It has been confirmed that Paul McCartney will be headlining Glastonbury in June, one week after he turns 80, which means the rumour is now official: Paul McCartney has never been cooler.
OK, maybe he was fractionally cooler on the roof of Apple in the freezing cold belting out I’ve Got A Feeling. Nonetheless, cool is not the first word you associated with the ex-Beatle until fairly recently, and now it is. Turns out some people really do get cooler as they get older.
Ironically it’s sometimes those who were at their coolest in their youth who are most at risk of not noticing when the rules shift in later life, while those who were just smart and paid attention have a chance of overtaking them in the cool stakes.
The shift happens around the mid-40s/early 50s, when cool is no longer about cultivating the impression that you are in the know in a way that others can’t hope to be and becomes about lots of different things, including confidence, knowing your own mind and being plugged in to what is going on around you. Your shoes still matter – you’re not completely off the hook on the superficial stuff – but now there’s a lot more going on.
If you’re interested in achieving in midlife what will henceforth be referred to as the Midlife Macca Factor, here are some pointers, though we can’t guarantee absolute success. Even Paul took his time getting there.
How to get the Midlife Macca Factor
Don’t
Don’t dress like a kid or yourself 30 years ago (unless you are Cher or Fran Lebowitz or Chrissie Hynde or Bill Nighy). It also helps if you go easy on the clichés of cool. For example, fur coats (unlikely in Macca’s case); leather trousers (ditto); OTT sunglasses; and certain hats. Paul, like Mick Jagger, wears a kind of stripped-back minimal version of his brighter 1960s self. Much better.
Don’t get smug or carried away with yourself. Paul is very good at forgetting that he is arguably the biggest pop legend ever. Even when he talks about “the work” (as he does on the docuseries McCartney 3,2,1, if you haven’t yet had enough of the Macca second coming), he is never boring and always generous, unlike, say, Art Garfunkel who will make you fall asleep.
Don’t have a tin ear (see above). You can be as self-obsessed as you like when you’re young and still be cool. In later life you can’t be cool without being interested in, or listening to, other people.
Don’t be a perfect clean and tidy life type. No one ultra-tidy and dressed in four shades of beige with a perfect blow-dry has ever been cool. Rich, yes. Famous, yes. Never cool.
Do
Do have a GSOH. When Helen Mirren accepted her Lifetime Achievement award at the SAG Awards last weekend she joked that she didn’t like to say the word “sag” at her age (76). Making light of your age, sending yourself up (see Cher), is an essential part of later-life cool. You can’t afford to sit there looking like someone has bored you any more. Not even if you’re very good looking.
