The Who Now Want to Sing About Getting Old

[AKA]

Rockers the Who Now Want to Sing About Getting Old

Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - Legendary rockers The Who made their name in the 1960s smashing up their equipment and singing about how they hoped they died before they got old.

Forty years on, the two surviving members of the British band that embodied youthful revolution have changed their tune.

"Why can't rock music be about growing old?," 60-year-old singer Roger Daltrey told the Times newspaper.

The Who -- considered one of the most acclaimed, most influential and loudest rock groups ever -- issued a compilation of their classic singles on Tuesday, including two new songs, the first they have released for more than 20 years.

Only two members of the original line-up remain -- Daltrey and guitarist Pete Townshend -- and Daltrey says there is nothing wrong with the band moving with the times.

"I believe Pete Townshend is the only person in rock and roll who can write about the path from middle to old age," he said.

One of the two new songs, "Old Red Wine," was penned by Townshend as a tribute to former bass player John Entwistle.

He died aged 57 in Las Vegas in June 2002 of a heart attack brought on by cocaine, almost 25 years after drummer Keith Moon, famed for his rock and roll excesses, died in a 1978 accidental drug overdose.

Townshend said the new song, described by the Times as a meditation on morality, referred to Entwistle's love of claret.

Claret! -- seems a long way since the band's 1965 anthem "My Generation," which included the famous lyrics: "Things they do look awful c-c-cold ... I hope I die before I get old."