Paul McCartney wrote When I’m Sixty-Four as a teenager and recorded it at 24, inspired by his father Jim reaching the landmark. As he hits his 80th birthday on June 18, old age isn’t quite the cosy carousel of knitting, gardening and summers in the Isle of Wight that the young man imagined in the song. One week later he’ll celebrate with his second headlining performance at Glastonbury – an overwhelming experience that, when he first did it in 2004, he likened to the Battle of Agincourt. I was there, part of a vast crowd that was still singing the refrain of Hey Jude long after he had left the stage.
Since then, he’s still on the ascent. His most recent solo album was his first UK number one since 1989, and interest in The Beatles is more intense than it has been in years, thanks in particular to Peter Jackson’s eight-hour Disney+ documentary Get Back, plus biographer Craig Brown’s book One Two Three Four: The Beatles In Time and another series, producer Rick Rubin’s extended conversation McCartney 3,2,1.
