# Songs about getting older? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 7, 2007, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-getting-older/418359 "2007-09-07T14:58:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Alma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Alma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alma)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-getting-older/418359/21 "2007-09-07T15:39:24Z")
These are great, thanks. I had considered Frank Sinatra and Hary Chapin, but I didn’t even think of most of these. I don’t know if I should open or close the disc with “Older” by They Might Be Giants. It might be too flippant. ---
**Author:** ![1iLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/1ileft/32/4114_2.png) [@1iLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1iLeft)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-getting-older/418359/22 "2007-09-07T15:42:35Z")
I have to second the “Frank Sinatra’s rendition of “It was a Very Good Year.”” Another; Landslide by Stevie Nicks. The Dixie Chicks covered it fabulisly as well. Either rendition can bring a tear to my eye fast and hard. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-getting-older/418359/23 "2007-09-07T15:47:06Z")
**I Am My Dad** ([lyrics](http://www.yellowtailrecords.com/lyrics/lyr_happy.html#dad)), by Electric Bonsai Band ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-getting-older/418359/24 "2007-09-07T15:47:14Z")
_When I Grow Up_ by Michelle Shocked? ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-getting-older/418359/25 "2007-09-07T15:50:09Z")
A more cheerful song – \* Growing Older But Not Up \* by Jimmy Buffet. I’m growing older but not up My metabolic rate is pleasantly stuck Let those winds of time blow over my head I’d rather die while I’m living than live while I’m dead ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-getting-older/418359/26 "2007-09-07T15:51:42Z")
How could I forget! :smack: **Time** by _Pink Floyd._ ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-getting-older/418359/27 "2007-09-07T15:59:39Z")
[QUOTE=Robot Arm] **I Am My Dad** ([lyrics](http://www.yellowtailrecords.com/lyrics/lyr_happy.html#dad)), by Electric Bonsai Band [/QUOTE] In that vein, there’s [“Leader of the Band”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy3GHCy49Dw) (video) by Dan Fogelberg. Another one guaranteed to bring a tiny tear to the eye. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-getting-older/418359/28 "2007-09-07T16:01:48Z")
“Grow Old Along with Me”, although it is about a couple growing old. John Lennon wrote it and Mary Chapin Carpenter has a nice version. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-getting-older/418359/29 "2007-09-07T16:07:47Z")
Stan Rogers has a other good ones that kind of fit: 45 Years Down the Road ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-getting-older/418359/30 "2007-09-07T16:19:24Z")
[“Bungalow”](http://chalkhills.org/reelbyreal/s_Bungalow.html) and [“Frivolous Tonight”](http://chalkhills.org/reelbyreal/s_Frivolous.html) by **XTC** – the first is about the dream of retiring to a cottage by the sea; the second, to a relaxed middle-aged spread and conviviality. [“A Simple Kind of Life”](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/nodoubt/simplekindoflife.html) by \*\*No Doubt \*\* is about how a single woman’s priorities, notions of love and family, and personality can be changing over the years, not necessarily for the better, and how she still has time to decide one way or another (but it’s a very tough choice). [“The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul”](http://chalkhills.org/reelbyreal/s_Man.html) by **XTC** is a masculine take on the same, after the damage was done and the man sits alone in his old age. A grim subject, but wonderfully literate lyrics. [“The Wrong Road Round”](http://www.lyrics007.com/The%20Go-Betweens%20Lyrics/The%20Wrong%20Road%20Lyrics.html) by **The Go-Betweens** – although the song relates to experience rather than aging per se. And an honorable mention to the entire album Blast of Silence by **The Golden Palominos** , which opens and closes with the spoken phrase “A little older, a little more confused” – and whose songs are less about aging than life’s meting out hard-won lessons, and our struggle to find some measure of redemption. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-getting-older/418359/31 "2007-09-07T16:32:38Z")
Even though there are no words in it, there’s “Saturn- The Bringer of Old Age” from Holst’s Planets Suite. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-getting-older/418359/32 "2007-09-07T16:39:33Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] “Grow Old Along with Me”, although it is about a couple growing old. John Lennon wrote it… [/QUOTE] with help from [Robert Browning](http://www.bartelby.org/236/106.html). [QUOTE=Alma] I don’t know if I should open or close the disc with “Older” by They Might Be Giants. It might be too flippant. [/QUOTE] This is the first one I thought of. You must include it. How old is this friend going to be, by the way? ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-getting-older/418359/33 "2007-09-07T16:45:34Z")
Tim McGraw: “My Next Thirty Years” _…Oh, my next thirty years, I’m gonna watch my weight Eat a few more salads and not stay up so late Drink a little lemonade and not so many beers Maybe I’ll remember my next thirty years_ The story is that the songwriter, Phil Vassar, woke up on his 30th birthday and wrote the song that day. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-getting-older/418359/34 "2007-09-07T16:50:42Z")
And The Promise Ring’s reference to the Sinatra tune on _Things Just Getting Good_. I haven’t listened to it in awhile so the lyrics are sorta sketchy: > [@](#): > > How September came for Sinatra > … > When what I came to say is said, > and we all feel the holiday cheer, > Then I hear my swan song singing, > it is winter, then it is a new year. > > …somethingsomthing, and my best brother, > with things just getting good. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-getting-older/418359/35 "2007-09-07T16:54:55Z")
Jethro Tull’s _Too Old to Rock and Roll_ ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-getting-older/418359/36 "2007-09-07T16:57:05Z")
[_Time Stand Still_](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=8956939) by Rush I let my past go too fast No time to pause – If I could slow it all down Like some captain, Whose ship runs aground – I can wait until the tide Comes around Make each impression A little bit stronger Freeze this motion A little bit longer The innocence slips away… Summers going fast – Nights growing colder Children growing up – Old friends growing older Experience slips away… ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-getting-older/418359/37 "2007-09-07T16:57:45Z")
“Night Moves,” “Like a Rock,” and “Against the Wind,” by Bob Seger. He probably did a bunch more. “On Growing Older,” by The Strawbs. The only song I know that uses the word “retrospect.” ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-getting-older/418359/38 "2007-09-07T17:17:48Z")
[QUOTE=Thudlow Boink] with help from [Robert Browning](http://www.bartelby.org/236/106.html). [/QUOTE] Was he in The Beatles? ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-getting-older/418359/39 "2007-09-07T17:24:52Z")
[“I Don’t Want to Grow Up”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzKiqk2iynY) by Tom Waits (featuring Keith Richards). The song in question kicks in at 0:50. ---
**Author:** ![Illinois\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Illinois\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illinois_Boy)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-getting-older/418359/40 "2007-09-07T17:36:58Z")
Paul Simon’s \*Old \* off of the album _You’re the One_. It’s a bouncy little song starting off with Baby Boomer nostalgia (Buddy Holly, Rolling Stones, Russians in space, etc) and ending up with metaphysical mumblings. _Down the decades, every year Summer leaves and my birthday’s here, and all my friends stand up and cheer abd say ‘Man, you are old!’_ It’s fun. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-getting-older/418359.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-getting-older/418359.md?page=3)