Songs about 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: 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: 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: 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: RE: Songs about getting older?
From: kendall
Date: 15 Jan 06 - 02:15 PM

"Over the hill to the poor house"

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: Carol
Date: 15 Jan 06 - 09:04 AM

The Old Lady's Song by Matt Armour

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: 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: 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 [e-mail]
||: If it moves, fondle it, except porcupines, ball lightning, and policemen. :||

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: 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: 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: 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    [e-mail]

||: If you do the right thing under duress, you still get credit, but you don't have as much fun. :||

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: 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: 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/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
        We're tied to our memories they won't let us stray
              Em        C            Am7        D
        We're not gonna lose ones we made yesterday
           F           C             G            C
        we look to our future and we make all our plans
           Em       C            Am7        D
        as if we control what is out of our hands

Chorus:     G              C           Am7         G
        the world keeps on turning I'm learning to see
        G             C           D         G
        right where I am is where I have to be
            G               C         Am7           G
        you can't count the pages all ages hear the call
                  Em          C             D            G
        no matter how hard we try life gets away from us all

        [intro riff]

Verse2: We start getting older the moment we live
        look over your shoulder there's hindsight to give
        come good days and bad days the sun's gonna rise
        so why look beyond what's in front of your eyes?

        [CHORUS]

        no matter how hard we try life gets away from us all

        [intro riff]
 
Coda:   |F    |C    |G      ||

Subject: RE: Songs about getting older?
From: 53
Date: 22 Jun 02 - 07:34 PM

Landslide by Fleetwood Mac.

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: 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: Genie
Date: 22 Jun 02 - 05:54 PM

How about "I Wish They'd Do It Now"?

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: 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: 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: aussiebloke
Date: 22 Jun 02 - 07:09 AM

One of the has-beens

aussiebloke

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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

CHORUS
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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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
Sair fyled noo
Sait fyled, hinny
Sin' I kenned thou!

I was young and lusty
I was in my prime
I was young and lusty
Many's the lang time

Sair ...

When I was five and twenty
I was brave and bold
Now at five and sixty
I'm baith stiff and cold

Sair..

Thus said the old man
To the oak tree
Sair fyled am I
Sin' I kenned thee!

(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
Ee, aye, I could hew!
I was hewing all the time
But me hewing days are through, through
But me hewing days are through.

I've lain down flat, and I've shovelled coal
Ee, aye, I could hew!
And your eyes did smart in the dust-filled hole
But me hewing days are through, through
But me hewing days are through.

...

Its soon no more the pit I'll see
Ee, aye, I could hew!
But I'll carry it round inside of me
But me hewing days are through, through
But me hewing days are through.

There are some of the middle verses missing in that, but I forget them for the moment

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 20-Mar-02.

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.

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 20-Mar-02.

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: fat B****rd
Date: 20 Mar 02 - 11:42 AM

Mose Allison "When Is becomes Was"

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: 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
No more will I dance with the young and the gay
For time has determined this route to unfold
I've a mark on my forehead to show I am old

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.

Doc.

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 20-Mar-02.

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: 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: 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: 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: 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)

SILVER THREADS AMONG THE GOLD

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: 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*