When rock musicians die young, it's sad and a waste of talent. But when they die at 60 or later, as one of Pink Floyd's founding members did recently, should we rejoice? Reportedly, this gentleman ingested LOTS of LSD and perhaps other drugs and his habits curbed his ability to perform with the group. So, the fact that his broken, or at least challenged, body transported him out of the 60's and carried him well into the new millennium has to be seen as a victory of sorts. His passing got me to thinking about mortality, and specifically about occupations and their connection. The question that popped into mind is how old can we expect to live if we choose rock and roll as our profession? Exactly, what is the life expectancy of a lead singer, a bass guitarist, or a drummer? Though Sir Paul McCartney turned 64 the other day, you have to wonder is there a material difference between how long he and his colleagues can expect to last versus your typical life insurance salesman from Casper, Wyoming? Speaking of life insurance, that industry is the repository of much knowledge regarding mortality. I would think there are occupational tables, actuarial statistics that predict that the average coal miner has say, a 65% chance of reaching age 70, while a college librarian enjoys an 80% chance. With our national obsessions about fat and fitness and pure air and water why aren't more people discussing occupational mortality? Your job may be leading you to the grave faster than an occasional Big Mac or Marlboro. Willie Nelson's admonition in the title of his song, "Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys" might have an important message in it, after all. When Bob Dylan and Joan Baez lovingly sang those lyrics to each other, "May you stay forever young!" perhaps they should have skipped the ballad and instead slipped each other applications to work at the post office. Once we have a handle on the correlation between occupation and mortality, we can look into where we choose to live. Are New York City dwellers more likely to reach 100 than rural Vermonters? |
