Songs about getting older?

Cafe Society
1

I’m looking for some songs about getting older, to make a cd for a friend’s birthday. I don’t know that he’s particularly bummed about getting older, but he does keep talking about it. The songs can be serious or light-hearted, but preferably from a first person point of view.

Any ideas?

2

“I’m an Adult Now” by The Pursuit of Happiness

Speaking of noise,
I can’t take too much loud music.
I mean, I like to play it,
But I sure don’t like the racket.

Love that song.

3

When I’m Sixty-Four, the Beatles.

4

I guess the classic is Frank Sinatra’s rendition of “It was a Very Good Year.” The last verse is:

But now the days grow short
Im in the autumn of the year
And now I think of my life as vintage wine
from fine old kegs
from the brim to the dregs
And it poured sweet and clear
It was a very good year

I seem to appreciate that song a little more each year.

5

As Good as I Once Was - Toby Keith

Sample lyrics:

6
  • Lies * by Stan Rogers
    Is this the face that won for her the man
    Whose amazed and clumsy fingers put that ring upon her hand?
    No need to search that mirror for the years.
    The menace in their message shouts across the blur of tears.
    So this is Beauty’s finish. Like Rodin’s “Belle Heauimiere”,
    The pretty maiden trapped inside the ranch wife’s toil and care.
    Well, after seven kids, that’s no surprise,
    But why cannot her mirror tell her lies.
    All lies.
    All those lines are telling wicked lies.
    Lies all lies.
    Too many lines there in that face;
    Too many to erase or disguise;
    They must be telling lies.
    Also “The Circle Game” by Joni Mitchell.
7

I’m here for my obligatory Harry Chapin reference. Dreams Go By is not one of my favorites by him, but it fits the bill.

8

Steely Dan’s “Hey Nineteen”

Hey, Nineteen, that’s 'retha Franklin
She don’t remember the Queen of Soul?
Hard times befallen the sole survivors
She thinks I’m crazy, but I’m just growing old…

9

Another one:Middle Age by Steve Forbert.

10

I love that song. Especially the way the strings just get more and more melodramatic as it goes on, and his talk of riding in limousines with blue-blooded girls of independent means.

11

Another Harry Chapin song: WOLD, about a disc jockey.

Also, maybe, Taxi.

12

It’s blatant schlock, but 100 Years by Five for Fighting.

13

“I Think I’m Going Bald” by Rush

14

Harry Chapin again with “Cat’s In The Cradle”
ABBA’s gem “Slipping Through My Fingers”

15

“Old Friends” from Bookends (Simon and Garfunkle).
Be warned: pretty sad.

Here it is on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB0nt22Sgi8

16

Sixty Years On — Elton John and Bernie Taupin

Who’ll walk me down to church when I’m sixty years of age
When the ragged dog they gave me has been ten years in the grave
And señorita play guitar, play it just for you
My rosary has broken and my beads have all slipped through

17

I, too, have a spot on the top of my head, and a (minor) tire around my gut from sittin’ on my butt.

Little Miss Magic by Jimmy Buffet isn’t specifically about getting old, but it’s a nice story about an aging guy who feels “a little more moustache goin’ gray…” and who dotes on his daughter.

18

Old and Wise by the Alan Parsons Project. Very bittersweet. I hope to have it played at my funeral.

19

“Nick of Time” by Bonnie Raitt

20

I used Cat Stevens’ song “Child for a Day” when I made a bat mitzvah video for my partner’s daughter:

I’ll also whole-heartedly recommend the Hothouse Flowers’ song "The Older We Get"