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Songs about getting old thread


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Posted

Perhaps the grandaddy of them all...

 

"And then one day you find ten years have got behind you

No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun"

 

Posted

Perhaps the grandaddy of them all...

 

"And then one day you find ten years have got behind you

No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun"

 

 

Ain't it the truth

Posted

I was fortunate enough to catch Joni Mitchell in concert when she visited Edinburgh in '83.

On her then new album (plug; Wild Things Run Free) there is a track called 'Chinese Cafe' the opening and closing lyrics of which - quoting 'Unchained Melody' by the Righteous Brothers along the way - I've always found to be rather haunting;

 

 

"Caught in the middle

Carol we're middle class

We're middle aged

We were wild in the old days

Birth of rock 'n' roll days

Now your kids are coming up straight

And my child's a stranger

I bore her

But I could not raise her

Nothing lasts for long

Nothing lasts for long....

 

...Down at the Chinese Cafe

We'd be dreaming on our dimes

We'd be playing

'Oh my love, my darling

I've hungered for your touch

A long lonely time

And time goes by so slowly

And time can do so much

Are you still mine?

I need your love

I need your love

God speed your love to me'

Time goes - where does the time go

I wonder where the time goes..."

 

Back then I was just into my twenties. Thirty years later and with a daughter of my own they have taken on a new resonance.

 

P.

 

EDIT : Joni M. has written a few thoughtful songs on the subject of getting older, the most famous of which is probably 'Both Sides, Now'.

Posted

I Think I'm Going Bald - RUSH [thumbup]

 

I looked in the mirror today

My eyes just didn’t seem so bright

I’ve lost a few more hairs

I think I’m going bald

 

I think I’m going bald

 

Seems like only yesterday

We would sit and talk of dreams all night

Dreams of youth

And simple truths

Now we’re so involved

So involved with life

 

Walk down vanity fair

Memory lane everywhere

Wall Street shuffles there

Dressed in flowing hair

 

Once we loved the flowers

Now we ask the price of the land

Once we would take water

But now it must be wine

Now we’ve been

And now we’ve seen

What price peace of mind

 

Take a piece of my mind

 

My life is slipping away

I’m aging every day

But even when I’m grey

I’ll still be grey my way

Posted

 

"Pushed To The Limit"

 

Put your feet up maybe let the world pass by

Keep off the street, go away and wait to die

What you don't see is what life means to me

My woman says it ain't right

For a man my age to fight

She don't get it

She ain't in it

I'm pushed to the limit

 

Two clean shirts, I'm puffing on an old cigar

I still love women, sex and fancy cars

What you don't conceive is just what I believe

My doctor says it ain't right

For a man my age to fight

He don't get it

he ain't in it

I'm pushed to the limit

 

Is it nice and cozy, sitting there in your evening chair

Is your paper pressed like your string vest

It's enough to make you rip out your hair

 

Relations sit and wring their hands

How long will I survive

Here's the cherry, there's more spunk left

Kiss my arse, I'm still alive

 

You keep it nice and quiet boy, but please don't pacify me

I'm just not ready for the shade of an old oak tree

What you don't see is what life means to me

And my dad's an angry man, sometimes like Desperate Dan

And he gets it

And he's in it

He's pushed to the limit

 

My doctor says it ain't right

For a man my age to fight

He says put out the light

He don't get it

He ain't in it

I'm pushed to the limit

Posted

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6JG-yE8UTw

 

Sometimes I don't know where this dirty road is taking me

Sometimes I can't even see the reason why

I guess I keep on gamblin', lots of booze and lots of ramblin'

It's easier than just a-waitin' 'round to die

 

One-time friends I had a ma, I even had a pa

He beat her with a belt once cause she cried

She told him to take care of me, she headed down to Tennessee

It's easier than just a-waitin' 'round to die

 

I came of age and found a girl in a Tuscaloosa bar

She cleaned me out and hit it on the sly

I tried to kill the pain, I bought some wine and hopped a train

Seemed easier than just a-waitin' 'round to die

 

A friend said he knew where some easy money was

We robbed a man and brother did we fly

The posse caught up with me, drug me back to Muskogee

It's two long years, just a-waitin' 'round to die

 

Now I'm out of prison, I got me a friend at last

He don't steal or cheat or drink or lie

His name's codeine, he's the nicest thing I've seen

Together we're gonna wait around and die

Posted

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8TsAh-zYFI

 

 

I'm still here, but yet I'm gone

I don't play guitar or sing my songs

They never defined who I am

The man that loves you 'til the end

You're the last person I will love

You're the last face I will recall

And best of all, I'm not gonna miss you.

Not gonna miss you.

I'm never gonna hold you like I did

Or say I love you to the kids

You're never gonna see it in my eyes

It's not gonna hurt me when you cry

I'm never gonna know what you go through

All the things I say or do

All the hurt and all the pain

One thing selfishly remains

I'm not gonna miss you

I'm not gonna miss you

Posted

Old Before my Time Allman Brothers

 

There is a long hard road that follows far behind me.

It's so cold I'm about to die.

Chasing a dream around the world its got me feeling down

Though it used to make me high.

 

Looking for answers searching for the truth, in an ocean of lies

Tryin to find a reason to make the whole thing rhyme,

Can make you old before your time.

 

When I was younger thought I ruled the world.

It was an oyster at my feet.

Dancin' to my own drum, fishin' out the pearl.

Wish I would have been much more discreet.

 

I've lived a lifetime actin' out a part. It was a long up hill climb.

Now all the things that used to mean so much to me have made me old before my time.

 

Wanderin' aimlessly, wonderin' aloud.

Could it ever be much different now.

Remind me of the past, I slipped into a dream.

Funny things ain't never what they seem.

 

Living like children, never doing what we are told.

Would not hesitate to take a chance.

The road behind me now is paved with fools gold.

It's almost time for the victory dance.

No more feeling guilty for things I never did.

Feelin' nothing for my crimes.

Livin' like a gypsy, dreamin' like a kid, made me old before my time.

Posted

Isn't there a country song that says something like "I aint as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was"...

Posted

Isn't there a country song that says something like "I aint as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was"...

Yeah, that's Toby Keith... the video is funny as h377. [lol]

 

Σß

Posted

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV46nsp67Rs

 

Gaze at the sky, and picture a memory

of days in your life,

you knew what it meant to be happy and free

with time on your side...

 

Remember your daddy, when no one was wiser.

Your ma used to say,

that you would go farther than he ever could,

with time on your side...

 

Think of a boy with the stars in his eyes,

longing to reach them but frightened to try.

Sadly, you'd say, someday, someday...

 

But day after day, the show must go on,

And time slipped away.

Before you could build any castles in Spain...

the chance had gone by.

 

With nothing to say, and no one to say it to,

nothing has changed. You still got it all to do.

Surely you know,

the chance has gone by...

 

Think of a boy with the stars in his eyes,

longing to reach them but frightened to try.

Sadly, you'd say, someday, someday...

 

But day after day, the show must go on.

And you gaze at the sky,

and picture a memory, of days in your life,

with time on your side...

 

With time on your side...

(Day after day the show must go on...)

With time on your side...

(Day after day the show must go on...)

With time on your side...

Posted

"Well you know... that you're over the hill,

when your mind makes a promise that your body can't fill."

 

Too bad Lowell didn't get to realize this reality. [crying]

 

I feel much more fortunate now. Thanks L5Larry. [thumbup]

 

Σß

Posted

"Well you know... that you're over the hill,

when your mind makes a promise that your body can't fill."

 

Too bad Lowell didn't get to realize this reality. [crying]

 

I feel much more fortunate now. Thanks L5Larry. [thumbup]

 

Σß

 

Old Folks Boogie

 

 

Off our rockers, acting crazy

And with the right medication, we won’t be lazy

Doin the, old folks boogie, down on the farm

Wheelchairs, they was locked arm in arm

Paired off pacemakers with matching alarms

Gives you one more chance, to spin one more yarn

 

 

Well you know, that you’re over the hill

When your mind makes a promise that your body can’t fill

Doin the, old folks boogie, boogie we will

Cause to us, the thoughts as good as the thrill

 

 

Back at the home, no time is your own

facilities there, they was, all out on loan

The bank foreclosed, and your bankruptcy shows

And your credit creeps to an all time low

So you know, that you’re over the hill

When your mind makes a promise that your body can’t fill

 

Piano solo, guitar solo

 

 

Try to get a rise from your atrophied muscle, and the

Nerves in your thighs just quivers and fizzles

So you know, that you’re over the hill

When your mind makes a promise that your body can’t fill

 

Solos to end

Posted

"Ooh La La"

 

Poor old Granddad I laughed at all his words

I thought he was a bitter man

He spoke of women's ways

They'll trap you, then they use you before you even know

For love is blind and you're far too kind

Don't ever let it show

 

I wish that I knew what I know now

When I was younger.

I wish that I knew what I know now

When I was stronger.

 

The can-can such a pretty show

Will steal your heart away

But backstage back on earth again

The dressing rooms are grey

They come on strong and it ain't too long

For they make you feel a man

But love is blind and you soon will find

You're just a boy again

 

When you want her lips, you get her cheek

Makes you wonder where you are

If you want some more then she's fast asleep

you're just twinkling with the stars.

 

Poor young grandson, there's nothing I can say

You'll have to learn, just like me

And that's the hardest way, ooh la la

Ooh la la, la la, yeah

 

I wish that I knew what I know now

When I was younger.

I wish that I knew what I know now

When I was stronger.

Posted

Well...

 

Here's an Ian Tyson piece I've done "out" a few times...

 

I think you've almost gotta be old to sing of getting old and have it be real. Nothing against the "when I'm 64" type of material 'cuz it's from a youthful perspective wondering about age.

 

This seems like a "romance" song, but consider it entirely as metaphor ... the passionate aimlessness unrecognized by youth even as youthful choices are made...

 

m

 

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