ASHLAND — In a sense, I have been writing this column for 45 years. It was in July of 1967 that I first heard the song, but it has more significance today than it ever has.

That’s because today is my 64th birthday and, as you may have guessed, the song is “When I’m 64” by Paul McCartney and John Lennon. I was a 19-year-old kid ready to begin my sophomore year at Morehead State University when I first heard the song, which was included on the Beatles’  great Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album.

At the time, I was just a few years younger than Lennon and McCartney, and I’ll admit turning 64 seemed so far in the future that I didn’t even think about it. That is except when I heard “When I’m 64.” When I did, I would wonder what I would be like at that advanced age, but for only of a few minutes. Then, I would go on to wondering what I would be like when I turned 20 or, better yet, 21, when I became a full-fledged adult in the eyes of the law if not my parents.

So many years have passed since that time that those days are now stored deep within my memories. And it’s not like I have spent the last 45 years regularly listening to “When I’m 64.” In fact, it has only been in the days leading up to this birthday that the song has really been in my mind.

While the names of both McCartney and Lennon are listed as the composers of “When I’m 64,” I have always suspected that McCartney wrote the bulk, if not all, of the song. I know that both McCartney and Lennon put both their names on the songs they wrote whether they co-wrote them or it was an individual effort.

As I turn 64, I can’t help looking at the lyrics of “When I’m 64” and seeing just how my best friend for the past 36-plus is living up to the questions raised in that song.

“When I get older, losing my hair, many years from now,/ Will you still be sending me a valentine, birthday greetings, bottle of wine?”

Well, I lost most of my hair many years ago, and the little I have left has turned gray, but my wife still sends me valentines and birthday cards. However, because of my diabetes, I gave up wine and all other alcohol years ago, but if my wife wants a glass of wine when we dine out, I’ll pay for it.

“I could be handy, mending a fuse when your lights have gone,/ You can knit a sweater by the fireside, Sunday mornings, go for a ride,/ Doing the garden, digging the weeds, who could ask for more?”

In the first days after our marriage back in 1976, I think my wife thought she had married a handyman. She could not have been more wrong, although I have done a lot of stuff around the house over the years, and my children still call me when they have a problem at their houses. Will they never learn?

However, in reference to the song, I can say that we have had circuit breakers for many years. However, in   the early years, I did successfully change many fuses.

My wife has never knitted, but she constantly crochets when we are traveling together. That’s close enough for me.

My wife actually thinks gardening is “fun”   and is constantly working in our yard. Although I dutifully dig holes when and where she requests, I can’t say that I ever enjoy it. However, I have always mowed the yard, and just recently I once  again proved that I can’t tell a weed from a beautiful plant. While she was out of town for the weekend, I mowed the yard for the first time in six weeks. I mowed down what looked to me like weeds, thinking I was doing her a favor. Well, they weren’t weeds. To say that she was angry at me would be an understatement.

Every verse of “When I’m 64” ends with the same line: “Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m 64.”

Since this is being written a couple of days before my birthday, I can’t really say what my wife will be doing when I really am 64, but I am fairly confident that she still be a feeding me and even needing me as much as ever. And she’s still a great cook.

I weigh 40 more pounds more than I did when we were wed, and I no longer can keep up with her when we walk together. In short, I seem to be falling apart at a faster rate than she. To me, she looks as beautiful as she ever has.  

What can I say? I married a younger woman. She won’t be 64 until December. No wonder she looks so much better than I do.

JOHN CANNON can be reached at jcannon@dailyindependent.

com or at (606) 326-2649.