Far too long ago, I remember using a bit of Pretender’s “Middle of the Road” as my sig on another forum:
…I’m not the cat I used to be
I got a kid; I’m thirty-three, baby…
Today, I realized that at my next birthday I can steal from James McMurtry’s “Childish Things”:
…But I’m forty-seven years old now and, man, I don’t care
All I want now is just a comfortable chair…
Which got me thinking about songs with a specific age in them. Double internet points if it’s an age not already mentioned. I’m guessing there’s a lot in the 16 to 21 range.
A few others…
Mott the Hoople, “All The Young Dudes”: How he’d kick it in the head when he was twenty-five
Steely Dan, “Hey Nineteen”: Hey Nineteen, no we can’t dance together…
And a two-fer:
Simon & Garfunkel “Leaves that Are Green”: I was twenty-one when I wrote this song / I’m twenty-two now but I won’t be for long
The Beatles, “When I’m Sixty-four.”
Sam Cooke, “She Was Only Sixteen.”
Johnny Burnette, “You’re Sixteen.”
“He was born in the summer of his 27th year…”. - John Denver, Rocky Mountain High.
“When I was seventeen, it was a very good year…”
-Frank Sinatra
Five For Fighting’s “100 Years” includes verses mentioning the singer’s age as 15, 22, 33, 45, 67, and 99.
“She was just 17/ if you know what I mean.”
“I Saw Her Standing There” by the Beatles
“I’m Eighteen” - Alice Cooper
Ain’t no doubt about it we were doubly blessed
'Cause we were barely seventeen and we were barely dressed
Taylor Swift lived to see 22, but did the gangsta reach 24?
She was thirty one and I was seventeen
I knew nothing about love, she knew everything
from Bobby Goldsboro - Summer (the first time)
John Mellencamp, Cherry Bomb
“Seventeen has turned thirty-five.”
Old 97s - Nineteen
Bruce Springsteen - My Hometown:
I’m 35,
we’ve got a boy
of our own now
Missed the edit window. The song begins
Eight years old
running with
a dime in my hand
and ends with the passage quoted above.
A couple consecutive ones…
Bob Seger, Rock and Roll Never Forgets
“Well now sweet sixteen’s turned thirty-one”
Ringo Starr, I’m the Greatest (written by John Lennon)
“Now I’m only thirty-two, and all I want to do is boogaloo!”
The Pretenders, Middle of the Road
“I’m not the cat I used to be, I’ve got a kid, I’m thirty-three”
Pete Townshend, Slit Skirts
“I was just thirty-four years old and I was still wandering in a haze”
edit: Just saw The Pretenders one in the OP, but I decided to leave it here, for purposes of consecutiveness.
Fancy was in the summer she turned 18.
Madness - House Of Fun
Good morning miss
Can I help you son?
Sixteen today and up for fun
Jackson Browne - * Running On Empty*
“In 65 I was seventeen”
and
“In 69 I was twenty-one”
KISS - Christine, Sixteen.
You’re welcome.
Seventeen Ain’t Young – The Archies