Bob Dylan is getting candid about aging. The 85-year-old singer was one of several famous figures The New York Times questioned about life after 80 to mark President Donald Trump’s entrance into the decade.
First, Dylan reflected about the best parts of life in his 80s. He pointed to the fact that he now gets to “outlive the clocks that have been chasing” him.
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“It’s freedom from that lie that anything was ever under control,” he said. “You don’t chase the parade anymore. You’re an old king from some vanished country.”
In his 80s, Dylan said, he’s become “harder to program.”
“You’re not rushing to become anything and you’re not haunted by things that you did,” he said. “You’re haunted by how little of it really mattered in the way you thought it would.”
As for the worst aspects of life as an octogenarian, Dylan said it’s that “you still want to say yes to everything, but the world moves without asking.”
“The old fire in your heart still tells you to do this and that, but your body says we already did it,” he said. “Also, nothing surprises you. It sounds like a luxury but it’s not, and also you’ve run out of illusions. People treat you like either you’ve solved something or you’ve lost something, and you haven’t. You see life repeating itself everywhere.”
Dylan went on to share that “the really worst part about being 80 is that you find, at last, you’ve got an understanding of something that might have altered everything in the past, had it come at a time when something could still be altered.”
“When you’re young you think that time moves forward,” he said. “At 80 you know that it doesn’t, it stands still. We’re the ones that move.”
Other Stars Speak Out About Life as an Octogenarian
In addition to Dylan, stars including Liza Minnelli, Art Garfunkel, and Dionne Warwick contributed to The Times‘ article.
Minnelli said the fact that “you stop auditioning for approval” is the best part of being in her 80s, while losing loved ones is the worst.
Garfunkel, meanwhile, said he appreciates gaining “a longer view” on life, and dislikes his body’s newfound limitations.
Warwick stayed positive in her answers, saying she’s “blessed” to still be living, and noting that she hasn’t found a downside to getting older.
Photo by Gary Miller/Getty Images
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