May 3, 2011 at 4:09 pm
I’m making another themed music mix, and since you guys were so helpful last time I thought I’d throw out another challenge for you. This mix’s theme is aging, so all of the songs have to talk about being a certain age or about getting older. There seem to be an abundance of songs about teenagers, but material starts to scarcer the older you get. Here’s what I’ve got so far:
Sound of Music – Sixteen Going on Seventeen
Stevie Nicks – Edge of Seventeen
Janis Ian – At Seventeen
Ace of Base – Blooming 18
Paul Hardcastle – Nineteen
The Who’s Tommy – Twenty-One
Gin Blossoms – 29
Aimee Mann – 31 Today
Dido – See You When You’re 40
The Beatles – When I’m 64
Five for Fighting – 100 Years
Joni Mitchell – The Circle Game
ETA: (Forgot this one!) Band of Horses – Older
ETA: (Thought of another one!) Rod Stewart – Ooh La La (I Wish That I Knew What I Know Now)
Have you got any other songs for me? Songs should be about aging, not just about a number. So, “Three is the Magic Number” or “One” don’t really fit even though they have numbers in the song titles.
Ok, GO!
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Nicole • May 3, 2011 at 4:19 pm
Paul Simon has two great songs about getting old on his “Surprise” CD. One is called “Old,” and is obviously explicit about aging. The other is “Outrageous” and includes some meditations on “painting my hair the color of mud” and doing “500 situps a day” and “Who’s gonna love you when your looks are gone?” They’re both really great songs.
Beth • May 3, 2011 at 4:20 pm
“Hey 19″ by Steely Dan, about the age separation between the singer and the 19-year-old he’s hitting on.
“Veronica” by Elvis Costello. No definitive age in it, but just about aging in general. Also holds the distinction of having an upbeat melody and tempo with depressing lyrics.
“January” by Bonnie McKee about waiting to turn 18 to date an older person.
“Logical Song” by SuperTramp about the difference in how the world is viewed when you’re a kid versus when you’re an adult. Again, no specific number that I remember.
PastaQueen • May 3, 2011 at 4:38 pm
Ok, I’m just going to start posting new ones I think of in the comments:
“Forever Young” by Alphaville or one of the numerous covers.
I suppose “Forever Young” by Rod Stewart works too, making those two songs duplicates from the “Same Name, Different Song” mix.
Kristen • May 3, 2011 at 4:45 pm
Fleetwood Mac (or Dixie Chicks)- Landslide.
“Well, I’ve been afraid of changing
’Cause I’ve built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Children get older
I’m getting older too
Well I’m getting older too”
LOVE that song. Might be my favorite growing older type of song.
Kim • May 3, 2011 at 4:53 pm
Frank Sinatra “It Was A Very Good Year”
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/f/frank+sinatra/it+was+a+very+good+year_20056372.html
Stacie @ Imperfectly Healthy • May 3, 2011 at 5:04 pm
Seventeen – Jimmy Eat World
A Praise Chorus – Jimmy Eat World — “Even at 25, you gotta start some time…”
1973 – James Blunt “You’re getting older, your journey’s been etched on your skin..”
I could probably think of more but those jumped out at me!
Stacie @ Imperfectly Healthy • May 3, 2011 at 5:05 pm
And how could we forget Sixteen Candles?!
Jonna • May 3, 2011 at 5:20 pm
There\s an amazing song by Barry Manilow called Not What You See from his album “Here At The Mayflower.” It tells the story of Esther & Joe, “the oldest couple at the Mayflower” and how they aren’t just old folks, but have this amazing life story. The song, and the album, are worth a listen!
CW • May 3, 2011 at 5:26 pm
Billy Joel: “Shades of Gray”
This one’s not so much about graying as it’s about seeing the shades of gray in ideas that were black and white in our younger years.
Then there’s the “Old Friends”/”Bookends” combo from Simon and Garfunkel. “Time it was and what a time it was…”
Achristie • May 3, 2011 at 5:33 pm
@Merry – still chuckling over your comment because as much as I love both the original and the Dixie Chicks versions, that lyric has always made me cock my head like a dog who hears his master making a strange sound. Just what the heck is it supposed to mean? :)
Stephanie M. • May 3, 2011 at 5:37 pm
“Seventeen” by Winger.
“Sunrise, Sunset” from Fiddler on the Roof.
B • May 3, 2011 at 6:00 pm
“When You Wake Up Feeling Old” by Wilco (though, truth be told, aside from the title lyric it’s not all that specifically about growing older)
“Fireflies” by Rhett Miller/Rachael Yamagata (“You look like my mother did when she was 19 and not afraid to die / For the last time, I’m not your mother, and I was only 19 and still a firefly”)
The Old 97s actually have another song called “Nineteen” as well
Various songs from U2′s Boy album (“Into the Heart,” “Shadows and Tall Trees” – the latter is a brilliant song about the end of adolescence)
Pam • May 4, 2011 at 11:12 am
I don’t know how you feel about Country music, but Alan Jackson’s “Remember When,” is the story of a marriage through the years. And of course there’s, “Wouldn’t it Be Nice if We Were Older,” by the Beach Boys! A really old (but still beautiful) song about love through the years is, “My Cup Runneth Over with Love,” by the Lettermen and Ed Ames too. “In Only a Moment We Both Will be Old.” Believe me, getting old happens in the blink of an eye!
Lisa • May 4, 2011 at 3:41 pm
Bryan Adams – Summer of ’69
Tim McGraw – My Next 30 Years
Bon Jovi – Lost Highway
Kenny Chesney – I Go Back
Jo Dee Messina – Was that my Life
Keith Urban – Days go By
John Mayer – No Such Thing (run through the halls of my high school… I just can’t wait til my 10 year reunion… you will know what all this time was for)
MaryK • May 4, 2011 at 9:45 pm
To go along with “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” from “The Sound of Music,” how about “Sunrise, Sunset” from “Fiddler on the Roof,” which is sung by the parents at the wedding of their daughter:
Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the days
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers
Blossoming even as we gaze
HopefulandFree • May 4, 2011 at 10:21 pm
Ugly Kid Joe did a rendition of “Cat’s in the Cradle” on their album “America’s Least Wanted” but Chapin’s version is the classic (mentioned above, but worth mentioning twice). :)
Thanks for the great trip, here, down memory avenue!
HopefulandFree • May 5, 2011 at 10:30 am
“In the Year 2525″ by Zager and Evans kinda fits both categories as it’s lyrics refer to the aging of humankind, and the calamities to befall our species and our planet. The lyrics haunted my early childhood (thanks big bro), and unfortunately most of the predictions have already come true…no need to wait “ten thousand years”…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhNM2K8cmU8&NR=1
(sorry if already mentioned, eyesight–due to aging–not what it used to be) :)
chimmer • May 5, 2011 at 11:43 am
Seventeen by ladytron
“they only want you when you’re seventeen, when you’re twenty-one, you’re no fun”
Young Folks by Peter Bjorn and John
“and we don’t care about the young folks, talkin’ ’bout the young style”
Here it Comes by Modest Mouse
“So now we’re drownin’ in birthday cakes well, here it comes”
Do You Realize by Flaming Lips
“And instead of saying all of your goodbyes – let them know
You realize that life goes fast”
When I was a Young Girl by Rasputina
“when I was a young girl, then oh then…”
Bethama • May 5, 2011 at 10:29 pm
“The Angry Young Man,” by Billy Joel.
“I’d like to think I’ve passed the age
Of consciousness and righteous rage
I’ve learned that just surviving was a noble plight
I once believed in causes too
Had my pointless point of view
But life goes on no matter who is wrong or right”
Alone Again (Naturally) by Gilbert O’Sullivan
“Looking back over the years, and whatever else that appears
I remember I cried when my father died, never wishing to hide the tears
And at 65 years old, my mother, god rest her soul
Couldn’t understand how the only man she had ever loved had been taken…”
Bethama • May 5, 2011 at 10:46 pm
Okay, just one more – because Simon and Garfunkel deserve at LEAST one more mention (two is HARDLY enough) –
“Overs,” by Simon and Garfunkel
“Why don’t we stop fooling ourselves? The game is over, over, over… no good times, no bad times, there’s no times at all, just the New York Times…”
Honestly, half their stuff qualifies as “Coming of Age.”
Oh, and more Beatles: “Yesterday”
Now I’m done.
Shannon • May 6, 2011 at 1:00 pm
Dream On by Aerosmith
Every time I look in the mirror
All these lines on my face getting clearer
The past is gone
It went by, like dusk to dawn
Isn’t that the way
Everybody’s got their dues in life to pay
And to prove how erratic my music taste is “thru the years” by Kenny Rogers
Julie • May 6, 2011 at 3:28 pm
Mid-90′s country — Mary Chapin Carpetner — “Middle Ground”…
For years she’s lived on her own
In a corner of the city
Twice a year she gets back home
Playing catch-up with the family…
She’s thirty-three this time around
She’s always been real good at listening
Her sense of humor never lets her down
Except sometimes there’s something missing
Hey, middle ground
A place between up and down
She could be safe and sound
Oh, to know middle ground
Misty • May 8, 2011 at 5:43 pm
Those who listed 21 by Lily Allen – that is probably my favorite oh crap I’m getting old and am not where I thought I would be at this age song. I am not sure how you feel about country, but Tim McGraw has a song called Forever Seventeen about this woman who doesn’t deal with the fact that shes a grown ass woman!
Kimberly • May 10, 2011 at 2:34 am
I was surprised to get so far through the comments before seeing mention of “Old Man” By Neil Young. I’m not generally too keen on his music, but I love that song and I cry every time I hear it. I definitely co-sign Pink Floyd’s “Time” too.
I think Pearl Jam’s “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter of a Small Town” is a good aging song. That one always chokes me up too…I guess I like aging songs that make me cry, or maybe they make me cry because I’m aging. Who knows.
Beep • May 10, 2011 at 11:31 pm
Seventeen again by Annie Lennox (about looking back on the feeling of being 17 and trying to recapture it as an adult)
Naked as we came by Iron & Wine (about dying, but in a very life-cycle type way)
You can call me Al by Paul Simon (best midlife crisis song ever: “why am I so soft in the middle when my life is so hard?”
Jessa • May 16, 2011 at 6:04 pm
Someone beat me to “In the Year 2525″, love it!
Ok, here’s some of my suggestions-
How Can I Help You Say Goodbye by Patty Loveless
1979 by The Smashing Pumpkins
The Best is Yet to Come by Hinder
The Grouch by Green Day *explicit lyrics if you can understand them without looking up the lyrics ;) *
Love Me by Collin Raye
Don’t Take the Girl by Tim McGraw
Old and In the Way by Hazel Dickens *a little twangy, but my grandma and I used to sing it together, LOL*
We Didn’t Start the Fire by Billy Joel comes to mind as it goes on about important events in our lives, plus I love it!
PS Looking forward to enjoying the “new you” on your new JenFul blog! Take care Jenette!!!
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[...] I’m full of ideas though! My last two mixes can be found on my old PastaQueen site. They were The Aging Mix and the Same Title, Different Song [...]