Alan Jackson, “The Older I Get” (official video)
Alan Jackson released “The Older I Get” in the fall of 2017, the same season he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. It was the first new music he'd put out in a couple of years, and four years later it became the closing track on his album Where Have You Gone. It's a fitting last word.
It isn't a sad song about getting old. It's a grateful one. Jackson takes stock of what the years have taught him: how quickly life goes by, that the people in your life count for far more than anything you own, that a handful of loyal friends beats a crowd, and that the wrinkles are just a record of a life fully lived. Given the chance to be young again, he'd pass.
The song's last verse turns to faith and thankfulness, and that's the part that gets me every time. It's a man who has more to talk over with God than he used to, and more to be grateful for, looking back and looking ahead.
More thoughts on the road ahead: The Hardest Part About Getting Older