Bob Dylan shared reflections on aging in a rare op-ed for the New York Times, written alongside other octogenarian icons like Liza Minnelli, Robert De Niro, and Art Garfunkel.
The piece was published ahead of Donald Trump's 80th birthday celebration, which was held at a UFC event. Dylan, now 85, offered his perspective on turning 80.
On the upside, Dylan identified freedom as the best part. "The best thing about being 80 is that you outlive the clocks that have been chasing you," he wrote. "It's freedom from that lie that anything was ever under control." He continued: "You don't chase the parade anymore. You're an old king from some vanished country. You're harder to program."
But Dylan was equally direct about the downsides. "The old fire in your heart still tells you to do this and that, but your body says we already did it," he wrote. "Also, nothing surprises you. It sounds like a luxury but it's not, and also you've run out of illusions."
On the harshest aspect of aging: "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."
He also observed: "When you're young you think that time moves forward. At 80 you know that it doesn't, it stands still. We're the ones that move."
Read the full piece here at Rolling Stone.
