You Will Never Grow Old !

Last week, at the Sing Along with the Kembangan Seniors which was as usual filled with nostalgia of old time songs, there was one particular song that caught my "Owl's " attention. The song...."You will never grow old! ", sung by Nat King Cole. Obviously in some deep recess of the music-recall memory of my still ( ahem !) dependable brain, the tune of this song was stored. But as I figured out, not having heard this song again for more than 50 years....it seems new to me when they belted it out. And so I asked if anyone has a CD or recording of it. No,no one had.
Grand senior Tan Thoo Yang, the 85 year old i/c told me he had not been able to get anything on that song.
It is such a beautiful song with lovely lyrics. I promised him I will do some research and see what I can find on the net.
From my surfing, I discovered that most of the websites are linked to online websites that do have some of these forgotten old songs on record labels for sale. Some offered the lyrics and music sheet for sale too.
One or two had streaming MP3 which last for half a minute! That's unfortunately usually the case. You don't get to hear the whole song as they want to entice you to purchase the whole package online.
But for unk Dicko...it was enough to trigger my memory rewind clock.
Soon, many other lovely tunes I used to know from NAT KING COLE came flooding back.
So....thanks, Thoo Yang for this. I went back, way back to the good ole' days.
It made me reflect too...on the title of the song. How the years have passed and just flown by like the wind. I was young once. Somehow, I did not notice the decades passing me by...being fully immersed in family, friends, work and just living. The 40's turned into the 50's, then the turbulent 60's, the touch and go years of the 70's, my midlife 80's, the incredible 90's and now
the new millenium of the 2000's....which threatens to be like the 30's all over again.
So, have I grown old? We know we all grow older day by day. But that's not the same as growing "old"...which has other connotations, perhaps like slowly ebbing away, discarded, useless, junk, rust, rot, etc.... .
I have grown older but not "old " as in the sense I've described. In fact, older persons who have a wealth of experience and kept themselves upto date...are a rare commodity today. Because of their wide experience and maturity, they are much sought after for consultancy and advisory work.
As for unk Dicko, well I have worked long and hard, both in my professional work area and in serving the community at large in various capacities. I am still being eagerly sought after even though I've "retired" from full time committments. I'll do the needful when it matters.
Time to indulge myself more with my grandchildren. The responsibility of bringing them up rest with their parents. Me and my wife as grandparents...we indulge in them. No,not spoiling them! Haha....although there is a very interesting poster that my daughter D3 put up at my dining room. D2 and I always have a good Laugh looking at it! We enjoy the hidden wit behind it.
The words on the poster hit right to the point!
It says, " I CAN AT GRANDMA's ! "
No wonder our cute little ones call us up frequently and say, " Can you come to fetch us to your house? ". No prize if you guess our answer correctly!

The Nat King Cole song......

"You will never grow old,
While there is love in your heart,
Time may silver your golden hair
As you dream in your old rocking chair
So keep my love in your heart, my darling
Remember the love tales we told.
For with my love in your heart, my darling
You will never grow old!"

Latest update! ( 1st March 2010 )
To hear or download the full and original song please click on the link
below. It is the website of my friend from Hong Kong, Eddie.
http://ethelred.vox.com/library/audio/6a00c225267788549d0110184a7027860f.html

Happy Listening!