would have all sorts of non Liverpool connotations.
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The Hole Got Fixed5.19pm
10 August 2011
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I would check out the Mona Lisa Twins' version
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve-LBM5iBS4?feature=oembed&w=800&h=450]
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3.35pm
22 December 2018
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We all know that in this song it sounds like Paul is saying "When I'm six feet tall.". I have a older brother who is 6'4" (193 cm), this song always reminds me of him. Just something I wanted to share.
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3.42pm
15 November 2018
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Huh, never noticed that before.
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4.46am
6 November 2023
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When I'm 64 - music, words or both written when Paul was 14?
I did read that Paul expected a career in vaudeville when he wrote this, or some of it, at that tender age, not really thinking of pop/rock at that time.
So, does anyone know if he thought up those lyrics back then or just the tune? I've read John contributed some bits, such as the names of the grandchildren, and the line about "doing the garden, digging the weeds".
Maybe this is not a highly rated song but the words are clever, the tune is catchy, the arrangement is perfect for the song and Now And Then I get it as an earworm for days on end!!
I meant to put this in the Miscellanous questions thread but think I need some lessons about finding my way around this forum! (Will read the relevant info.)
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5.09pm
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20 August 2013
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@oldfannz, you're close. Click on the link that says Read the original blog post (under the song title in the gray box near the top of this page). You'll see what Paul say about how old he was when he first came up with the song.
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10.34pm
6 November 2023
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Ahhh Girl said
@oldfannz, you're close. Click on the link that says Read the original blog post (under the song title in the gray box near the top of this page). You'll see what Paul say about how old he was when he first came up with the song.
Aha! Ahhh Girl! Realising there is a specific place for every song on this forum makes a lot of sense because we are all full of strong opinions about all of them.
I hadn't really considered a lot of people might belittle or despise When I'm 64 because I've actually loved it for so many decades and sung it to myself a thousand times because I know all the lyrics and it's full of the quirkiness, subtle wit and catchiness I associate with the Beatles and maybe Paul especially.
Having passed 64 10 years ago I certainly agree the idea of 64 being old is outdated but did know that that was about the life expectancy in the UK when Paul wrote it.
I'm delighted I can read so much from people here whose varied opinions and musical knowledge are like gold! And because there are songs I rate a whole lot higher than this one I'll be heading over to those threads......
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2.28am
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20 August 2013
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Hardly a week passes that I don't have some part of this song tripping around in my brain. Tonight it is "doing the garden" because Ahhh Mom wants me to plant Pansies in her flower garden in the morning.
Yes, @oldfannz, the great and wonderful @Joe created this much-loved website and wrote all the song, history, people, album, discography, etc. main pages. We are all very thankful he created this forum for us to hang out in and let our inner Beatlemaniacs loose.
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5.23am
6 November 2023
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Ahhh Girl said
Yes, @oldfannz, the great and wonderful @Joe created this much-loved website and wrote all the song, history, people, album, discography, etc. main pages. We are all very thankful he created this forum for us to hang out in and let our inner Beatlemaniacs loose.
A million thank-yous, Joe! It's dawning on me rapidly how much work this involves.
When I was looking at Beatle forums I might join, this one stood head and shoulders above all the others - even at a quick glance.
Beatlemaniacs - a term I haven't heard much, if at all, these days, but I was totally one of those in 1964. I was in a state of crazed adoration as I gazed on them - so close!!!! - at the concert I was lucky enough to attend. It seemed to me that they looked quite pale (maybe were already unable to go about too freely in the sunshine!) but I'm thinking now it was stage make-up.
My sister and brother in law were going to pick me and my friend up after the concert and as they came around the side of the town hall they were nearly knocked flat by the Beatles being rushed out of an obscure side door into a waiting getaway car. So they got even closer than I did.
I'm rambling and not in the right place, sorry!!!!
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