ROCK OF (OLD) AGES

By Sean Nelson
MSN Music Editor

"Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm 64?"

When Paul McCartney posed this musical question nearly 40 years ago, it's unlikely that he was thinking literally about what life would be like "many years from now." But on June 18, he's going to find out exactly what it's like to be 64. He won't be alone among his fellow musicians learning how to rock on into their dotage.

In the 1960s, rock was still young -- and so were McCartney and other luminaries, including Artist of the Month nominee Neil Young, Paul Simon, Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan (who explained in "My Back Pages" that "I was so much older then/I'm younger than that now"). Add to the list Roger McGuinn of the Byrds, Pete Townshend of the Who, Mick Jagger and fellow Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin and Joni Mitchell -- now all in their 60s. The art form they helped create shows no signs of slowing down -- rock music may not have the cultural currency it did in 1967, but it remains an infinitely renewable resource of teenage rebellion -- but neither does time.

This graying of rock royalty practically begs for a funny headline, or at least a photo gallery. But even if we insist on changing the old cliché to "sexagenarians, (prescription) drugs and rock and roll," the fact remains that these rock geezers haven't given up the ghost. Many of them have released albums in the past year, and what's more, most of those records were full of vital, inspired music.

McCartney's 2005 "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard" was his strongest, most adventurous work in 15 years, and despite tabloid headlines for his recent split with wife Heather Mills, he remains a beloved public figure. Simon's "Surprise" is full of them -- his trademark poetic introspection turned outward to examine a world in flames.

Best of all is Neil Young's "Living With War," a big stack of anthemic protest rock, full of fiery guitars and choral voices. Young hasn't let being 60 slow him down; he still releases an album a year. And the ones who record less frequently -- like Dylan, Jagger and Townshend -- still make a point of being on the road as much as possible. Eric Clapton got his heroic late-'60s band Cream back together for a series of shows last year that were released as a live album and DVD. Even Ringo still tours, for Pete's sake!

The mystery isn't that they keep going. The mystery is: What would they do if they stopped? Here's hoping we don't find out any time soon, because we do still need them. (Lucky for us, they've all got families who can feed them should it come to that.)

Sexagenarian rock stars:
Paul McCartney, 64 (on June 18)
Bob Dylan, 65
Ringo Starr, 66 (on July 7)
Paul Simon, 64
Mick Fleetwood, 64 (on June 24)
Roger McGuinn (Byrds), 64 (on July 13)
Aretha Franklin, 64
Pete Townshend, 61
Keith Richards, 62
Jimmy Page, 62
Eric Clapton, 61
Mick Jagger, 63 (on July 26)
Rod Stewart, 61
Linda Ronstadt, 60 (on July 15)
Joni Mitchell, 62
Debbie Harry, 61

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