Pete Townshend, in his familiar windmill on The Who's last tour. (AP)

Pete Townshend once wrote “I hope I die before I get old.”

Now the 64-year-old guitarist and songwriter for British rock band The Who says he is at work on a new stage musical about the aging process.

Townshend says Floss will focus on a pub-rock musician and his troubled relationship with his wife, who runs a riding stable.

He says he wants to use the angry medium of rock ‘n’ roll to take on issues of aging and mortality facing the baby boom generation.

Songs from Floss will feature on a new Who album due out next year,

Townshend says he is in talks with New York producers about staging the show in 2011.

Townshend’s previous “rock operas” include Quadrophenia and Tommy. Both started life as albums and later became films and stage musicals.