Never Too Old to Rock:
Since Valentine's Day is right around the corner, Hearts are on my mind. (I'm trying to segue here so bear with me!)

Have you ever heard of the Young At Heart Chorus? I thought if you haven't, maybe you would want to. I was introduced to them recently via PBS very late one night, in a Walker George documentary entitled simply, Young At Heart.

The film is about a senior citizen’s chorus singing rock & roll. It follows this group of 73 to 90 year old men and women as they rehearse and perform. Along the way you get to know some of the members and how much singing in this group means to them. It is a life-affirming film of people who are common in their age and love of music. They are very much alive and engaged, although they regularly confront the difficulties of aging.

There are many funny moments and many sad moments in the film, and many surprising moments... especially one scene when they perform at a prison. You can tell on the faces of the prisoners that they don't have a clue why these old people are visiting. Then the Young At Heart Chorus bangs out The Boss' Dancin' in the Dark, the prisoners start smiling and laughing at the irony. By the end of their performance, the chorus has won over the crowd and even earned some respect. But their last song touches the prisoners deeply, especially when it is announced that the song is dedicated to one of the chorus members who died a few hours earlier. Bob Dylan's Forever Young takes on new meaning for these men locked up in prison. The scene provides a very large lump in the throat.

Another touching moment is at the end of the film when Coldpay's Fix You is performed. Sung by an elderly gentleman in ill health, the song is no longer about youth's optimistic second chances; it is a blunt testimony about life, its trials and regrets, and its end. This version of Fix You will bring you to tears.

These singers, most of them well-rehearsed amateurs, refuse to go gently into that good night. For them music is oxygen. And this film allows us to see people who, because of their age, are generally invisible in our youth-centered culture. As the Young At Heart Chorus makes clear, these are people we need to know and whose joyful lives are worth aspiring to.