Mick Jagger has opened up about getting older.
In a recent interview with The New York Times, the Rolling Stones frontman stated that there is nothing good about the natural process. But on reflection, he did say that his songwriting has matured over the years, suggesting his thoughts on this topic may have slightly varied.
When asked by the publication about what is good about getting older both physically or metaphysically, Jagger replied: “There’s nothing good about it".
On the follow up question, Jagger added: “Nothing? Wisdom? I forgot all my wisdom. I might have had a couple of pearls drop, but I’ve already forgotten what they are!".
He continued: “So, no, it’s not particularly pleasant. You can’t do things as quickly as you want to. Physically you’ve got to be more careful. You know, when you’re playing football, they put you in goal a lot. I’m not very good at it!”.
Jagger went on to speak about what he has learned about his outgoing rock star role over the last year few years.
“You’ve heard all these stories about method actors,“ he said. “They take it to the absolute extreme, so they’re like the character all the time, and then after the movie’s over, they’re still in character. It takes a long time to slough off the character".
“So which character do you go back to? Is he always going to carry some of that character in his ‘true’ character, whatever that is? This is the show business dichotomy and it’s something you learn to live with, and you always hope that you’re a so-called normal person underneath".
While being a legendary rock star had its upside, Jagger did add: “[I]t’s not about the perks. It’s about being these several characters. You’re the character that plays the theater, you’re the character who does the interview, you’re the character in the stadium, you’re the character in the recording studio, you’re the character writing the song".
On songwriting, Mick Jagger did accept the getting older has been a positive in in that respect.
“I wouldn’t have written any of these songs when I was 30, honestly", he said. “I’ve also gotten into this habit of doing songs that are about personal relationships, and then I throw a verse about politics in there. That’s a trick I’ve learned from other songwriters, because nobody wants to hear a whole song about politics or social comment".
He added: “A blues song like ‘Rough and Twisted,’ you talk about women and everything, but then you throw in stuff that’s obviously political: 'The only club was called conspiracy / What they wanted was tyranny.' So you find yourself using these tricks".
The Rolling Stones' released their latest album, Foreign Tongues' last week, which they said they made "in a month". More on this from Nova here.
