Subject: Songs about getting older? From: Peter T. Date: 06 Oct 97 - 11:40 AM I was recently at a birthday party for someone who had reached the grand old age of 55, and someone else perked up and said, "I think growing old is great -- especially compared to my first 40 years -- does anyone else have anything to say about how wonderful it is to grow old?" This was followed by a grim silence, followed in turn by various references to a bit more wisdom, less concern about small details (or less about the big picture), who are these children masquerading as policemen, etc. It set me to wondering about songs about getting older (or being old), ranging from the sentimental ("WHEN YOU AND I WERE YOUNG, MAGGIE") to the wistful ("September Song"), and half-remembered songs about cracking ice for Grandpa's piles. Actually, now that I think of it, I suspect there is a divide between songs about growing somewhat older (past your 40s), and getting really old (pick your date), when things get really tough. Maybe I'll try two threads, and see if there are any takers. For this one, does anyone have any good songs about getting somewhat older? Yours, Peter |
Subject: Lyr Add: MY OLD DUTCH From: Bert Date: 06 Oct 97 - 12:08 PM Here's an old Cockney song. My Old Dutch Now I've got a gal, she's a regular out and outer She's a dear old pal and I'll tell you all about her It's many years since first we met, Her hair was long and black as jet It's whiter now but she don't fret, not my old gal We've been together now for forty years and it don't seem a day too much for there ain't a lady living in the land that I'd swap for my Dear Old Dutch. No there ain't a lady living in the land that I'd swap for my Dear Old Dutch.
|
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Akiba Date: 06 Oct 97 - 12:43 PM Peter, How about "THE ASH GROVE" (which comes to mind because I posted a variant version to the Guy's Song Circle yesterday)? "BELIEVE ME, IF ALL THOSE ENDEARING YOUNG CHARMS" certainly fits the bill. In a darker mood, what about "CARRICKFERGUS" and its sisters and its cousins and its aunts, like the many variants of "The Water Is Wide"? This isn't a folk song, but what about Chevalier's "I REMEMBER IT WELL" from Gigi? Or, from Carousel, "When The Children Are Asleep" -- ( "We'll think what fun that we had, / And be glad that it all came true; / You'll still hear me say that / The best dream I know is you!") I'll be 62 in a month, so I can tell you one thing for sure about getting older: it beats ALL HECK out of the alternative! I'll keep thinking about this one, and get back to you. There may be a lot more out there than immediately springs to mind. By the way, do you know why it takes us "alter kochers" so much longer to retrieve things from memory? (Nod to Dick.) Because of the size of the database. L'Chaim
|
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Peter T. Date: 06 Oct 97 - 04:47 PM Dear Bert and Akiba, Good songs, hadn't occurred to me. "When the Children Are Asleep" -- one of my favourites, in spite of the ominous context. Someone mentioned today, "The Second Time Around" -- older but wiser! Yours, Peter |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Bert Date: 06 Oct 97 - 05:09 PM Jimmie Rodgers did one about "Daddy dear old Daddy" [DADDY AND HOME] . I'll see if I can find the words for you. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Tim Jaques tjaques@netcom.ca Date: 06 Oct 97 - 05:31 PM What about John Prine's "HELLO IN THERE"? |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: PattyG Date: 06 Oct 97 - 10:26 PM Ever hear of one that was sung by Roberta Sherwood called, "I'm Staying Young".....while everyone around me is growing old..... (from "Take Me Along", I believe.) Kinda nice and pensive. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Shula Date: 07 Oct 97 - 03:55 AM Dear Peter, Since you mention "The Second Time Around" and Akiba has put me in mind of songs from musicals, what about "The Sadder-But-Wiser Girl" from "The Music Man"? Like the two threads. "Growing Older" truly differs thematically from "Growing Old." BTW, "When The Children Are Asleep" is a fav. of ours, too. We have a repetoire of responsive duets, -- lots of fun. Think I'll go launch a thread on the subject, -- see what else is out there. Fine concept, here. Ta, Shula |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Shula Date: 07 Oct 97 - 03:57 AM Durn! "repertoire" Sorry. (Hope Max gets personal editing capability going before I lose all my self-respect!) Shula |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: dick greenhaus Date: 07 Oct 97 - 03:14 PM As I pointed out in another thread on aging, a search for @age or @aging (or, better yet @ag*) got me 99 hits. A reasonable start. |
Subject: Lyr Add: A WORLD OF TIME (Bob Clayton) From: Songster Bob Date: 07 Oct 97 - 04:16 PM I searched Digitrad and found that my own "World of Time" hasn't yet been entered, but it's one of my favorite aging songs. I'll try a cut-and-paste of the lyrics here: A World of Time (Bob Clayton) When I was young and in my prime, It seemed my world was made of time. Long years have passed, without a doubt, As I let a world of time go running out. Chorus: All the things that I would do, If I had time to be with you To make up for the hours and the days I let a world of time slip away. When I was young, it seemed to me There wasn't a thing I couldn't be. Sad experience lets me know How you lose your illusions when you grow. Chorus I don't know how I could have been so dumb! I wasted my youth on being young. As if that were quite enough to be. They say wisdom comes with age, and is not free. Chorus If I had met you in a younger day, It might have been different; who's to say? But since I didn't, if you'll care, A world of time together we can share. Chorus Copyright © 1991, Bob Clayton, Silver Spring, MD The tune is reminiscent of "WHEN YOU AND I WERE YOUNG, MAGGIE" on the chorus, but it's impossible to truly annotate it here. Someday, there'll be a recording of it and a bunch of my other songs. I have a songbook available, but it's not the same as hearing 'em. Bob Clayton |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Nonie Rider Date: 07 Oct 97 - 04:39 PM Wal now, I'm only almost-forty (another couple of weeks), so I'm not in a position to judge the older years, but believe me, I wouldn't take under-thirty again for anything. And as for eighteen--ugh!!! No, I'm looking forward to post-menopause and hoping for a long cronehood.
But songs, now:
Stan Rogers' "Lies," about an aging ranch wife looking in her mirror, is probably the most compassionate song I've heard in my life.
On the rowdier side, filker/folker Michael Longcor's got a wonderful one about "I can't party as hearty as I partied/When I partied at 21." Chorus goes something like:
Well, I've drunk with Jose Cuervo,
(And as a last line, after all the drinking memories, he adds in a suggestive voice: "But there's one or two things I do a whole lot better/Than when I was 21!")
And is it CSN&Y or EL&P who did "Wasted on the Way?"
So much time to make up, everywhere you turn, --Nonie
|
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Bert Date: 07 Oct 97 - 05:10 PM What about Tom Paxton's "NOT TONIGHT, MARIE" Song title converted to link. --JoeClone, 20-Mar-02. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Shula Date: 07 Oct 97 - 05:22 PM Dear Peter, We-e-ellllll now, sonny-boy, y've shore dun set th' woods t' fahre wi' thet'un 'bout gittin' RILLY O'D, s' seein's i' t'aint 's crowded 'roun 'bout t'ese hyar parts, Ah speks Ah'll jes' hatter put mah two sens in this'un, cuz jedgin' bah th' stuff wot's in t'other'un, whar y' puts it's needah yere no' dar! Obliquely, at least: "My Father Always Promised Us" (That We Would Live In France). "Chanson Des Vieux Amants," mentioned in SAGRO, -- Um Hum! BTW, wonder if it could be old enough for La Piaf? Naptime, Emergent Crone, AKA Shula |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Shula Date: 08 Oct 97 - 03:57 AM Dear Peter, See verse three of "EILEEN AROON;" it's in the DT all right, but not @ag*.:
3. Youth must in time decay, Shula |
Subject: Lyr Add: GETTING OLDER (Alan Foster) From: Alan of Australia Date: 08 Oct 97 - 04:56 AM G'day, Here's another one:- GETTING OLDER (Alan Foster) My mid-life crisis is setting in As I try to control my double chin And iron out my wrinkled skin And I know I'm getting older.
They told me life begins at fifty
I can run as fast as I ever ran
My memory keeps on getting worse
When your hair falls out and your eyesight goes
I'll end this rhyme before I ruin it
*i.e. getting older. Cheers,
|
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Shula Date: 08 Oct 97 - 06:12 AM Dear Alan, Good stuff there. Hope you're in the DT. Shula P.S. If I asked, very, very sweetly, would you write just one leetle beety ol' verse to sum up, or finish off, as the case may be, the jig for "THE OLD SAILOR"? It might get others going. Thank you most humbly. S. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Justin Kodner Date: 08 Oct 97 - 09:48 AM There are so many. I agree about Stan Rogers' "Lies" and Prine's "HELLO IN THERE", and Paxton's "NOT TONIGHT, MARIE", but I'm surprised no one mentioned Steve Goodman's "THE DUTCHMAN". How about "MY GET UP AND GO HAS GOT UP AND WENT", Lee Hayes. Did you know that in his last years, after his legs had to be amputated (diabetes) he used to answer the phone, "Lee Hayes here...more or less"? |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Peter T. Date: 08 Oct 97 - 09:50 AM Gee, original songs. Re: Chanson des Vieux Amants, I am reasonably sure that Edith Piaf didn't sing it. It is a Brel tune. There is a somewhat mangled version (though beautifully sung as ever) by Judy Collins on her old Wildflowers album. Yours, Peter P. S. The rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins was once interviewed on the subject of becoming an aging rocker, and at one point (to the female interviewer) he said, "I'm not as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was". |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: TomG Date: 09 Oct 97 - 03:10 PM See my message under this same heading also of today's date re "Younger than Spring" and "Once Upon a Time" |
Subject: Lyr Add: TIMES AIN'T NOW NOTHING LIKE THEY USED TO From: Jon W. Date: 10 Oct 97 - 07:28 PM Here's a rarely heard blues song, recorded by Richard "Rabbit" Brown in 1927. I like the first three verses best myself but you can pick and choose your favorites.
TIMES AIN'T NOW NOTHING LIKE THEY USED TO BE
I done seen better days, but I'm putting up with these (2x)
'Cause I was born in the country, she thinks I'm easy to rule (2x)
You know I bought the groceries, and I pay the rent (2x)
I say if you don't want me, why don't you tell me so (2x)
I've been givin' you sugar for sugar, let you get salt for salt (2x)
How do you want me to love you, you keep a-treatin' me mean (2x)
Sometime I think that you too sweet to die (2x) This is on the album "Blues of the Western States" on Yazoo Records. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Robert Lee Date: 11 Oct 97 - 02:37 AM "WHEN I GROW TOO OLD TO DREAM" is a very beautiful song that was a particular favourite of my grandmother's. But more about contemplating old age than actually about getting older. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Peter T. Date: 11 Oct 97 - 12:44 PM Dear Jon, Don't know anything about "Rabbit Brown", so must get the album -- the lyrics intrigue. Was he a Texan? Yours, Peter |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Jon W. Date: 13 Oct 97 - 03:59 PM Peter, "Rabbit" was from New Orleans, rowed a boat on Lake Ponchartrain for tourists, and sang to entertain them I suppose. I think this was his only recording, but not sure. The album has quite a bit of good blues on it, from artists from Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana (places west of the Delta). I would recommend it if you can stand Yazoo's faithful reproduction of the sound of well used 78's. |
Subject: Lyr Add: WHEN I GROW TOO OLD TO DREAM From: PattyG Date: 13 Oct 97 - 10:13 PM Oh! "When I Grow Too Old To Dream"!! What a *wonderful* old song! (To me, this is a funeral song, though:) WHEN I GROW TOO OLD TO DREAM Words, Oscar Hammerstein II; music, Sigmund Romberg; ©1934. As recorded by Nelson Eddy, 1935.
VERSE: We have been gay,
CHORUS: When I grow too old to dream, I'll have you to remember. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: The Fenian Date: 14 Oct 97 - 01:59 PM How about THE 200-YEAR-OLD ALCOHOLICby Tommy Makem. That's a pretty cool song. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: GUEST,Betsychicago Date: 04 Feb 01 - 10:23 AM Minor correction: Steve Goodman was the best known singer of "THE DUTCHMAN," but it was written (and is often performed so movingly that I cry!) by Michael Smith, one of the country's most underrated singer-songwriters. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Deckman Date: 04 Feb 01 - 10:40 AM This is a great topic. These days I perform a lot at nursing homes, that way I've got a captive audience.(I just take their walkers away). My favorite is David Mallett's "Light At The End Of The Tunnel." By the way, I'm so old now that it takes me all night to do what I used to do all night! (no charge!) CHEERS, Bob Nelson |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Keith A of Hertford Date: 04 Feb 01 - 11:12 AM If you like the melancholy, try "BAY OF FUNDY" by Gordon Bok. "..When you run your Easting down, Don't go down to Fundy Bay, She'll wear your time away." and "Dont mind the wind and cold, Just don't like this growing old, Cape Sable's horn blows all night long, Wonder Why,.." |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: jaze Date: 04 Feb 01 - 11:46 AM Mary Chapin Carpenter's version of "Grow Old With Me" is beautiful. Wasn't that written by John Lennon? |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: The Shambles Date: 04 Feb 01 - 02:13 PM Autumn Gold. To be found in The Mudcat Songbook. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Ebbie Date: 04 Feb 01 - 02:36 PM I love Shel Silverstein's 'We'll Never Be This Young Again". And of course, 'Time'. eb |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: fat B****rd Date: 04 Feb 01 - 03:09 PM "The Way You Look Tonight", Tom Waits' "Martha", Crash Test Dummies "Afternoons and Coffeespoons" and Mose Allison "Was" (When Is Becomes Was). Not depressing, just lovely. |
Subject: Lyr Add: ALL USED UP (Utah Phillips) From: GUEST,Martin Rich Date: 04 Feb 01 - 03:27 PM This one sung by Roy Bailey. Bruce "Utah" Phillips is from Spokane.
ALL USED UP
G
He used up my labor; he used up my time.
My kids are in hock to a god you call work,
The young people reaching for power and gold
They use up the oil; they use up the trees.
I'll finish my life in this crummy hotel.
Outside my window, the world passes by,
Sometimes in my dreams, I sit by a tree.
And there's songs and there's laughter and things I can do,
They use up the oil and they use up the trees. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Mark Clark Date: 04 Feb 01 - 03:53 PM Joe Glazer wrote a song that I can't seem to find anywhere just now. Maybe someone can help. The refrain goes:
Too old to work, too old to work, I think Pete Seeger sings this one and Utah Phillips too. - Mark |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie) Date: 04 Feb 01 - 04:05 PM I did one for my Mom & Dad's 60th Wedding Anniversary some years ago, called, "Still I Love Him." If you don't mind mild sentimentality, it may be on digitrad. It's been recorded but only on a cassette, "Jean Ritchie Concert." As I just celebrated my own 50th Anniversary, and only a beginner on computer, haven't learnt how to give you a tune yet (but I will!)...if you're at all interested, I'll see that you find it. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: GUEST,Willa Date: 04 Feb 01 - 04:22 PM How about "THE FOLKS WHO LIVE ON THE HILL?" Some day, we'll sit and look at that same old view, Just we two; Darby and Joan, Who used to be Jack and Jill. And we'll be pleased to be called, What we have always been called – The folk who live on the hill.
"Side by Side"
"SILVER THREADS AMONG THE GOLD" |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: reggie miles Date: 04 Feb 01 - 05:32 PM My friend Robert "Oneman" Johnson wrote one called "I'm Gettin' Thick In The Middle, Gettin' Thin On Top". |
Subject: Lyr Add: GEORDIE BLACK From: bill\sables Date: 04 Feb 01 - 06:11 PM GEORDIE BLACK Ma name is Geordie Black, aa'm getting very aad. Aav'e hewed tons of coal in me time, An' when aa wes just a lad, aa could either put or hew. Oot the others aa could aalways tak the shine. Aa'm gannin doon the hill, Aa cannet use the pick. The maister hes ne pity on aad bones. So noo aa'm on the bank, an'aa while me time away Amang the bits o' lads wi' pickin oot the stones.
Oh me name is Geordie Black. In me time aa've been a crack.
Noo when aa wes just a lad carried on me father's back,
Noo aa'll say good neet, for it's nearly time te lowse.
|
Subject: Lyr Add: BANKS OF THE DEE^^^ From: bill\sables Date: 04 Feb 01 - 06:15 PM BANKS OF THE DEE
Last Saturday night on the banks of the Dee
Chorus;
Last Wednesday night to the reckoning I went
Now all you young fellows, it's you that's to blame |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Mark Clark Date: 04 Feb 01 - 07:26 PM Don't forget That Silver-Haired Daddy Of Mine. I posted the lyrics in another thread along with a link to a recording of this great old standard. - Mark |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Sorcha Date: 04 Feb 01 - 07:37 PM I can't believe nobody has mentioned the Beatles, "When I'm 64"........ |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie) Date: 04 Feb 01 - 08:41 PM I didn't mean the traditional Irish song,"Still I Love Him," which IS is Digitrad (but has nothing to do with growing old). Mine begins, "Who's this young man with bright hair shining." Chorus is: Still I love him, still I love him, Though he knows it, still I tell him Every mornin, again at evenin, Night and noonin, still I love him. Sure are some good songs named above. Someone thinking of doing an album about growing old? Might be a good idea, but who'd be around to buy it?!! |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Stewie Date: 04 Feb 01 - 09:37 PM Here's a few good'uns:
Sydney Carter's 'Silver in the Stubble' --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Trevor Date: 05 Feb 01 - 08:11 AM Hey Deckman, you've been listening to Fred Wedlock! Apart from 'The Oldest Swinger in Town' my two favourite songs of all time are 'Grandad' by Clive Dunn (it was so nice to hear it on the Ed Stewart show yesterday) and 'Grandma We Love You', by the St Winifred's School Choir. And they're coming to take me away. (Wasn't that a banned number 1 hit in the UK) |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: GUEST,Lynn T Date: 05 Feb 01 - 08:45 AM Garnet Rogers has a good one, fairly recent, called "What's Wrong With This Picture" -- lots of desperately cutting details about how his middle-aged image in the mirror ain't him. Lynn |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: GUEST Date: 05 Feb 01 - 11:34 AM Southern gospel singer Jake Hess on the Gaither Homecoming Hour cable TV show, singing Wore Out. Very funny. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: NicP Date: 05 Feb 01 - 12:06 PM Rosie Asplen wrote a song a while back about the vicissitudes of growing old. From memory failing 'cos I hit forty myself this month, the chorus went "Oh God, me Mother's turned forty, You think she'd be ready to stop, But somebody told her that life begins there Now she's gone right over the top" I'll try and dig out the rest of it, or if you see Rosie on the UK scene, I'm sure she would be delighted to pass it on. Cheers NicP |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: LR Mole Date: 05 Feb 01 - 12:07 PM Song the Kingston Trio did: "When I was young/And dreams were new/Iloved a girl/Who looked like you/I saaw her fce/in mountain streams/I lingered there and lost myself in dreams..." Good tune, and they sang in in soft unison, not quasi-barbershop. I'll look up the writer tonight. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Mrrzy Date: 05 Feb 01 - 12:19 PM Um, I thought, and the trad agrees, that Pete Seeger wrote that great Get up and Go song [MY GET UP AND GO HAS GOT UP AND WENT], but I really like knowing that about Lee Hayes! I can't think of anything else except to note that Americans are very child-oriented, and do not seem to prize being older. Look at trying to find a NICE birthday card for someone turning anything more than 25... so perhaps that's why the dearth of good English-language songs prizing old age... we get HELLO IN THERE. I'd like to see what people from other cultures, especially if there are any people from Pays en Voie de Sous-developpement around... I bet there are nice African songs about old age, for instance! |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: fat B****rd Date: 05 Feb 01 - 02:33 PM There is of course that Warren Zevon song about your S... being F...ed Up |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Pseudolus Date: 05 Feb 01 - 02:45 PM Being a big Jimmy Buffett fan I would have to mention "A PIRATE LOOKS AT FORTY". Another song I always kinda liked was a song that George Burns recorded called "I Wish I was Eighteen Again". Frank |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: ray bucknell Date: 05 Feb 01 - 03:33 PM Has anybody mentioned Tom Paxton's "Modern Maturity" or, even better, his "NOT TONIGHT, MARIE"? |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler Date: 06 Feb 01 - 06:11 AM Has anyone mentioned the old music hall song beloved of pantomime dames and other drag acts: NO-ONE LOVES A FAIRY WHEN SHE'S FORTY"? RtS |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: GUEST,winterbright Date: 06 Feb 01 - 01:43 PM How do I know my youth is all spent?/ My get up and go has got up and went/ But in spite of it all I'm able to grin/ and think of the places my get up has been.../ Check it out in Rise Up Singing. Also: I want to live to be an old woman/ shawl around my shoulders, gum a piece o' chicken/ I want to live to be an old woman, sittin' on the porch. Linda somebody; I can track it down - it's not in Rise Up. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: GUEST,bflat Date: 06 Feb 01 - 02:59 PM Guest,winterbright, The song you are looking for in Rise Up Singing is: Get Up and Go. It is in the Time and changes section. As for my own contribution to this thread, how about: TRY TO REMEMBER. The lyrics are in the digitrad so I won't recap here. I've always enjoyed this song because it fits the romantic in me. Ellen |
Subject: Lyr Add: WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE? (Rogers) From: Clinton Hammond Date: 06 Feb 01 - 03:27 PM Thanks fer reminding me of this one... I haven't played it in a while, but have felt like I should! ;-) WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?
What's wrong with this picture? There's something not right
What's wrong with this picture? Who put grey in my beard
How did I get here, my god I look bad
What's wrong with this picture? Think I'll go back to bed
Where did my life go? I had so much planned It's done in a great, kinda angry blues rock thing... really cool! ;-) |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Mary in Kentucky Date: 06 Feb 01 - 03:42 PM Older Women Make Better Lovers I forgot who it's by...several (well, many) years ago, after surgery I was taking my first walk in the yard, and a haywagon full of teenaged boys hauling hay in the field across from my house broke into a chorus of that song. I think I cried. ;-) |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Metchosin Date: 06 Feb 01 - 04:04 PM CAT'S IN THE CRADLE by Harry Chapin, mind you it wouldn't be one that you would be inclined to sing at some sort of celebratory gathering. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Grab Date: 07 Feb 01 - 07:32 AM Prettiest Eyes by Beautiful South. Lovely romantic song, loving someone as they are. Grab. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: GUEST,Brian Hoskin Date: 07 Feb 01 - 08:21 AM I think Rodney Crowell's Song For Life kind of fits in here somewhere. Brian |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: GUEST,Keith A at work Date: 07 Feb 01 - 11:05 AM Bold Fenian Men features an old woman remembering |
Subject: Lyr Add: OLDER WOMEN MAKE BEAUTIFUL LOVERS From: GUEST,Matt_R Date: 07 Feb 01 - 11:19 AM Mary, could it have been Ronnie McDowell's classic mid-80's country song "Older Women Make Beautiful Lovers"? Older women, make beautiful lovers Older women, they understand I've been around some, and I have discovered That older women know just how to please a man. Everybody seems to love those younger women From eighteen on up to twenty-five Well I love 'em too, but I'm tellin' you Learnin' how to really love, takes a little time. So baby don't you worry about growin' older Those young girls ain't got nothin' in you 'Cause it takes some livin', to get good at givin' And givin' love is just where you could teach them a thing or two. Older women, make beautiful lovers Older women, they understand I've been around some, and I have discovered That older women know just how to please a man. Great song...80's country, sigh...reminds me of my childhood. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Mary in Kentucky Date: 07 Feb 01 - 11:26 AM Sounds right Matt! No wonder I couldn't find the lyrics. I think the surgery was about 1983. I was only 34 years old that year, but those kids really put me in my place! |
Subject: Lyr Add: WHEN YOU ARE OLD AND GREY (Tom Lehrer) From: NightWing Date: 07 Feb 01 - 11:48 PM This one is also more about contemplating aging. But I can't resist tossing a Tom Lehrer lyric in where there's an opportunity. You can find a nice midi of the tune at this link.
I have also seen this song quoted somewhere with a different final verse, to wit:
I'll never love you then at all I usually do the alternate final verse as a reprise with a slightly different tune. *EG*
BB, |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: GUEST,celticblues5 Date: 08 Feb 01 - 12:04 AM Another great one I think I mentioned in a previous thread on this topic is Saffire's "I need a young, young man to drive away my Middle Aged Blues..." *BG* |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: ddw Date: 08 Feb 01 - 12:40 AM It Was A Very Good Year Thirty-Nine and Holding (either Jerry Lee Lewis or Mickey Gilley — can't remember which) A Couple More Years (Shel Silverstein) Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine (Tom T. Hall) FIXIN' TO DIE BLUES(Bukka White) |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Ritchie Date: 08 Feb 01 - 08:33 AM Vin Garbitt ( radio 2 performer of the year )sings 'MAN OF THE EARTH' the writer of who escapes me at the minute. I posted the lyrics on a thread a while ago. Cracking song. Scorcha, I was speedin' along like a flash of thunder to put 'When I'm 64' on ! well done. regards Ritchie |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: mkebenn Date: 08 Feb 01 - 02:50 PM ddw beat me to "when I was seventeen", but I'll add Paul Simon's "Old friends/Bookends" Mike |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Hollowfox Date: 08 Feb 01 - 02:52 PM Deckman, check out the DT for the Charlie Poole song "OLD AND ONLY IN THE WAY" for your nursing home gigs. Kenny Hall used to sing it in nursing homes and the inmates loved it, although the staff cringed. For songs about the good points of aging, see if you can get almost any of Faith Petric's albums. (I'm sure Mr. Greenhaus can help.) I've spent a couple of days trying to find my copy of the casette with "GERITOL GYPSY" on it, but I think one of the kids has it in their room, so I can't find it to give you the title. Darnit. I think Melvina Reynolds probably had a few songs on the subject as well. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Jim Dixon Date: 08 Feb 01 - 07:17 PM How about Neal and Leandra's song OLD LOVE? It's in DT, and it's brought a tear to my eye more than once. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: dagenham doc Date: 20 Mar 02 - 04:36 AM I would like for to have in the winter of life A neat little cottage for me and my wife With a barrel of ale and a snug little fire And food that's sufficient is all I desire.
For I'm growing old and my locks are all grey I heard this haunting song a couple of years back at the Tap and Spile, Whitby. If anyone knows about it I'd love to hear. That's all that comes to mind. My old dad, my dear old dad Charlie, a great singer died that same year aged ninety five. He said by the time you reach ninety you know everything. All you've got to do is remember it. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: GUEST,Russ Date: 20 Mar 02 - 11:41 AM TILL I'M TOO OLD TO DIE YOUNG (Kevin Welch). Great song. It was a hit for Moe Bandy a number of years ago. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: fat B****rd Date: 20 Mar 02 - 11:42 AM Mose Allison "When Is becomes Was" |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Genie Date: 20 Mar 02 - 02:39 PM Some that haven't been mentioned but fit the category in one way or another are: WHEN I FIRST CAME TO THIS LAND SUNRISE, SUNSET TURN AROUND I'M GLAD I'M NOT YOUNG ANYMORE (Sung by Maurice Chevalier) YOUNG AT HEART Angel from Montgomery (John Prine) Growing Older But Not Up (Jimmy Buffet) A DAISY A DAY KISSES SWEETER THAN WINE Hello, Young Lovers THE OLD GRAY MARE, She Ain't What She Used To Be Old Hippie (The Bellamy Brothers) Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms OLD OAKEN BUCKET Love, Me (Colin Raye) I'LL TAKE YOU HOME AGAIN, KATHLEEN Amanda (Don Williams) Madame Jeannette And there's a song I heard in a movie that was set, I think, in the 19th C., and had the line, "I am old and gray and I've lost my way, All my tomorrows were yesterday ..." Can't recall the rest of it. (I think a very young Angela Lansbury was singing it, and it may have been in the movie "Bel Ami.") How about Edith Piaf's theme song, "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien?" She also sang a great song about "Le Vieux Piano" ("The Old Piano") which has just died. It's a metaphor for the aging of the folks who played it and heard its music.
|
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: GUEST,Boab Date: 20 Mar 02 - 03:29 PM What's the life of a man, any more than a leaf? A man has his season, so why should he grieve? All thro' this life we appear fine and gay Then like leaves we will wither, and soon fade away! Had you seen the leaves but a few days ago--- How beautiful and green they all did seem to grow; A frost came upon them and withered them all, Then a storm came upon them, and down they did fall!
One of my favourites from the English southwest. |
Subject: Lyr Add: SAIR FYLED HINNY and THE HEWER/AA CUD HEW From: DMcG Date: 20 Mar 02 - 03:35 PM Two come to mind, both from the North east of England. The first is usually called "SAIR FYLED HINNY" or some other such attempt at the dialect. I have never seen it written without an attempt at the dialect, so I won't break the tradition:
Sair fyled, Hinny
I was young and lusty Sair ...
When I was five and twenty Sair..
Thus said the old man (a rough translation of the chorus in plainer English: Greatly failed am I, friend, since I [first] knew you) The second is THE HEWER, which I've heard from Louis Killen:
When I was young, and in my prime
I've lain down flat, and I've shovelled coal ...
Its soon no more the pit I'll see
There are some of the middle verses missing in that, but I forget them for the moment
|
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Mark Cohen Date: 20 Mar 02 - 05:06 PM This one, South Street Waltz, is interesting in that it had its roots in a scene from the movie "Harry and Tonto", and I had no idea whether or not it was realistic or possible. But the first time I sang it at the Seattle Song Circle, my friend told me that exactly the same thing had happened to his mother: she had severe Alzheimer's disease, but when music played she could dance as she had when she was young. It's also interesting from a songwriting perspective, in that I started writing a song about my grandparents, who were married in 1919 and lived in South Philadelphia. But the song took a left turn as I was writing it, and wound up being about two people I never knew. It's fascinating when that happens. Aloha, Mark |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Mark Cohen Date: 20 Mar 02 - 05:11 PM I know I sent somebody (Joe?) the tune to that song, but I don't know if or how it's accessible. Aloha, Mark |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Joe_F Date: 20 Mar 02 - 08:09 PM Love's Old Sweet Song Slow Train through Georgia |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Genie Date: 21 Jun 02 - 06:52 PM Bert, Did you ever find the words for Jimmie Rodgers' "Daddy dear old Daddy?" |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: DonD Date: 21 Jun 02 - 09:01 PM As I scrolled down the thread, A number of titles came to me and some of them didn'y get mentioned yet -- but ... Now I'm at he end and I can't remember any of them! Tell me about the joys of getting old(er). BTW is the Brel 'Vieu8x Amantes' the one about the clock ticking away? That's a beauty, but most of his songs are, and it has always seemed to me that hey all have a sense of getting old. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: DancingMom Date: 21 Jun 02 - 10:36 PM The first one I thoght of was "Sunrise, Sunset" from "Fiddler on the Roof" (mentioned above) Kathy Mattea sang a song called "Eighteen Wheels" about a truck driver making his last run before retiring: "Eighteen wheels and a dozen roses, Ten more miles on his four-day run, a few more songs on his all-night radio, Then he'll spend the rest of his life with the one that he loves." Or something like that. I always thought it was a cool song. Sharon |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Jim Krause Date: 21 Jun 02 - 10:52 PM How about Charlie Poole's "Old And Only in the Way." And what a surprise, I couldn't locate it in the DigiTrad. Not having the record close by me, here's what I remember off the top of my head
So let us cheer them on For they won't be with us long Don't quarrel with them because they're old and gray For remember when you're young Old age to you will come You'll be OLD AND GRAY AND ONLY IN THE WAY Jim |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Genie Date: 22 Jun 02 - 02:28 AM Mark, That "South Street Waltz' is a great song. Reminds me of the songwriter Benny Davis's* younger sister Celia in her latter years. She had been a jazz singer, and at the time I knew her, several years before her death, she suffered from advanced dementia, but when the music to a song she knew started--and she knew just about every popular American song written before 1975--her face would light up and she'd sing every word! That song also brings to mind Nanci Griffith's song "Love at the Five and Dime." No memory loss mentioned in that one, but the young couple age together, through the arthritis that takes Eddie's ability to play his musical instrument, etc., and they're still dancing "a little closer" into their golden years. Genie *Benny Davis co-wrote "Baby Face," "[My Little] Margie," and other popular US hits of the 1920s and '30s. |
Subject: Lyr Add: WHEN THE CHILDREN COME HOME (Henry Lawson From: Mudlark Date: 22 Jun 02 - 03:12 AM There is a lovely song, don't know who wrote it but from Australia, I think, called "I'll Keep the old place til the children come home." On a lonely selection, away in the West There lived an old woman who worked without rest And she crooned as she toiled 'neath the sky's glassy dome "I'll keep the old place 'til the children come home" For she mends all the fences, she lambs and she plows She drives the old horse, she milks all the cows And she says to herself as she patches the stack "I'll keep the old place 'til the children come back." Whenever the scowling old Sundowners come And cunningly as if the master's at home "Be off," she replies, "with your blarney and cant Or I'll call my son Andy who's working behant. "Be off," she replies, though she trembles with fear For she lives all alone, and with no neighbors near And she thinks to herself when she's like to despond That her boys are at work in the paddock beyond Well, it's 5 lonely years since her old husband died And oft as he lay on his deathbed he sighed, "A man can bring up 10 children he can, But it's strange that 10 sons cannot keep one old man." For none of her children need follow the plow And some have grown rich in the city ere now But she thinks they might come when the shearing is done And she'll keep the old place if it's only for one. |
Subject: Lyr Add: WHEN THE CHILDREN COME HOME (Henry Lawson From: Genie Date: 22 Jun 02 - 03:34 AM Here's the song with line breaks: WHEN THE CHILDREN COME HOME Henry Lawson On a lonely selection, away in the West, There lived an old woman who worked without rest, And she crooned as she toiled 'neath the sky's glassy dome, 'I'll keep the old place till the children come home.' For she mends all the fences, she lambs and she plows, She drives the old horse, she milks all the cows, And she says to herself as she patches the stack, 'I'll keep the old place till the children come back.' Whenever the scowling old Sundowners come, And cunningly, as if the master's at home, 'Be off,' she replies, 'with your blarney and cant Or I'll call my son Andy who's working behant.' 'Be off,' she replies, tho' she trembles with fear, For she lives all alone and with no neighbors near, And she thinks to herself, when she's like to despond, That her boys are are work in the paddock beyond. Well, it's five lonely years since her old husband died, And oft as he lay on his deathbed he sighed, 'A man can bring up ten children, he can, But it's strange that ten sons cannot keep one old man.' For none of her children need follow the plow, And some have grown rich in the city ere now, But she thinks they might come when the shearing is done, And she'll keep the old place, if it's only for one. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Genie Date: 22 Jun 02 - 03:40 AM That last line of the fourth verse should be: "That her boys are at work in the paddock beyond."
|
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Jeanie Date: 22 Jun 02 - 07:05 AM The Sydney Carter song : "Silver in the Stubble" hasn't been mentioned yet. (In the DigiTrad): "For the leaves are getting greener, And spring is on the way, The girls are getting prettier And younger every day" The people I used to hear singing that song around 30 years ago really *are* of that silver-in-the-stubble age now ! "Sunrise, Sunset" has already been mentioned - and there's another lovely, lesser-known one that Golda and Tevye sing in 'Fiddler on the Roof': "Do you love me ? - do I WHAT ?" Always brings a tear to my eye. And how about "Old Friends, sat on a park bench like bookends", Simon & Garfunkel..."Can you imagine us, years from today, sharing a park bench quietly. How terribly strange to be seventy." I remember my cousin and I listening to that when the song first came out, in our early teens, and yes, it did seem a terribly strange thought. We both said we'd remind each other of that when we *were* seventy. Not quite such a strange thought, now... - jeanie
|
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: aussiebloke Date: 22 Jun 02 - 07:09 AM One of the has-beens aussiebloke
|
Subject: Lyr Add: GREY OCTOBER CLOUDS (Tommy Makem) From: The Pooka Date: 22 Jun 02 - 01:22 PM Wonderful thread & songs. This one must be listed above somewhere; but if so I missed it in my scrolling, so: Put On Your Old Grey Bonnet And (now for something completely different),Not Dark Yet And, one of *my* favorites (gee *that's* a big surprise :), GREY OCTOBER CLOUDS Words and music by Tommy Makem The summer birds have gathered and are flying to the sun I saw the wild geese heading south on their October run The crops have all been harvested and all the work is done And the grey October clouds are drifting by Chorus: Drifting by; drifting by And the grey October clouds are drifting by In every field my fancy ran, wild flowers could be seen On every hill and valley and the meadows in between Now leaves of brown come tumbling down from trees that once were green And the grey October clouds go drifting by {Chorus) On summer dawns I walked alone by singing silver streams The lark's song filled the golden morn and I could dream my dreams The good times pass so quickly, that was long ago it seems Now the grey October clouds go drifting by (Chorus) In the summer of our lifetimes, the skies were always blue We'd weave our dreams with noble thoughts and dreams could all come true Believe in all your youthful dreams and they'll live on for you When the grey October clouds go drifting by Chorus
|
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: GUEST,RobRoy Date: 22 Jun 02 - 02:00 PM Why not take a look at the sympathetic treatment Robert Burns gives to ageing in the lovely song John Anderson My Jo |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: The Pooka Date: 22 Jun 02 - 02:25 PM Guest RobRoy, yes indeed, a good one; also cited by others above I think. /Which reminds me: on the "Time Out of Mind" album with "Not Dark Yet" (blueclickied above), ol' Bobby Dylan has "Highlands", also sort-of a 'song about getting older'(theme of the whole album anyway). It uses the refrain "My heart's in the highlands..." --- which is the title of another fine Bobbie Burns poem/song, isn't it? |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Genie Date: 22 Jun 02 - 05:54 PM How about "I Wish They'd Do It Now"? |
Subject: Lyr Add: 'I remember springtime and the hope of... From: Jeri Date: 22 Jun 02 - 06:18 PM This is either depressing or wistful, depending on my mood. I remember springtime and the hope of days to come And I remember laughing in the clean light of the sun And dreaming of the beauty, this shining life would hold And sorrow could not live within the dreaming And I remember summer came, as promised by the spring I ran through the brightness and the heat that made my heart's-blood sing And nights were filled with magic, and the stars' eternal light And the sweet, compelling secrets of the darkness I remember autumn, bittersweet, as leaves began to fall All red and gold, one last brief fire, before the end of all And I saw the light was fading, and the quiet settling in And all the world was hushed before the winter And now I look to winter, and the thin, grey light of dawn The landscape, desolate and dim, the colors pale and drawn No fire will warm my heart, no blanket hold me close Like the arms of lovers I once had in summer (I usually repeat 1st verse) |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Jim Krause Date: 22 Jun 02 - 06:52 PM Jeri, Where'd you get that one? Lovely lyric. Jim |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: 53 Date: 22 Jun 02 - 07:34 PM Landslide by Fleetwood Mac. |
Subject: Lyr/Chords Add: LIFE GETS AWAY (Clint Black) From: Genie Date: 22 Jun 02 - 07:44 PM Just stumbled onto this one: Life Gets Away - Clint Black Intro: |G |C |Am7 |G |Em |C |D |G || Verse1: F C G Chorus: G C Am7 G [intro riff] Verse2: We start getting older the moment we live [CHORUS] no matter how hard we try life gets away from us all [intro riff] |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: GUEST Date: 12 Jan 06 - 06:57 AM It is from the film Cat Baloo. If anyone has the lyrics I would appreciate it |
Subject: Lyr Add: THE OLD FOLKS / LES VIEUX (Jacques Brel) From: GUEST,Paranoid Android Date: 12 Jan 06 - 08:14 AM Song: THE OLD FOLKS Lyrics The old folks don't talk much And they talk so slowly when they do They are rich, they are poor, their illusions are gone They share one heart for two Their homes all smell of thyme, of old photographs And an old-fashioned song Though you may live in town you live so far away When you've lived too long And have they laughed too much, do their dry voices crack Talking of times gone by And have they cried too much, a tear or two Still always seems to cloud the eye They tremble as they watch the old silver clock When day is through It tick-tocks oh so slow, it says, "Yes," it says, "No" It says, "I'll wait for you." The old folks dream no more The books have gone to sleep, the piano's out of tune The little cat is dead and no more do they sing On a Sunday afternoon The old folks move no more, their world's become too small Their bodies feel like lead They might look out the window or else sit in a chair Or else they stay in bed And if they still go out, arm in arm, arm in arm In the morning's chill It's to have a good cry, to say their last good-bye To one who's older still And then they go home to the old silver clock When day is through It tick-tocks oh so slow, it says, "Yes," it says, "No" It says, "I'll wait for you." The old folks never die They just put down their heads and go to sleep one day They hold each other's hand like children in the dark But one will get lost anyway And the other will remain just sitting in that room Which makes no sound It doesn't matter now, the song has died away And echoes all around You'll see them when they walk through the sun-filled park Where children run and play It hurts too much to smile, it hurts too much but life goes on For still another day As they try to escape the old silver clock When day is through It tick-tocks oh so slow, it says, "Yes," it says, "No" It says, "I'll wait for you." The old, old silver clock that's hanging on the wall That waits for us All (From Jacques Brel is alive and well and living in Paris) This was recorded by John Denver among others |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Keith A of Hertford Date: 12 Jan 06 - 09:27 AM Wow, Some gentle clone has inserted Blue Clickies for the song links. My post has one and I couldn't do them back then. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: GUEST,Joe_F Date: 12 Jan 06 - 10:30 PM "Sailor's Rest" by Stan Rogers. (Not all songs about getting older have to be in favor of it. "No locks on the doors.") --- Joe Fineman joe_f@verizon.net ||: If you do the right thing under duress, you still get credit, but you don't have as much fun. :|| |
Subject: Lyr Add: 75 SEPTEMBERS (Cheryl Wheeler) From: Celtlover Date: 12 Jan 06 - 11:11 PM "75 Septembers" ...a lovely song from Cheryl Wheeler, written about her father... 75 SEPTEMBERS Words And Music By Cheryl Wheeler In the year of the yellow cab Shadow of the great world war The third kid grandmom had Came into this world On a rolling farm in Maryland When Wilson was the president As summer blew her goodbye through the trees A child of changing times Growing up between the wars Fords rolled off the lines And bars all closed their doors and I imagine you back then With snap brim hat and farmer's tan Where horses drew their wagons through the fields Now the fields are all four lanes and the moon's not just a name Are you more amazed at how things change Or how they stay the same And do you sit here on this porch and wonder How the time flies by Or does it seem to barely creep along With 75 Septembers come and gone Were the fields all gold and fawn Was the spring house dark and cool Did the rooster crow at dawn When they got you up for school And would you tell me once again The tales of granddad's hired men And how they drove the old dirt road to town Cause now the fields are all four lanes And the moon's not just a name Are you more amazed at how things change Or how they stay the same And do you sit here on this porch and wonder How the times flies by Or does it seem to barely creep along With 75 Septembers come and gone In the year of the yellow cab Shadow of the great world war |
Subject: Lyr Add: OLDER (from They Might Be Giants) From: Elmer Fudd Date: 13 Jan 06 - 02:59 AM OLDER by They Might Be Giants You're older than you've ever been and now you're even older and now you're even older and now you're even older You're older than you've ever been and now you're even older and now you're older still time - is marching on and time - is still marching on this day will soon be at an end and now it's even sooner and now it's even sooner and now it's even sooner this day will soon be at an end and now it's even sooner and now it's sooner still You're older than you've ever been and now you're even older and now you're even older and now you're even older You're older than you've ever been and now you're even older and now you're older still |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: cushty Date: 13 Jan 06 - 07:35 PM Does anyone know the rest of this one? When I was younger I used to smoke fags in school, Swear at the teachers, in class break all the rules. But now I'm too old to be young again, It's years since I saw my old friends, And how I wish I was young again, For the fun, the fun to find, And oh, how I wish I was young again, For the days I left behind. |
Subject: Lyr Add: THE GOOD BOY (from Carl Sandburg) From: GUEST,Joe_F Date: 13 Jan 06 - 08:48 PM THE GOOD BOY as sung by Carl Sandburg I have led a good life, full of peace and quiet. I shall have an old age full of rum and riot. I have been a good boy, wed to peace and study. I shall have an old age ribald, coarse, and bloody. I have never cut throats, though I often yearned to, Never sung the dirty songs that my fancy turned to. I have been a good boy and done what was expected. I shall be an old bum, loved but unrespected. --- Joe Fineman joe_f@verizon.net ||: If it moves, fondle it, except porcupines, ball lightning, and policemen. :|| |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: kendall Date: 13 Jan 06 - 10:53 PM I JUST DONT LOOK GOOD NAKED ANYMORE by Sheb Wooley WILL YOU LOVE ME WHEN I'M OLD? trad. GENTLY DOWN THE STREAM OF TIME trad. Bert, I think that songs title is DADDY AND HOME. I know it if anyone wants it. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Cap't Bob Date: 14 Jan 06 - 10:21 AM DEARIE OLD ROCKIN' CHAIR'S GOT ME |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Carol Date: 15 Jan 06 - 09:04 AM The Old Lady's Song by Matt Armour |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: mandotim Date: 15 Jan 06 - 09:29 AM Steve Ashley's lovely song 'The Rough with the Smooth'? Tim from Bit on the Side |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: kendall Date: 15 Jan 06 - 02:15 PM "Over the hill to the poor house" |
Subject: Lyr Add: NAOMI (Ralph McTell) From: GUEST,jinx Date: 16 Jan 06 - 04:28 AM Favourite song about growing old? 'Naomi' Ralph McTell Age has made her frail I'm scared to take her in my arms But there's an understanding now And a peace behind the eyes And age is for complaining But you won't here much from me Growing old with Naomi Now I recall the first time I took her in my arms At times I was unfaithful She said: "no future in the past" So we don't talk about it She keeps a gentle edge on me I don't mind growing old with Naomi She wasn't all I wanted But she's all I'll ever need Oh, a rich man always wants some more And I was rich indeed A rich man and a poor fool Yet it turned out right for me How lucky can you get? Growing old with Naomi The kids today, they think that they've Discovered everything But me and her, well we'd done it all Without a wedding ring Sometimes things remind us And she's smiling back at me It ain't hard growing old with Naomi She wasn't all I wanted But she's all I'll ever need Oh, a rich man and a poor fool And I was rich indeed I never thought her beautiful But I do now, 'cause I see I'm getting wiser Growing old with Naomi Oh, the place is kind of quiet now The kids have all left home We'd like to see more of them But we're grateful when they call And in the quietness afterwards She comes and sits by me Make me feel like a man Growing old with Naomi |
Subject: Lyr Add: STRANGE AFFAIR (Richard Thompson) From: Mr Fox Date: 16 Jan 06 - 11:50 AM "Strange Affair" by Richard Thompson This is a strange affair The time has come to travel but the road is filled with fear This is a strange affair My youth has all been wasted and I'm bent and grey with years And all my companions are taken away And who will provide for me against my dying day I took my own provision, but it fooled me and wasted away Oh where are my companions? My mother, father, lover, friend, and enemy Where are my companions? They're prisoners of death now, and taken far from me And where are the dreams I dreamed in the days of my youth They took me to illusion when they promised me the truth And what do sleepers need to make them listen, Why do they need more proof? This is a strange, this is a strange affair Won't you give me an answer? Why is your heart so hard towards the one who loves you best? When the man with the answer Has wakened you, and warned you, and called you to the test Wake up from your sleep that builds like clouds upon your eyes And win back the life you had that's now a dream of lies Turn your back on yourself and if you follow, You'll win the lover's prize This is a strange, this is a strange affair |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Joe Offer Date: 09 Apr 08 - 08:22 PM Somebody called my attention to htis thread. Take a look - it's a good one. -Joe, getting older- |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: meself Date: 09 Apr 08 - 08:47 PM Leonard Cohen's 'Tower of Song': My [something] is [something], and my hair is grey; I ache in the places Where I used to play. 'Yesterday When I was Young' 'Time, Gentlemen, Time' 'The Boys of Barr Na Sraide' [sp.] 'Save Your Money When You're Young' |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: meself Date: 09 Apr 08 - 10:34 PM 'Too Old to Think' (Sonny Boy Williamson II) 'Dublin in The Rare Ould Times' |
Subject: Lyr Add: GENERATIONS OF CHANGE (Matt Armor) From: Captain Ginger Date: 10 Apr 08 - 03:07 AM Matt Armor's "Generations of Change" is a fine song on growing older and handing on the baton to the young. GENERATIONS OF CHANGE (Matt Armor) My faither was a baillie frae a wee fairm at Caiplie He worked on the land a' the days o' his life By the time he made second he aye said he reckoned He'd ploughed near on half o' the East Neuk o' Fife He fee'd on at Randerston, Crawhill and Clephinton Cambo and Carnbee and big Rennie Hill At Kingsbarn he married, at Boarhills he's buried But man, had he lived, he'd be ploughing on still For those days were his days, those ways were his ways Tae follow the ploo while his back was still strong But those days have passed and the time came at last For the weakness of age to make way for the young. I wisnae fir plooin', tae the sea I wis goin' Tae follow the fish and the fisherman's ways In rain, hail and sunshine I've watched the lang run line Nae man mair contented his whole working day I've lang lined the Fladden Ground, the Dutch and the Dogger Bank Pulled the big fish frae the deep Devil's Hole I've side trawled off Shetland, the Faroes and Iceland In weather much worse than a body could thole. For that day was my day, that way was my way Tae follow the fish while my back was still strong But that day has passed and the time come at last For the weakness of age to make way for the young My sons they have grown and away they have gone Tae search for black oil in the far northern sea Like oilmen they walk and like Yankees they talk There's no' much in common 'tween my sons and me They've rough rigged on Josephine, Forties and Ninian Claymore and Dunlin, Fisher and Awk They've made fortunes for sure for in one run ashore They spend more than I earned in a whole season's work But this day is their day, this way is their way Tae ride the rough rigs while their backs are still strong But this day will pass and the time come at last For the weakness of age to make way for the young My grandsons are growing, to the school they're soon going But the lang weeks o' summer they spend here wi' me We walk through the warm days, talk o' the auld ways The cornfield and codfish, the land and the sea We walk through the fields my father once tilled Talk wi' the old men that once sailed wi' me Man, it's been awfu' good, I showed them all I could O' the past and the present, what their future might be For the morn will be their day, what will be their way What will they make of their land, sea and sky Man, I've seen awfu' change but it still it seems gie strange Tae look at my world through a young laddie's eyes. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: pavane Date: 10 Apr 08 - 04:37 AM Bob Dylan, always wanting to be different, wrote one about getting YOUNGER "I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now" (My Back Pages) |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: MorwenEdhelwen1 Date: 12 Jun 11 - 11:02 PM "Rum and Coconut Water" originally "Gin and Coconut Water" by Wilmoth Houdini. "I remember when I was young, I was very robust and strong." |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Bert Date: 13 Jun 11 - 01:27 AM Here's a new one of mine. I wanna have a mid life crisis but if the truth be told I can't have a mid life crisis My wife says I'm too old I wanna drive a bright red sports car with a pretty young blond for a date I wanna have a mid life crisis My wife says it's too late She said I coulda had a crisis at Forty or even at Fifty Five If I'd wanted a mid life crisis I should have done it while I'm still alive I want a pick up truck with monster wheels I want to be stacked up with sex appeal I want tatoos on my arms and chest A Harley and a black leather vest I want to let my hair grow long I want to get to Nashville with this song I want a Cowboy hat and belt and boots I want a hand tailored white silk suit I wanna have a mid life crisis but if the truth be told I can't have a mid life crisis My wife says I'm too old I wanna drive a bright red sports car with a pretty young blond for a date I wanna have a mid life crisis My wife says it's too late She said I coulda had a crisis at Forty or even at Fifty Five If I'd wanted a mid life crisis I should have done it while I'm still alive I wanna drive a bright red sports car with a pretty young blond for a date Spoken: I don't think my wife would go for the blond But how about a sports car? a 59 Subeam Alpine in British Racing green |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: reynard Date: 13 Jun 11 - 08:04 AM Let's not forget "Maids When you're young never wed an old man", a song of great impotence as it says in here somewhere- but I don't see the words so I'll dig them out later. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: PHJim Date: 13 Jun 11 - 11:02 PM Sam Baker's WAVES So many years, so many hardships So many laughs, so many tears So many things to remember 'Cause they had 50 years Now the kids, they got their own kids Their own kids have grown She told him not to worry Say he'd be fine when she was gone He walks down to the ocean Bends to touch the water, kneels to pray Writes her name in sand Waves wash it away There are seagulls circling shrimp boats That turn inside the bay There's an emptiness inside That never goes away He walks down to the ocean Bends to touch the water, kneels to pray He writes her name in the sand Waves wash it away So many years, so many hardships So many laughs, so many tears So many things he cannot remember 'Cause they had 50 years He walks down to the ocean Bends to touch kneels to pray He writes her name in the sand Waves wash it away He writes her name in the sand Waves wash it away |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: PHJim Date: 13 Jun 11 - 11:06 PM Age Like Wine Todd Snider Old timer, Old timer It's too late to die young now Old timer, five and dimer Trying to find a way to age like wine somehow my new stuff is nothing like my old stuff was and either one is much when compared to a show which will not be as good as another one you saw... so hell me, i know, i know, i know I am an old timer, old timer it's too late to die young now old timer, five and dimer trying to find a way to age like wine somehow I meant every fool that ever signed their name up on these walls in the backs of these beer halls and concert halls. I been threw seven managers, five labels, a thousand picks and patch cables, three bands, a band, a bunch of guitar stands, and cans, and cans, and cans of beer, a bottles of boozes and bags of pot, and a thousand other things that I forgot. I thought that I be dead by now... but I'm not. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: PHJim Date: 13 Jun 11 - 11:15 PM I just cut and pasted the Todd Snider song and noticed some errors: "so hell me, i know, i know, i know" should be "so help me, I know, I know, I know" "I meant every fool that ever signed" should be "I've met every fool that ever signed" "I been threw seven managers" should be "I've been through seven managers" "three bands, a band, a bunch of guitar stands" should be "Three bands and a bunch of guitar stands" |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: reynard Date: 14 Jun 11 - 04:43 AM Re Maids when you're young- just found it here: http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=3003&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mudcat2+%28mudcat.org+RSS+Feed%29 The version I have from Sam Larner is slightly different so here it is anyway: MAIDS WHEN YOU'RE YOUNG NEVER WED AN OLD MAN An old man came courting me, hey ding doorum down An old man came courting me, hey duram down. An old man came courting me, fain would he marry me Maids when you're young never wed an old man For he's got no faloorum, falliddle ay oorum For he's got no faloorum, falliddle ol day He's got no faloorum, he's lost his ding doorum So maids when you're young, never wed an old man Now when we went to the church, hey ding doorum down When we went to the church, hey duram down. When we went to the church, he left me in the lurch Maids when you're young, never wed an old man Now when we went to our bed, hey ding doorum dah Now when we went to our bed, hey duram down. When we went to our bed, he neither done nor said Maids when you're young never wed an old man Now when he went to sleep, hey ding doorum dah Now when we went to sleep, hey duram down. When we went to sleep, out of bed I did creep Into the arms of a jolly young man And I found his faloorum, falliddle ay oorum I found his faloorum, falliddle ol day I found his faloorum, he got my dingdoorum So maids when you're young never wed an old man. Alternative ending (Julian Flood) Now he's got Viagra, hey ding doorum dah, He's got Viagra, hey duram down; When he takes Viag-a-ra he comes like Niagara, Maids when you're young you can wed an old man. He found his faloorum etc |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Richard from Liverpool Date: 14 Jun 11 - 10:16 AM How's about this one? Speaks very clearly of the ravages of old age. Poor Old Horse Song performed by mummers in the 'Old Horse' play, recorded particularly in Yorkshire around Derbyshire - it made its way into the cities via printed broadsides Once I was reared in a stable so warm To keep my tender limbs free from any pain or harm There's no such usage now, nor can be found at all I'm forced to travel on a winter's night through hail or rain or snow Poor old horse! Poor old horse! My food it was once of the best corn and hay That grew in all the fields or in the meadows gay But now I am grown old and scarsely can I crawl I'm forced to eat the coarsest grass that grows against the wall Poor old horse! Poor old horse! My clothing was once of the shining superfine Then I stood in my stable and did in my glory shine But now I am grown old and nature does decay My master frowns upon me and this I hear him say Poor old horse! Poor old horse! "He is old and he is cold, and he is both dull and slow He has eaten up my hay, and has spoiled all my straw Nor either is he fit to draw in with my team – Take him and whip him" is now my master's theme Poor old horse! Poor old horse! To the huntsman now shall go my old hide and shoes Likewise my tender carcass the hounds will not refuse My body that so lately had run so many miles Over hedges, ditches, brooks and bridges, fences, gates and stiles Poor old horse! Poor old horse! (I have recorded a rough and ready version of this song to a tune collected in Liverpool by Frank Kidson: http://aliverpoolfolksongaweek.blogspot.com/2011/04/4-poor-old-horse.html ) |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: PHJim Date: 15 Jun 11 - 07:16 AM PEOPLE MY AGE _ John Gorka People my age Have started looking gross I cannot say all And I shouldn't say most I've seen 'em in the grocery I've seen 'em up close And People my age Have started looking gross People my age Are showing some wear There's holes where their teeth was And their heads have gone bare Their brains are shrinking Faces sinking into fat And as for the mirror We won't be looking into that People my age Have started looking gross Maybe not in Colorado Or up the Silicon Coast Back in Pennsylvania I'd eat scrapple on toast Those were my first steps On the road to looking gross People my age Are looking overripe Some are getting operations To tighten up what ain't tight What gravity's ruined They try to fix with a knife What's pleasant in the darkness Is plain scary in the light |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: GUEST,LynnH Date: 16 Aug 17 - 04:04 AM To the tune of "The Sailors Alphabet", Verses: Mike Boydon, chorus: Lynn Wise. The Oldsters (Oldies) Alphabet A's for arthritis, B's the bad back C is for chest pains, perhaps cardiac D is for dental decay and decline E is for eyesight, can't read that top line CHORUS: Merrily, merrily, so merry go we Zimmer Frames and rollators they make our way fre Dementia, infirmity, what e'er comes along Give us oldsters (oldies)our tablets and nothing goes wrong! F is for fissures and fluid retention G is for gas which I'd rather not mention H is high blood pressure, I'd rather it low I for incisions with scars you can show J is for joints out of socket, won't mend K is for knees that crack when they bend L is libido, what happened to sex? M is for memory, I forget! What comes next? N is neuralgia, in nerves way down low O is for osteo, the bones that don't grow P for prescriptions, I have quite a few Just give me a pill and I'll be good as new. Q is for queasy, is it fatal or flu? R is for reflux, one meal turns to two S for sleepless nights, counting my fears T for tinnitus, there's bells in my ears U is for urinary, big troubles with flow V is for vertigo, that's 'dizzy' you know W is for worry, NOW what's going round? X is for X-ray, and what might be found Y is another year I'm left here behind Z is for zest that I still have - in my mind Z is also for zonked, how I feel all the time So now I have brought all the letters in rhyme I've survived all the symptoms my body's deployed And I've kept twenty-six doctors fully employed May your troubles be less, your bleesings be more And nothing but happiness come through your door. Mike Boydon is in his mid-eighties so I assume he's written this from experience! Mike calls it 'Oldsters Alphabet', but 'Oldies' is a bit easier to sing. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: David C. Carter Date: 16 Aug 17 - 06:03 AM Desperados Waiting For A Train Guy Clark. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: oldhippie Date: 16 Aug 17 - 11:51 AM When I'm 64 The Remember Song - Tom Rush |
Subject: Lyr Add: I'M GLAD I'M NOT YOUNG ANYMORE From: Jim Dixon Date: 28 Jun 18 - 11:19 AM I'M GLAD I'M NOT YOUNG ANYMORE Words by Alan Jay Lerner, music by Frederick Loewe. From the film "Gigi" (1958) As recorded by Maurice Chevalier Poor boy, poor boy! Downhearted and depressed and in a spin— Poor boy, poor boy! Oh, youth can really do a fellow in. How lovely to sit here in the shade With none of the woes of man and maid! I'm glad I'm not young anymore. The rivals that don't exist at all, The feeling you're only two feet tall— I'm glad that I'm not young anymore. No more confusion; no morning-after surprise, No self-delusion that when you're telling those lies She isn't wise; And even if love comes through the door, The kind that goes on forevermore, Forevermore is shorter than before. Oh, I'm so glad that I'm not young anymore! The tiny remark that tortures you, The fear that your friends won't like her too— I'm glad I'm not young anymore. The longing to end the stale affair Until you find out she doesn't care— I'm glad that I'm not young anymore. No more frustration; no star-crossed lover am I. No aggravation, just one reluctant reply: "Lady, goodbye!" The fountain of youth is dull as paint. Methuselah is my patron saint. I've never been so comfortable before. Oh, I'm so glad that I'm not young anymore! |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: GUEST,jim bainbridge Date: 28 Jun 18 - 12:00 PM 'Nee Bliddy Good gettin aad' by Ed Pickford- Sunderland song which doesn't translate to southern parts very well, although I believe Geordie Murison of Stonehaven is doing it now... - if you want the words, check Ed's website & I can be found singing it on Youtube if you don't have the dots! |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: GUEST,Pseudonymous Date: 28 Jun 18 - 01:25 PM Re the OP on this thread. Ice for piles? Never thought of that. Cheers! At what age does it become utterly inappropriate to sing 'Teenage Kicks'? is another good question. Pseu |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Jim Carroll Date: 29 Jun 18 - 02:11 AM Surely one of the most sensitive traditional songs about getting old is the 'drunken daft" You mariners All And when I'm old and can scarcely crawl, I've an old grey beard and a head that's bald Crowwn my desire and fulfil my wish; A pretty young girl and a jug of this Jim Carroll |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Acorn4 Date: 29 Jun 18 - 04:10 AM Grown Up Now Hey look, mum, I can do a stand up wee Hey I’m really grown up now No more nappies or sitting on the potty, Hey I’m really grown up now From small acorns big oak trees grow And a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do So I’m off to write my name in the snow The boy has become the man. Hey mum, I can ride my bike Hey I’m really grown up now Tall in the saddle sort of John Wayne Like Hey I’m really grown up now Look mum, no hands can you believe ? I fly through the air with the greatest of ease “Bang” hey look,mum, no front teeth The boy has become the man Yesterday I used the f-word Hey I’m really grown up now And one or two other ones that I’ve heard Hey I’m really grown up now And very soon I’ll say a few more Though I wouldn’t actually say that I swore More like it fell down my trouser leg onto the floor But the boy has become the man Now I’m sixteen and ready to ride, Hey I’m really grown up now On my brand new Yamaha, my gleaming pride Hey I’m really grown up now Provisional licence and off we go Though I didn’t see that patch of oil on the road Three broken ribs are what I have to show But the boy has become the man Today I drank 15 pints of lager Hey I’m really grown up now You can probably guess the rest of the saga Hey I’m really grown up now We’ll all agree it was an absolute cert That I’d bump into me mates Hughie and Bert Technicolour yawn, my head don’t half hurt But the boy has become the man Today I kissed Tracey and we used tongues Hey I’m really grown up now And I had to hide the love bites from me mum Hey I’m really grown up now Three months later and we’ve gone all the way Though it didn’t last very long I’m bound to say But I’m gonna tell me mates it lasted all day The boy has become the man Me wedding was a piss up we were drunk as rats Hey I’m really grown up now And now we’ve spawned three revolting brats Hey I’m really grown up now I suppose you could say it was written in the stars I’d end up selling insurance or second hand cars Or something where you need to talk out of your arse Yes the boy has become the man. Now my mid life crisis has definitely arrived Hey I’m really grown up now And I’m entitled to my little bit on the side Hey I’m really grown up now The missus got headaches and a great big bum Took her Brian Ferry albums and headed for the sun Now the CSA are after five figure sum Yes, the boy has become the man Now I’m fiftysomething with a new lease of life Hey I’m really grown up now So I’ve gone out and bought a Yamaha motorbike Hey I’m really grown up now I’ll relive my youth, give her full welly With a pair of tight leathers to hold in my belly Do I feel a pratt? no not on your nelly For the boy has become the man Now I’ve drawn me pension and I walk with a stick Hey I’m really grown up now Into second childhood I slowly drift Hey I’m really grown up now Senility rules , incontinence is bliss Moaning all the time, just a grumpy old git Maybe if I reach 100 I may well yet See the child become the man |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Acorn4 Date: 29 Jun 18 - 04:34 AM Eastbourne Viagara Blues (Sung as fastish 12 bar) Well, I woke up this morning, With a twinkle in my eye, Well I woke up this morning, spring in my step, glad to be alive, Though I was 92 last week, doctor gave me these pills Which made me feel like I’m 25. No more afternoon naps now, Doris No more gentle strolls along the prom. No more moaning about the price of things, No more playing bowls from this moment on, Cos I’m a testosterone fuelled rocket Ugh!!!I’m a sex machine so turn me on Gonna head on down to Eastbourne ,Doris, Like that Bionic Man , I’ve been remade Gonna head on down to Eastbourne, Doris, Where everyone is 80 in the shade, Though they call it the Costa Geriatrica, those passionkiller Marks and Spencers knickers ain’t gonna stop me getting my wicked way! No more of them toasted teacakes Wave goodbye to those buttered “scewnes”, No more of them toasted teacakes now, Say goodbye to those buttered “scewnes”, (that’s how they say ‘scones’ in Eastbourne) No more delicate bone china teacups, Gonna spew up my 15 pints of rotweiler lager in the road. Gonna throw way that zimmerframe, babe I think I’m seeing red I’m gonna listen to that sound of shattering glass Gonna kick in someone’s head ‘Cos I shot a man in Brighton, ‘Cos he wouldn’t speak up so I could hear what he said.. Won’t you squeeze my teabag, Till the juice runs down my chins, Squeeze my teabag Till that juice runs all down my chins, Got that lead back in my pencil And that zing back in my dingaling Because my doctor’s given me these pills, now Feel like I’m born again, My doctor’s given me this Viagra pills, Old John Thomas will rise again, (ooh I say…) So I’m off on my club 85/100 holiday, Silver shaggers here we come. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Acorn4 Date: 29 Jun 18 - 04:39 AM Menopausal Men with Expensive Guitars 1. He turned 55 with great expectations His lady wife knew that he was hatching a scheme Caught him playing air guitar with a tennis racket Retired accountant gonna live the dream He begged and he pleaded til she finally relented Drove his car down to that music store That top of the range Taylor was just the beginning Now he’s got the bug and he just wants more Menopausal Men (What’s the world coming to?) Expensive Guitars( Gibson Takamine) Menopausal men (it’s becoming an obsession) Expensive guitars (where will it all end?) See them everywhere in all the cafes and bars Those Menopausal men with expensive guitars) 2. Every night you’ll find him down the open mike, With a poser hat and a pair of cool shades Squinting at a tuner, running through the chords, Waiting for his turn to get up on that stage Wound up tightly like a coiled spring, Soon he’ll be knocking on heaven’s door. Words on a music stand in a big font, ‘Headin down the highway with his geetar.’ Menopausal Men (at least it keeps him out of mischief) Expensive Guitars (howling down the mike) Menopausal men (now he wants another one) Expensive guitars((keeps him off the motorbike ) See them everywhere those budding suprerstars Those Menopausal men with expensive guitars) He badgered he pestered and got his first gig, First step on the ladder to making it big Now he’s thinking Glastonbury try hard to humour him The new Bob Dylan, Neil Young or Leonard Cohen 3. He’s written a song about a failed relationship Guitars hanging up on every spare bit of wall Combat trousers with 28 pockets You’ve got to look the part if you want to walk tall. Dashing from one open mike to the other Popping up here, there and everywhere Gets one of his mates to record it on his smartphone Puts it on facebook for the world to share. Menopausal Men (kids pretend they don’t know him) Expensive Guitars (so cool and hip) Menopausal men (now he wants a Lowden) Expensive guitars((on an ego trip) A wild desperado with a bus pass Those Menopausal men with expensive guitars) Menopausal Men (now he’s doing wagon wheel) Expensive Guitars (too old for learning words) Menopausal Men (Not bloody “Halleluyah”) Expensive guitars (can he have more reverb) It’s about time they were put out to grass Those menopausal men with expensive guitars. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Acorn4 Date: 29 Jun 18 - 05:33 AM and finally it's Tom... The Green Green Grass of Home 1.The old crowd looks the same, as I step out on the stage. And there’s the roar of the same old fans to greet me, Oh it’s Alice, Doris, Lily and Mary, Skin a little wrinkly and chins a little hairy They’ve all been put out to the green, green grass of home. 2. When they were maidens young and fair, they used to throw their underwear, Upon the stage where I would strut my stuff so boldly Now it’s only ladies of a certain age, who still try to throw their knickers on the stage, But they’ve been put out to the green green grass of home And those knickers hot and sweaty, they rained down like confetti, And landed on the green green grass of home. 3. I used to use those knickers as a towel to wipe the sweat from off my brow, And throw them back to the sound of all that screaming, But nowadays I’m not so keen, because, after all, you don’t know where they’ve been, It’s so sad to think of that green green grass of home. 4.Well you wouldn’t hear me complain, when those knickers fell like rain, Though one or two had probably been weed in, But nowadays before they start throwing , they’ve probably wet themselves without even knowing, They’re out to graze on the green, green grass of home. And those knickers hot and sweaty, they rained down like confetti, And landed on the green green grass of home. 3. These days I move a little slower, my voice a little lower, But as we all know things drop as we get older, Some of those knickers won’t reach me, this I know, They’ll only get as far as the second row, And land there on the green green grass of home. 6. Oh, just like these ladies her, these are my twilight years, And I suppose I’d better enjoy the time remaining And no use pretending , though it’s sad, Look out, here comes an incontinence pad, It’s a health and safety issue on the green, green grass of home. And those knickers hot and sweaty, they rained down like confetti, As I sang of the green green grass of home. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Stanron Date: 29 Jun 18 - 05:38 AM How about this Medication Blues To the tune of Hesitation Blues Doctor told me, hope it's a lie You'll never get better till the day you die. CHORUS Tell me how long do I have to wait? Am I all right now or should I medicate? Three pills in the morning, Two at night, Another calms me down in case I don't get it right, A capsule is a capsule, a pill is a pill If complacency don't get me then anxiety will I don't like the red ones, I don't like the blue (Double take at the audience) I'm not so sure I like the look of you I'm standing on the corner, I'm just not sure, Am I looking for a lover, a dealer or a cure? Friends come round, so they say Just wanna get high on my Nitro spray The Altzeimer verse (apologies for any offense) Standing in the kitchen (Parlour, Rest room, Diner, stair well, bar room, etc) looking at the floor, Just can't remember what I came here for. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: GUEST,jim bainbridge Date: 29 Jun 18 - 08:22 AM Charlie Poole's 'Old and Grey & only in the way' would suit |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Jim Carroll Date: 29 Jun 18 - 08:50 AM Can anybody remember the beautiful American song sung by a protest singer (now dead) who used to contribute to thus forum "They say that I'm All done up... washed up... Would very much appreciate hearing it again Jim Carroll |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: GUEST,Pseudonymous Date: 29 Jun 18 - 08:56 AM The other day I saw a young man of about 25 singing a self-penned story about how he wished he were still young. 'Hardly out of short trousers' was my comment. Then I was told that nowadays they don't do that short trousers into long trousers thing any more. Menopausal men with expensive guitars. Owch! Too near the knuckle to attempt in public. Nicely observed. Ear-ring in one ear as another detail? What about They think they look sexy with the new guitar But a mere phallic symbol won't get them far. When it comes down to it, their ding-a-ling Is in deep need of a set of new strings. Love the Hesitation Blues! |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Acorn4 Date: 29 Jun 18 - 12:15 PM Re the young man of 25 - remember this old classic:-- Barry Mann - Teenage Has-Been |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Tattie Bogle Date: 29 Jun 18 - 12:38 PM A couple that the late Iain Mackintosh used to sing: Waltzing around in the Nude, and (Can't remember the title) a song that started at death, then worked back through old age, pension age, middle age, young married, pre-married, teenage years, boyhood, babyhood and finally back in mother's womb! Ian McCalman has one about being reasonably accepting of reaching sixty. And, Jim Carroll, is the "All Used Up" song way up the thread, Feb 01, the one you want? Very powerful song. The late John Wright also sang it. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Peter the Squeezer Date: 29 Jun 18 - 12:41 PM This from Paddy Roberts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cizeuckgJYg |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Jim Carroll Date: 29 Jun 18 - 12:53 PM This one Jim Carroll ALL USED UP |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Jack Campin Date: 29 Jun 18 - 04:24 PM By implication, Bonnie Bessie Logan... "ower young for me"... |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Joe_F Date: 29 Jun 18 - 06:10 PM We seem to have missed good old Tom Lehrer's "When You Are Old and Gray". |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Jim Carroll Date: 29 Jun 18 - 06:25 PM How could I have forgotten this one!! From Burns's 'Merry Muses of Caledonia Jim Carroll WAD YE DAE THAT? Gudewife, when your gudeman’s frae hame, Micht I but be sae bauld, As come to your bed-chaumer, When winter nichts are cauld; As come to your bed-chaumer, When nichts are cauld an wat, An lie in your gudeman’s steed, Wad ye dae that? Young man, an ye should be sae kind, When oor gudeman’s frae hame, As come to my bed-chaumer, Where I am laid my lane; An lie in oor gudeman’s steed, I will tell you what, He fucks me five times ilka nicht, Wad ye dae that? |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Tattie Bogle Date: 29 Jun 18 - 06:41 PM Jim, yes, that's the song, All Used Up: glad you found it. The un-named one I mentioned that Iain Mackintosh used to sing is called "Run the Film Backwards" and is also here on YouTube: Run the Film Backwards And here is: "Pleasantly Pleased to be Sixty" by Ian McCalman I am pleasantly pleased to be sixty Astounded that I've lived so long I had a great time till I reached fifty-nine I thought that was it, but I'm wrong It's not at all bad to be sixty And frankly I'm doing OK Apart from the sight in my mirror at night There are no other signs of decay Delighted to wake up each day I accept all the gifts l I'm given My heating, my bus pass and all I really don't care, but if it is there I'll take it no matter how small I can be just as ill as I want to And Google my symptoms with glee I can do a sore back or a mild heart attack Or die, if I want to, for free It's my job to annoy younger people Like, "How old do you think I am?" They tell me I'm mad and I tell them they're bad But frankly I don't give a damn And I never drive above 30 No matter the limits or signs It's amazing how slow my Toyota can go With an angry Mercedes behind Sometimes it's cruel to be kind I am pleasantly pleased to be sixty I'm far from the end of the line There's so much to do and there's so much to do And I'll do it, 'cause I have the time It's not at all bad being sixty But one thing is bothering me My memory's gone and I can't finish songs.................. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: reggie miles Date: 30 Jun 18 - 02:05 AM I'm Old by Reggie Miles ©2016 All rights reserved I'm old, yes I'm old, and I found out today My tired old frame just gets in the way So I guess I'll move on and try to find me some place Where a man can grow older and die with some grace I've done so many things with the times of my life I courted an beauty and I made her my wife I found a good job and then we settled down Bought a small house on the outskirts of town I raised a fine family. Shall I tell you their names? There's Johnny and Mary and Annie and James But now they've all gone and I'm bent from the wear With withered old limbs and grey shaggy hair I'm old, yes I'm old, and I found out today My tired old frame, just gets in the way I'm off on my own, after all of these years Filled with laughter and love and sadness and tears The American Dream, I've lived it you see Spent all of my life in this land of the free I've leveled her mountains and raped her great plains Damned mighty rivers and poisoned her rains I've reaped vast wealth, by polluting her soil I've spoiled her oceans, by spilling her oil There's not a fish in the sea, nor a bird in the air That hasn't suffered or died while under my care I'm old, yes I'm old, and I realized today My time round here hasn't all gone way I have no balance in this worldly place Only struggles and strife over faith, wealth, and race I have fought mighty battles and wars by the score I've left millions to starve and ignored the poor Destruction and death have been my legacy In the wake of such hate, who cares about me I've left no solutions only more of the same No comfort I've given to ease anyone's pain My words have been lies, my heart's been a stone I guess it's befitting that I die all alone I'm old, yes I'm old, and I've naught left to do But to say my goodbye and farewell to you And if I should ever pass this way again I'll try to do better with my time spent here then Here's a link to the song... https://www.reverbnation.com/reggiemiles/song/25649864-im-old |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: reggie miles Date: 30 Jun 18 - 02:21 AM Grossosity! Reggie Miles written © 2004 Bats flutter in my belfry when I’m dreamin’ in my bed I’m guessin’ they got in there through these holes here in my head. I’d like to shed this feelin’ that some day I’ll wake up dead. I’ve tried a frontal lobotomy and every remedy bottle in front of me. But nothin’ that I’ve tried has helped this dread. Sooo! I just cry myself to sleep each night instead. A big belly full of bicarb bathes a blisterin’ boil, That bubbles when my troubles begin to foil and uncoil. This royal pain in th’ gut is due to one unloyal goil. So I sit and slowly slurp another sip of castor oil. OOOH! And I play solitaire in solitude with Hoyle. I collect belly button lint but it doesn’t smell so nice. So I use a mint deodorant and wash it twice or thrice. And just in case you’re thinkin’ that this vice ain’t very nice. My freezer’s full of fresh and minty little linty balls of ice. OOOH! I keep ’em free from lice as linty balls of ice. Green and crusty boogers they reside inside my nose. Those slimy sinus stalactites clog my nasal breathin’ holes. And there’s fungus here among us growin’ twixt ten smelly toes. And the stink’ll make you think it must be time to change your hose. OOOH! The stench’ll curl your nose hairs heaven knows. Earwax slowly trickles down my eerie ear canals. And toe jam jams the crevices of all my toenail pals. An avalanche of dandruff boulders showers down upon my shoulders, And my doctor nods and jots another note inside my folder. OOOH! And his nurse says I’ll get worse as I get older. Halitosis haunts my speech and my cornfusional orations. As my teeth decay and rot away from cavity excavations. Puss filled acne polka dots my face. Pimples are poppin’ up everyplace. I’m a disgrace as an example of the human race. OOOH! It looks like I may be a hopeless case. Unspeakable odors waft up from down below. They breezily squeeze with ease between my knees as they flow. Whiff my pungent armpit aroma, and you will end up in a coma. You’ll be longin’ for the pleasant scent of ol’ Tacoma. OOOH! You’d rather have a squirtin’ skunk inside your home. AHHH! Two bloodshot orbs gaze back at me when in the mirror I stare. A wrinkled road map decorates the face that’s gawkin’ there. Soon my receding hairline’ll leave my head completely bare. I don’t know why I bother livin’ when this life is so unfair. OOOH! Now applaud and pretend you even care. Here a video of me performing this one live at GrangeStock IV Grossosity! |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: BobL Date: 30 Jun 18 - 02:40 AM Joe F, we haven't missed out on Tom Lehrer - see 07 Feb 01, 11:48 PM Advantages of age (in the UK at least, for the first two): 1) Free prescriptions 2) Free bus travel 3) Your time's your own 4) The world seems to be increasingly filled with young and beautiful people. And do not the T-shirts of the very same people who once advocated Teen Power, now proclaim that Old Guys Rule? |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Georgiansilver Date: 30 Jun 18 - 07:31 AM When I'm 64. The Beatles. This was mentioned before but here it is on Youtube. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: GUEST,Pseudonymous Date: 30 Jun 18 - 07:43 AM When I'm 64 not much use at a certain age! I'm at the age when I wonder if I'll live long enough to get a bus pass or a state pension: they keep putting the ages up. The T=shirt I want is one that says 'I may be old, but I got to see all the best bands'. But they don't do long sleeve for women. Soz, this isn't a 'T-shirts about getting older thread'. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Jim Carroll Date: 30 Jun 18 - 08:25 AM "Jim, yes, that's the song, All Used Up: glad you found it." Beautiful song - still brings a lump... I was always rather fond of Pete Mundey's song, 'Take Your Time" until I heard a Liverpool audience roar out "Take your time, you dirty old man" There are still places on the planet screaming out for missionaries!! Jim Carroll TAKE YOUR TIME (by Pete Mundey) Chorus So take your time, me lovely old lad Oh there ain't no need for to hurry For as long as you're able to wind up me clock Then I have no need for to worry. You first wound me clock up on our wedding day You promised t'would always be striking Though the spring's getting weaker and feeble the tick It's still very much to me liking. Chorus I mind the time when we were young You worked at the hedgin' and dykin' Oh you'd go out at dawn and work through till dusk And come home for me clock to be strikin'. Chorus As time goes by, our children's grown up We're soon making wedding vows binding Oh I told all me daughters the one thing I've learned Make sure your clocks always needs winding. Chorus And now that we're nearing the end of our days And you are so tired and grey, love It still pleases me so when you wind up me clock And it will till the end of my days, love. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Tattie Bogle Date: 30 Jun 18 - 06:12 PM When I'm 64? Well past that now! 64 is the new 44! (or do I mean vice versa?) |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: open mike Date: 30 Jun 18 - 11:36 PM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTeYD3Za_2Q Memory Song Tom Rush - Looking for My Wallet and Car Keys - Kerrville Folk Festival, 2015 (one message posted on another version of this says it was Steve Walters, who wrote and first recorded the song.?) |
Subject: Lyr Add: GETTING OLDER EVERY DAY (Big Bill Broonzy From: Jim Dixon Date: 01 Jul 18 - 02:44 PM You can hear this recording at YouTube GETTING OLDER EVERY DAY As recorded by Big Bill Broonzy, 1940. You say you're gettin' old; now, it' older ev'ry day. You say you're gettin' old; yeah, you say you gettin' older ev'ry day. Ah, you ain't but fifty. Hoo, Lord! Boy, you shouldn't feel that way. Now when you get so old you can't work at no mill, Yeah, when you get so old, now, boy, you can't work at a mill, Now, don't you make no dates, hoo, Lord! But at that you can't fill. Now, if your luck don't change, boy, don't you be sad. Yeah, if your luck don't change, now, buddy, don't you be sad. Now, you really gotta learn what you take the good now with the bad. Now, when you get old and your good gal don't want you 'round, Hoo, Lord! When you get old, and your good gal don't want you 'round, Now, you know you didn't run out o' commission, hoo, boy! I declare you're poor-house bound. Now, don't laugh, buddy; now, I didn't nobody's downfall. Hoo, lawd! Don't laugh, buddy; I meanin' nobody's downfall; Because if your woman would check up on you, hoo, Lord! She'd put another mule in your stall. |
Subject: I wanna live to be an old woman - what's the rest! From: GUEST,Petrawiggin Date: 31 May 19 - 10:47 PM Help! I am looking for the full lyrics to a song that I can't find anywhere except that there is a small reference to it in this thread @GUEST.winterbright, mentioned it. Here is what I remember of the song: I want to live to be an old woman and old woman and old woman, I want to live to be an old woman sittin' on the porch! I want to live to be an old woman shawl around my shoulders, gum a piece of chicken, I want to live to be an old woman sittin' on the porch! I want to live to be a deep sea diver, a parachute jumper and an old woman, sittin' on the porch and laughing at the sunset, diggin' my new home! Does anyone know more of the words?!?!?!? |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: John C. Bunnell Date: 01 Jun 19 - 12:05 PM I am astonished at two omissions from Broadway: "(You're) Timeless to Me" (from «i»Hairspray«/i») "No Time at All" (from «i»Pippin«/i»" I won't try to do links from my phone, but possibly later.... |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: GUEST,G Date: 01 Jun 19 - 04:36 PM Burns"s "Wad Ye Dae That" Jim Carroll--23/6/2018. Lying in bed {where else} I composed a middle verse for the above song. "Forsooth young man I wad be laith Tae turn doon sic an offer But tell me lad whit likes yer graith And is it aa in order Guidwife ye needna spier that gait for it"s baith lang and fat And made for your contentment dame I"se warrant that. |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: olddude Date: 01 Jun 19 - 08:04 PM One I wrote https://youtu.be/nejTuZaWI-I |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Leadbelly Date: 02 Jun 19 - 06:14 PM Curd Juergens, a well-known german actor, once recorded a song titled by "60 Jahre und kein bisschen weise" which means 60 years old and by no means being wise... |
Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: GUEST,Warwick Slade Date: 03 Jun 19 - 04:31 AM My getting old songs are on Spotify on the Live at Poole Crematorium albu Check it out |
Share Thread: |
Subject: | Help |
From: | |
Preview Automatic Linebreaks Make a link ("blue clicky") |