Jumping Jack Flash

Back in the nineteen sixties when rock and roll were just getting started, there was this little old rock and roll band out of England that got some attention. You may have heard of them. They were called the Rolling Stones. And this little old band had a pretty good hit with the kids called Jumping Jack Flash.

It was a jumping little tune that was probably more popular because it was such good rock and roll than for its message. But if you listen to the words, the singer sings about bad things that happened to him and how he coped with them.

I was born in a crossfire hurricane

And I howled at my ma in the driving rain

But it's all right now, in fact, it's a gas

But it's all right. I'm Jumpin' Jack Flash

It's a gas! Gas! Gas

I was raised by a toothless, bearded hag

I was schooled with a strap right across my back

But it's all right now, in fact, it's a gas

But it's all right, I'm Jumpin' Jack Flash

It's a gas! Gas! Gas

I was drowned, I was washed up and left for dead

I fell down to my feet and I saw they bled

I frowned at the crumbs of a crust of bread

Yeah, yeah, yeah

I was crowned with a spike right thru my head

But it's all right now, in fact, it's a gas

But it's all right, I'm Jumpin' Jack Flash

It's a gas! Gas! Gas

I read one take on the song that claimed the song was about what had happened to the songwriter as he was growing up. The lyrics could lend themselves to that interpretation, but more searching found a more reasonable explanation. Jack Flash is Jack Dyer, and he was Keith Richards' gardener. Richards explained to Rolling Stone in 2010: "The lyrics came from gray dawn at Redlands. Mick and I had been up all night, it was raining outside, and there was the sound of these boots near the window, belonging to my gardener, Jack Dyer. It woke Mick up. He said, 'What's that?' I said, 'Oh, that's Jack. That's jumping Jack.' I started to work around the phrase on the guitar, which was in open tuning, singing the phrase 'Jumping Jack.' Mick said, 'Flash,' and suddenly we had this phrase with a great rhythm and ring to it. The song also was a transition for the Stones from a blues sound to a rock guitar sound. The songwriter said this song is about "having a hard time and getting out. Just a metaphor for getting out of all the acid things.”

As we move into retirement, we need to embrace life, see difficulty as an opportunity and not let hard times, not the acid times, get us down. This mantra can be a wonderful outlook on life for us as we sort out what it means to be a senior citizen.

To be sure, looking ahead there are some real issues that you will have to face. For many, it may be the loss of a spouse. There may come a time when you have to move from the home you raised your kids in and there is almost certainly be physical decline and eventually death.

Many of us face these daunting challenges and despair. They see that the resources to overcome some of these problems are simply not there. We are facing a Pandemic that can put real dread into your heart. If you give in to that despair, your future may be bleak, to say the least.

It’s a strange formula but despite the situation ahead, if we can learn to not be intimidated by the future, the chances we will cope with it and live a happier life are much better than if we let depression and despair begin to take over.

But we don’t want to just cope with life, do we? This generation has never been one to just cope. We are a generation of winners. We refuse to just cope! We insist that we can WIN. But how do you win against the onset of the future that is unforgiving and unrelenting as well?

You win by not letting it steal your spirit. There is another option besides giving in to desire, losing hope and eventually letting that dark angel come along too soon. Instead, you can tell that dark angel to kiss your big toe (or something else). You are not going to go out gracefully, and you are going to live life to the hilt to the very end!

There is another option than denying that you are older and trying to live like a man or woman 30 years your senior. The alternative is you are going to embrace life and embrace the stage of life you are in. Yes, you are going to celebrate your age, look it in the eye with an impish grin and not let it take away a bit of the spirit and the gusto that you have lived your life from childhood until now.

That is the spirit of Jumping Jack Flash and that isn’t just a song, it’s a description of this generation. We will be the ones who jump all over old age and make it a party. And despite the other problems, it’s not going to be “just ok” to grow older. It’s all right. You might even say its fine. And we don’t mind borrowing a phrase from ourselves 50+ years ago to say - It’s a gas.