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Songs about getting older?
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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 |
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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 |
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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"? |
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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 |
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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. |
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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 |
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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! ;-) |
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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. ;-) |
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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. |
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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. |
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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 |
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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 |
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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. |
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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! |
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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, |
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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* |
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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) |
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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 |
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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 |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: fat B****rd Date: 20 Mar 02 - 11:42 AM Mose Allison "When Is becomes Was" |
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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.
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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. |
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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
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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?" |
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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. |
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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 |
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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 |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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."
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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
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Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: aussiebloke Date: 22 Jun 02 - 07:09 AM One of the has-beens aussiebloke
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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
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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 |
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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? |
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Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: Genie Date: 22 Jun 02 - 05:54 PM How about "I Wish They'd Do It Now"? |
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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) |
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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 |
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Subject: RE: Songs about getting older? From: 53 Date: 22 Jun 02 - 07:34 PM Landslide by Fleetwood Mac. |
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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] |
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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 |
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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 |
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