The Beatles Classic Paul McCartney Wishes He Could Re-Write

As years pass and time goes by taste and talent change immensely. There are hoards of different factors that redefine somebody’s artistic palette and these very factors do not discriminate whatsoever. Hence, they even touch the most incredible minds, including the ever so great, Paul McCartney.

Paul McCartney has been very candid about the songs he likes, dislikes, and absolutely detests. That being so, he’s not one to bite his tongue for the sake of pride, and he proved that to be more than true when discussing The Beatles classic, “When I’m Sixty-Four.”

Paul McCartney Made an Ageist Mistake

“When I’m Sixty-Four” was released on The Beatles’ 1967 album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. In a holistic sense, both the album and the song marked a major transition in The Beatles’ career. Prior to the release of the album, McCartney and The Beatles had been more than busy, but for McCartney, there was still ground to be broken. Thus, their psychedelic masterpiece was born and so was “When I’m Sixty-Four.”

However, when Paul McCartney spoke with the Los Angeles Times he divulged his grievance with the song. He told the publication, “It was really an arbitrary number when I wrote [‘When I’m Sixty-Four’]. I probably should have called it ‘When I’m 65,’ which is the retirement age in England.” “And the rhyme would have been easy, ‘something, something alive when I’m 65.’ But it felt too predictable. It sounded better to say 64,” he added.

Although, when McCartney aged past 64, he realized the age didn’t encapsulate the message he was trying to portray. He came to this realization when he met a retirement home piano player at an undisclosed time and place. According to McCartney, the player stated, “I hope you don’t mind, but I play some of your songs, and the most popular one is ‘When I’m Sixty-Four,’ but I have to change the title to ‘When I’m 84’ because 64 seems young to those people.”

Per the piano player’s comment, it seems McCartney wishes he could have had the foresight to use a number that would have resonated better with the company he intended the song for. McCartney concluded his thoughts about the song with, “If I were to write it now, I’d probably call it ‘When I’m 94.’”

There are loads of irony embedded in Paul McCartney’s lyrical dilemma. Though, the song is still a stand-alone classic and people surely are not looking into its relevancy as deeply as McCartney is. But, that is what makes him one of the greatest to ever do it—His unwavering attention to detail.

The Beatles Press Conference per Getty Images