Paul McCartney gestures to the crowd during his Got Back North American tour at TD Coliseum in Hamilton, Ont., on Nov. 21.Nick Iwanyshyn/The Canadian Press

Jonathan Zimmerman teaches education and history at the University of Pennsylvania and serves on the advisory board of the Albert Lepage Center for History in the Public Interest.

In 2007, Paul McCartney told an interviewer that the Beatles song When I’m Sixty-Four had been on his mind. “Heard it a lot recently – I wonder why?” he said, with a laugh.

Everyone knew the answer: The ex-Beatle had turned 64. And so did I, recently. The song has been on my mind, too.

In fact, I can’t stop thinking about it. I sing it in the shower, whistle it as I walk to work, and hum it on my way home. I even played it for my students in class.

They weren’t impressed. The song is about old age, which is something that young people usually don’t think about.

And why should they, really? When I’m Sixty-Four reminds us about how much we get wrong when we imagine aging. It’s probably good to put it out of our minds, as best we can.

Paul McCartney reopens Hamilton’s TD Coliseum with Help!, bagpipes and real fire

Mr. McCartney composed the song’s tune on his father’s piano when he was a teenager. His........

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