A retirement blog about the role of creativity in retirement. I’ve always been fascinated by the creative process or, to put it more prosaically, having ideas. And the same holds true now I’m retired. The fact is I’ve always regarded myself as a creative kind of guy. Hence my first qualification in fine art all those many, many years ago. Even after art-college in my more normal jobs (as a teacher or psychologist) I tried to have new ideas about what I was doing. That’s how I got a positive view of myself, when I had it, that is.
So it will be no surprise that I’ve continued to value the creative process now I am retired. Although may be it is, in that not all of my interests / commitments / activities have stood the test of being retired. Some have not stood the change of lifestyle – golf and photography somewhat surprisingly. Whatever the rationale, I remain committed to ‘having ideas’ as an aspect of my new identity and, most important, maintaining my self-esteem (not always easy for the retired person – or is that just me?).
The idea for this blog emerged when scrolling through the Rolling Stone magazine’s article on the ‘Top 500 (pop) songs of all time’. I’d been watching a Youtube clip of a reluctant Bob Dylan being interviewed. He didn’t give much away and, when his interviewer suggested that he must be proud of the fact that Rolling Stone, the magazine had chosen Like a Rolling Stone as number one in this top 500, Bob’s response was ‘yeah, this week’. Hard man to please.
So, doing what retired people do when they have time on their hands, I searched out the article and started to read what songs had been chosen. I optimistically started at number 500. I got to about number 475 and was over-taken by a need to know what was in the top 20. No delayed gratification for me, nope. I don’t think I mentioned in these blogs that our few days in the Devonshire Fell Hotel at Burnsall (misnamed by me in that blog) that we’d fallen into conversation with the hotel manager about his choice of songs for the dinner period ‘soundtrack’ (he had different songs for breakfast and lunch).
He prided himself on his choice of old songs which, by definition, fell into our era of pop music (mostly 60s and 70s). I complimented him on his choice and, given he was, I would guess, in his thirties, all the more admirable. I offered to send him our top 20 songs from the sixties when I got home which I duly did. If you’re interested I’ve attached them to this blog at the end. But the point is, in case you were wondering, apart from idle curiosity about Rolling Stone’s version I wanted to see how they compared to mine, given my choices were only for the sixties (or almost all were).
But that’s still not the point. Well get on with it then, you say. The point is that, reading through RS’s list, I was intrigued by those moments of creativity, described in the article. Those moments that had brought the song about. To be clear I’m not talking about the process of making the song, that’s quite a different form of creativity. At best creative or cold-blooded commercialism, at worst. If you want to know what is in the Top 20 you will have to Google it. A lot of Beatles tunes you won’t be surprised to hear.
I’ll give you a few examples of what I think of as that creative moment. Pete Townsend wrote Substitute after becoming fascinated by the sound of the word in Tracks of my Tears by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles – ‘although she may be cute, she’s just a substitute’… David Bowie wrote Heroes after watching a young couple ‘doing their courting’ on a bench directly under the Berlin Wall and imagining their story. Robbie Robertson wrote The Weight after seeing a film by Louis Bunuel about the impossibility of sainthood – ‘take the weight off me’ etc. Buddy Holly wrote That’ll be the Day after hearing the phrase repeated in the film ‘The Searchers’. The lyrics from Stairway to Heaven were taken in part from a book by Lewis Spence entitled Magic Arts in Celtic Britain. The Clash took the title, London Calling from the call signal of the BBC World Service. You get the idea. Or maybe you don’t.
So my point is that the idea for this blog came from reading that internet article from Rolling Stone, and I’ve got and get a lot of pleasure and even positive affirmation that I’m still alive and at least intellectually, kicking. This from the fact that I can have ideas for blogs and continue to have them over a five and a half year period.
It’s a bit like that other important retirement activity imo, learning new skills but it’s a little bit more than that. I think it boosts a retired person’s self-esteem to have ideas, to be creative. Little sparks of imagination all of their own making. I know I’m biased. I’ve already admitted that I’ve always valued the creative process whatever the context.
So for me you might say just more of the same and none the worse for that. I’ve written in past blogs that the way to a happy retirement is to identify the stuff from your previous life that you want to have carry on. But this is a bit more than that. It’s about recommending to people who may feel that, in their pre-retirement incarnation, they weren’t all that creative and now seeing retirement as an opportunity to be somebody different.
I don’t think the format for the creativity is important – baking a different cake; making a new meal; a piece of furniture or a piece of visual art – painting, sculpture etc; taking a photo and sending if off to be put on canvas; making a model out of matchsticks; chairing the meeting of the Parish council in a different way; writing a retirement blog / poem and so on. I’m sure there are any number of ways in which the retired person can continue to be, or become, creative. Choose your weapon. I’m just saying I think it helps, that’s all. I feel better for creating this blog.
My list (I erred on the easy listening side given the context)
California Dreaming, Mamas and Papas; Ventura Highway, America; Waterloo Sunset, Kinks; Our House, Crosby Stills and Nash; Peaceful Easy Feeling, Eagles; Rain on the Roof, Lovin’ Spoonful; Bus Stop, Hollies; I’m a Believer, Monkees; America, Simon and Garfunkel; She’s Not there, Zombies; For Your Love, Yardbirds; Turn Turn Turn, Byrds; Mr Tambourine Man, Bob Dylan; Pretty Woman, Roy Orbison; Brown Eyed Girl Van Morrison Sitting on the Dock of the Bay Otis Reading; Under the Boardwalk, The Drifters; Bad Moon Rising, Creedence Clearwater Revival; You got a Friend, James Taylor; Wonderful Tonight, Eric Clapton; You’re So Vain, Carly Simon.