Rock 'n' roll is a young man's game. Those that stay at the party too long run the risk of undoing whatever cool they might have done. This is all Nick Lowe's fault. Folks take one look at the unassuming 59-year-old gentleman, see the way he so elegantly carries himself while rolling out catchy rock 'n' roll, and figure they can do it too, even if their own meter has expired.

Lowe is a rock 'n' roll legend. He first caught the nation's attention in the mid-70's as one of the roots rock revivalist superheroes in Rockpile, with Dave Edmunds. He worked as a producer for Stiff Records. But it comes down to his songs, classics like "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding," "Girls Talk," "I Knew The Bride (When She Used To Rock 'n' Roll)," "Cruel To Be Kind"... You with me?

He is a songwriter of staggering depth. Artists like Johnny Cash, Rod Stewart, and Elvis Costello have all swung Lowe. But it's when the man plays them himself that the magic happens. Despite the snow on his roof and the wisdom underneath, Lowe's new disc, "At My Age," is a cool record...no matter what the cat's age.

CITY: How did you get to your age in rock 'n' roll unscathed. Or are you scathed?

Nick Lowe: Quite scathed, relatively. I don't know. Quite a lot of people have fallen along the wayside. I've had a lot of luck, I suppose. I sort of reinvented myself when my career as a pop star was over in the very early 80's. I sort of took stock of myself and I thought, Well, here's me on the scrap heap here. I was still in my 30s then. And back in those days, there weren't any old pop singers. Now there're loads of them.

What got you started to the degree that you're still going today?

I'm 59 now, so when I was in my early teens, it was all kicking off, the Beatles and the Stones and all that. I was too young for Elvis and Little Richard. And of course everybody wanted to be in a band. I was lucky, my mom was quite a music fan and she had some pretty good records; she really encouraged me. She taught me how to play the guitar, just three chords, but enough to get me into it.

But then you hit 30 and that was too old?

Well, it was back then. You were sort of past it. You weren't past it if you were blues. You couldn't be too old if you were a blues singer. Who wants to hear a kid singing the blues? Not me, very much. Or jazz; you can't be too old for that. And until recently, in country and western as well. But pop music? No, back then you'd sort of had it.

But you're still here. What did you do?

I started to figure out a way I could re-present myself, to write for myself - and record myself, as well - so I could actually use the fact that I was getting older as an asset and actually have it working for me. I'd looked at what I'd done up to that point and thought, I've done quite well, I've had a couple of hits, I've written some quite good songs for other people, I've produced some pretty good records. Why is it that I feel I haven't really done anything yet? You know, anything really good yet?

So I thought, I'm gonna get my head down now and start to figure out how to do this properly. And of course, a lot of people who liked my stuff up unto that point fell away. I didn't think it was that particularly different.

It still sounds like Nick Lowe to me.

Yeah, it just got a little bit quieter, a bit slower, I suppose. But I still think it's rock 'n' roll music that I play. So a lot of people fell away. But on the other hand, I gained this new audience, which I was very pleased about. Younger people were coming to see me - a lot more women, which was really good.

You've said before you didn't like punk rock, and yet you're one of its chaperones; one of the British musicians that ushered it in.

Yes, I suppose I did. I produced some of those records - The Damned, for instance, who were one of the first. But they were a really good band. They might've just been three-chord guys, but that's great music. I love that stuff; proper rock 'n' roll music, I love it. But that sort of noisy, noise for the sake of it, that awful kind of white beat they all seem to do, was just awful. What I liked more about it was the mischief that it caused. That I really liked. But I tended to work with people who felt like that, but they were much more interested in playing good music. People like Elvis Costello, The Pretenders, they were really good musicians but they had that attitude. That's what I was most interested in.

How do you keep that attitude alive?

I suppose I'm lucky. My collaborators - the people I make my records with - I'm also very good friends with. They keep my feet on the ground. When we make these records, this guy Nick Lowe is kind of in the room. It's not actually me, it's just this bloke in the room. So we tend to talk about him in the third person in a way so no one gets offended if you say, "Oh dear, this is really lame." Everyone chips in. It's quite a collaborative process, although I have the final say. I'm lucky to have a little firm of people. A lot of people can't put up with it, they don't like being criticized. But I welcome it really.

So you take Nick Lowe out of the writing process?

It's curious, but it's what I really strive to do. It's more of a feeling you get. If I can hear myself going to work, it's very tiresome because you hear all your craft, all the stuff you've learned over the years, and it sounds phony and tired. You get to a state where the song has taken over, and it has a life of its own. I have a feeling about this songwriting lark. It's funny, that's what I try and do; get to a place where I can't actually hear myself go to work, but then I realize that is how I sound. It's a funny mirror image.

It sounds like it just flows, though.

I work very hard on the music and the lyrics. I work extremely hard on it to make it sound like I haven't worked on it at all. It takes a real lot of thought and care to make it sound like you just tossed it off.

Which of your songs is quintessential Nick Lowe?

The one that comes to mind is "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, And Understanding." It's been covered so many times, and it just seems to touch a nerve with people. It's the oldest song I play on my show. I was quite young when I wrote it. I always think of it as being the first original idea I had. All the songs I'd written were fairly obviously loving rip-offs. There's nothing cynical about it, I was learning. But you rip off your heroes. You sort of re-write their catalogue.

But that's rock 'n' roll's M.O. isn't it?

Yes, exactly. And then one day you'll be ripping of your latest hero and you'll put a little bit of the previous person you've ripped off into the song. And the next time you'll put in four or five, and before you know it you've developed your own style. Initially it's very obvious where you're getting it from.

But "Peace, Love, And Understanding" was different?

I remember sitting down one day and that song coming to me, and it really was a tremendous shock that I'd actually come up with a really original idea. I had to go have a walk around the block get a little bit of fresh air.

But even your more standard rock 'n' roll tunes have clever twists and have stayed popular over the years.

Well, "I Knew The Bride (When She Used To Rock 'n' Roll)" is played at weddings the length and breadth of the Western world. I don't think it's my finest hour, but it cheers people up, that song.

Do you hear artists lovingly ripping you off today?

I suppose I do sometimes, but I can hardly believe it.

And of course I have to ask: do you really have to be cruel to be kind?

Sadly, sometimes yes.

Nick Lowe

German House Theatre, 315 Gregory St

Thursday, October 16

7 p.m. | $25.50 | 303-2234