When I started this song I was still thirty-three The age that Mozart died and sweet Jesus was set free Keats and Shelley too soon finished, Charley Parker would be And I fantasized some tragedy'd be soon curtailing me Well just today I had my birthday I made it thirty-four Mere mortal, not immortal, not star-crossed anymore I've got this problem with my aging I no longer can ignore A tame and toothless tabby can't produce a lion's roar
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The singer reflects on reaching age thirty-four, noting that many great artists died young, and accepts his own mortality and aging.
- In plain terms
- I am getting older and realizing I am just a normal person, not destined for early tragedy or greatness.
- What can you take from it?
- Accepting aging is part of accepting mortality.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do you define a life well-lived?
- Does age change your sense of purpose?
Another view
It romanticizes early death as a path to immortality.
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