The Pensioner

By Pensioner

The Who

By coincidence, the morning paper had a piece by Jonathan Freedland: From Springsteen to McCartney, ageing rockers are teaching us about something bigger than music.  
"Now it doesn’t sound absurd to hear a septuagenarian singing of childhood best friends running on the Backstreets … now the joy and exuberance of those classic songs carries the extra poignancy of reminiscence and loss. And the two sets of emotions don’t fight each other. Instead, they make each other stronger.
This is what rock’n’roll, ageing in real time and before our eyes, can do. "Nostalgia" doesn’t quite capture it, with its hint of the doomed attempt to revive a vanished youth. Instead, standing in a crowd singing songs you’ve known for ever is an invitation to reflect on, and cherish, a whole life: the performer’s, but also your own.”

Well, ain’t that so. And it saves me writing much. Apart from saying it was quite a show old Townshend and Daltrey put on. He can still windmill that guitar and he can still sing a bit all right.

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