Is there a Living Doll for every Bachelor Boy? Yeoh Siew Hoon spends one night ogling at a 66-year-old man and concludes... older men are hot.
“So would you recommend younger men?” I asked a girlfriend over green tea and chocolate biscuits. She herself was dating a man 14 years her junior.
“For whom?” my friend asked. She is the type who requires you to be precise with her questions so she can be precise with her answers.
“Ok. For me?” I ventured hesitantly.
“No. Not for you,” she said without hesitation.
“Why?”
“Because they’d bore you,” she said, crunching on her biscuits and delivering her last word on the subject.
I suppose she could be right. Just the night before I had been sitting in the front row, ogling at a 66-year-old man on stage. This wasn’t just any man though, it was Sir Cliff Richard aka Bachelor Boy aka the Peter Pan of Pop.
First though I have to confess I’ve never been a Cliff Richard fan. He just was too squeaky clean for me. He was more into “Living Doll” while I was out killing frogs. And he was always on “Summer Holiday” when all I wanted was for summer to end in the tropics.
But seeing him live in Singapore – thanks to Marina Mandarin who was one of the sponsors of his concert – I had to revisit my notions about the man.
First, he looks real good, and remember I was in the first row and I saw him again backstage, so I saw him real good. He once said in an interview that celibacy and God kept him young. I suppose there’s some truth in that – he almost seems to glow from within – but I reckon it’s also clean living and discipline.
It is said by the age of 50, we get the face we deserve. If that's the case, then no wonder there is such a difference between the countenances of Cliff Richard and Rolling Stones' Keith Richards.
Second, he sings real good. He’s got the kind of voice that’s just schmaltzy enough for ballads and gruffy enough for some light & fluffy rock n’ roll.
Mick Jagger, he ain’t – although he is as thin – but Cliff can swing a hip or two as well.
(I overheard two of his older women fans talking about him. “Very handsome, no?” “Yes, but a bit skinny.” “I’d love to fatten him up.” Yes, Cliff remains the kind of boy you want to take home to Mummy.)
Third, he talks real good. He’s got an easy banter about him that makes audiences feel cosy and comfortable, like you just want to take him in your arms and cuddle him.
One fan from Hong Kong did – she went to the front and gave him a cuddly teddy bear. She was from a Hong Kong fan club of 10 who has followed his tour from Hong Kong to Malaysia and to Singapore. They were easy to spot with their red T-shirts and luminous ice cream wands which they waved in the air when he sang his old hits. They knew every word too – it was like being in mass karaoke session.
You can sense though that Cliff wants to get past his past, as he did songs from his new album of duets called “Two’s Company”.
He shared his thoughts on the music industry. He said he was lucky. During his days, young singers got a lot of support from their producers. His early records struggled in various lagging positions on the charts but they promised him a number one hit, which they delivered.
“Today, if you fail, you disappear,” he said.
He also shared his sense of humour. “Journalists say I am not cool,” he said as he struck up a pose in his silvery-patched blue jeans and sequined T-shirt. “They are right. I am hot.” The ladies squealed.
Yes, at 66, Sir Cliff’s still got in him to get the ladies squealing, even “The Young Ones”.
And that's where older men have the edge, I reckon. They have got what it takes on the inside to be hot.
