AMG Review of Old Folks

William Ruhlmann
All Music Guide

At 80 years of age, comedian Jonathan Winters recites his reflections on aging over pleasant easy listening music on this lightly humorous single. "Slipping fast from their old past, that's what old folks do," he notes early on. As the track proceeds, Winters himself seems to age, adopting more an old person's voice as he continues, "Lost in the past, we're fading fast, that's what old folks do." Having joined the population he was describing, he finally addresses himself to younger listeners, kindly warning, "Keep in mind that in no time you'll be old folks, too." This is a gentle coda for Winters' long career as a warmly comic observer of life's passing.