Covid vaccine: The Who's Roger Daltrey sets an example for his generation and the rest – Scotsman comment

“I hope I die before I get old” is one of the most famous lines from what has been called the counter-culture revolution of the 1960s.

Pete Townshend, left, and Roger Daltrey of The Who, seen in 2019 (Picture: Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Polydor Records)

Shocking to some at the time, the wish expressed in The Who’s anthem to youthful rebelliousness, My Generation, happily did not come true for the person who sang it, Roger Daltrey, now 77.

But then, this is an age that no longer seems as old as it once did, thanks in large part to the generation that Daltrey sang about.

Of all the barriers that began to be broken down during the societal changes that took place the 1960s, ageism was perhaps the most unexpected.

Many of the post-war ‘baby boomers’ simply refused to grow old despite their advancing years and today may share similar tastes in music and other aspects of our culture with the current young generation.

Now Daltrey has expressed his gratitude after being given a potentially life-saving vaccine against the Covid-19 coronavirus, joining a list of celebrities including Sir David Attenborough, Dolly Parton and Arnold Schwarzenegger who are keen to encourage other people to do the same – in order to protect their own health and that of others, and help the world return to something like normality.

As the young Daltrey would surely have agreed, all lives are precious and that is true no matter how many years we have seen.

The Who of the 1960s didn’t really mean it; The Who of today are older and wiser. And both, for rather different reasons, are definitely worth listening to.

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