Tom Jones walked to the stage gingerly, at age 84.

Then he sang about what he feels like to be that age.

“Well, my friends are gone and my hair is gray. I ache in the places where I used to play,” Jones called out Saturday night to the capacity crowd at Encore Theater. “I said to Hank Williams, ‘How lonely does it get?’ Hank Williams hasn’t answered yet.”

A swell of a cheer went up, as Jones intoned, “I was born like this, I had no choice. I was born with the gift of a golden voice.”