Why Don’t They Just Quit?

 

Most people who know me know I have an addiction. It’s a weakness for old music. If one of my favorite artists from the ‘60s or ‘70s is within driving distance, there’s a good chance I’ll be sitting somewhere in the audience.

However, I’ll admit there have been a few concerts where I leaned over to my wife and whispered, “It might be time for them to hang up the ol' microphone.”

Earlier this year, I paid to see a couple of the biggest acts of the sixties, only to walk out shaking my head,  frustrated that I shelled out good money to hear something I barely recognized. 

But I’ve become a little less critical.

Think about what we’re asking these performers to do. Most of them are in their 70s or 80s, yet we still expect them to sound like they did when they were 22 years old. That’s a pretty big ask. As I aged as a golfer, I've moved up beyond the senior tees to the super senior tees. It was the natural thing to do because Father Time has  diminished my skills.   Singers don't have such a luxury. Despite their age,  we want them to sound exactly like they did 50 years ago.   

Keep in mind this isn’t just something they do - it’s who they are. Most of them have been on the stage since they were using Clearasil, and they’ve stayed there. It’s not just a part of their life - it is their life. 

Still, the question lingered.

Why keep doing it when you know your voice isn’t what it used to be?

I think it’s more than the money, although for some that’s certainly a factor.  Where else can a person that age make that kind of money, legally?

Some of it is ego. Don’t kid yourself, having a big crowd screaming and applauding for you is a drug I can only describe. I’ve only done it a couple of times, but the feeling is unforgettable. I can still think about and get chill bumps.

However, Linda Ronstadt chose a different path. She stopped performing while her voice was still admired because she felt it no longer met her own standards. I respected that. Why don’t more artists make that same decision?

I think I found the answer when we saw Paul McCartney. Paul had just turned 80 and, incredibly, still had most of his musical fastball. About six songs into the concert, he stopped, looked out at the crowd of 27,000 people and said, “Can you give me just a minute? I want to take it all in.”

Then he slowly walked around the stage, soaking it all up. Thousands of phones lit the arena like tiny stars. He, of course, was shining the brightest.

For a couple of hours, thousands of people were reliving part of their lives because of something he had created decades earlier. How do you walk away from that?

I saw the same thing with the Eagles. After they’d played virtually every hit in their catalog, ending the show with “Take it Easy,”  Don Henley walked to the front of the stage with an acoustic guitar and said, “We’ve been fooling around with this the last couple of days because we knew we were coming here.”

Then they launched into Randy Newman’s song “Birmingham.”

They didn’t have to do that. They wanted to. That’s what artists do. They keep creating. 

Some have held onto their musical chops remarkably well. Jackson Browne was terrific when I saw him a couple of years ago. Tommy James and Peter Noone still know how to work a crowd. At 81, Rod Stewart puts on a marvelous show, wisely leaning on his outstanding band and backup singers when needed. 

Ringo Starr may have the best strategy of all. He surrounds himself with first-rate musicians from other famous bands. He comes out, sings a couple of Beatles classics, then steps aside for a bit while his friends perform their hits. His All-Starr Band has been a winning formula for years.

The Rolling Stones released yet another good album recently. They continue to stay relevant on today’s musical scene.  There is no need to remind you that Mick Jagger is now an octogenarian. When they sing “Start Me Up” these days, I assume they’re  talking about somebody’s pacemaker.

However, many of these artists have begun working smaller theaters and casinos which are the musical equivalent of the Senior PGA Tour. The crowds are smaller, the pace is different, but they’re still playing the game they love.

Of course, time is undefeated. Someday, many of today’s pop stars will be doing exactly the same thing. I can picture Britney Spears playing the Oxford Performing Arts Center in Oxford, Alabama to a sold-out crowd of enthusiastic millennials, all cheering wildly…and remaining comfortably seated because their artificial knees won’t let them jump up and down anymore.

I won’t be around to see it. But it will happen.

Because once you’ve spent a lifetime creating something that makes people smile, laugh, sing, cry, or remember… it’s hard to leave the stage, even if you don’t hit every note.