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Creativity Quote by Barry Gibb

"I'm the eldest at 51, and if the Stones can drag themselves around once more, then there's a few more albums in us"

About this Quote

Aging rock stars rarely talk about mortality head-on; they talk about logistics. Barry Gibb’s line turns late-career ambition into a backstage joke: if the Rolling Stones can still haul their legend from city to city, then the Bee Gees’ engine hasn’t fully cooled. The verb choice is the tell. “Drag themselves around” is affectionate shade, puncturing the heroic myth of eternal youth with the image of bodies doing the unglamorous work of staying famous. It’s funny because it’s true, and because it lets him acknowledge decline without surrendering to it.

The context is a generation of pop architects hitting middle age with a new problem: rock has always sold rebellion, but now it has to sell stamina. Gibb frames creativity as something stored in the collective “us,” not trapped in a single frontman’s charisma. That plural matters. It’s both a nod to the Bee Gees’ fraternal identity and a subtle insistence that their story isn’t over just because the culture has moved on to younger idols.

There’s also a quiet competitiveness here, the kind that drives touring economies and reunion records. The Stones become a benchmark not of artistic relevance but of endurance. Gibb isn’t promising a masterpiece; he’s promising presence. The intent is to reassure fans and industry alike that the band can still produce, while giving himself permission to keep working: not because youth is returning, but because the will to make albums can outlast the body’s complaint.

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APA Style (7th ed.)
Gibb, Barry. (2026, January 16). I'm the eldest at 51, and if the Stones can drag themselves around once more, then there's a few more albums in us. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-the-eldest-at-51-and-if-the-stones-can-drag-138546/

Chicago Style
Gibb, Barry. "I'm the eldest at 51, and if the Stones can drag themselves around once more, then there's a few more albums in us." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-the-eldest-at-51-and-if-the-stones-can-drag-138546/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I'm the eldest at 51, and if the Stones can drag themselves around once more, then there's a few more albums in us." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-the-eldest-at-51-and-if-the-stones-can-drag-138546/. Accessed 7 Feb. 2026.

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If the Stones Can Go On, There Are More Albums in Us - Barry Gibb
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Barry Gibb (born September 1, 1946) is a Musician from England.

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