"You’re so engaging, but we’re both aging"
December 27, 2019 9:14 PM   Subscribe

At age 99 Alan Tripp wrote a poem called “Best Old Friends” to celebrate the many new friends he made at Beaumont at Bryn Mawr, the Pennsylvania retirement community where he lives. As a gift for Alan’s 100th birthday, his younger friend and neighbor, 88 year-old Marvin Weisbord, set the poem to music. That was the spark that launched Senior Song Book with this dynamic songwriting duo, and inspired a whole community to sing, dance and perform along with them.

Washington Post:
Neither Tripp, who had a career in advertising, nor Weisbord, a former consultant, have ever written and produced music before. They believe they are the oldest songwriting duo in history.

“I’ve never had so much fun in my life, and I never expected to be doing this in my old age,” Weisbord said.

Tripp snorted, interjecting: “He doesn’t know anything about old age.”
CTV News:
Tripp told CTV News Channel on Tuesday that as people age, “you can have very best friends and you lose them or sometimes they move away. But what you find is (at my retirement community), you make new best friends and that’s what makes getting older satisfactory.” […]

The album also weaves humour and irony in its songs and lyrics. One of the chorus lyrics in album’s single, “I Just Can't Remember Your Name" is “I know I ought to kiss you, but baby there's an issue. I just can't remember your name.”
posted by Johnny Wallflower (5 comments total) 13 users marked this as a favorite
 
"I Just Can't Remember Your Name" is really quite good! As they said, very similar to golden age material and frankly, it comes across as a lost classic. I'd listen to more of this in a heartbeat!

Plus, the amount of heart those two bring to the project puts a tear or two in my eye.
posted by ashbury at 9:40 PM on December 27, 2019


So wonderful
posted by growabrain at 11:26 PM on December 27, 2019


The album is available for streaming on Spotify if people are curious about it.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:03 AM on December 28, 2019 [1 favorite]


I really enjoyed watching the video! They are very charming and talented. Thanks for sharing it!

There’s no new music being written for people in our age bracket,” Weisbord added. “So we’re writing songs that are recognizable, in genres that are recognizable, with lyrics telling stories about what our lives are like now.”
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 5:12 PM on December 28, 2019


Here's the Apple Music link: Senior Song Book.

jacquilynne, could you post the Spotify link, please? I'm not a subscriber.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:06 PM on December 28, 2019


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