Journeying into Old Age
How Woody Guthrie, Billy Bragg, Wilco, and my barber are helping me come to terms with advancing age
Recently, I was at the barber, and I complained that my hair was turning gray, and without skipping a beat my barber, in a uniquely Singaporean brand of humor replied, “Don’t worry about it. Everyone wants to upgrade (up-gray-ed), and nobody wants to down grade (hair thinning)”. His pun, which refers to city-dwelling Singaporeans’ desire to upgrade their lives and wealth by purchasing bigger flats, made me laugh and taught me to take my graying hair in stride and to appreciate getting old.
This morning I am thinking about my gray hair, my barber’s pun, and the chorus of Woody Guthrie’s song One by One.
One by one my hair is turning gray
One by one my dreams are fading fast away
One by one I read your letters over
One by one I lay them all awayWoody Guthrie, One by One.
The song One by One was written by Guthrie before his death but was not recorded until Billy Bragg and Wilco were commissioned by Nora Guthrie, Woody’s daughter, to put modern music to Guthrie’s enormous collection of writing.