Songs about getting old or getting older

Lee Hazlewood, My Autumn's Done Come

Hello In There: John Prine

Grinderman: No Pussy Blues

Pete Yownshend = D;oy Dlotyd

"Pushing Thirty" - Peter Hammill.

"If you wanna be a viable artist when you're twenty-five
you'd better be a meat-head by the time you're twenty-one."
But now I'm pushing thirty and I'm still alive,
so tell me who, tell me who has won?

"If you wanna be an A & R man when the singing's done
you'd better make sure that you hedge your bets.
Me I'm pushing thirty and still having fun,
I haven't stopped, haven't stopped that yet!"

"All the writers watch each other for the way to go,
follow each other like lemmings -
swear they're all waiting for Nicky Lowe
to turn out like David Hemmings...
Me, I'm pushing thirty and the steady zone,
perhaps I should retire,
but even if it all deserts me and I'm left alone
I still know that I'm fuelled by fire..."

"They Are All In Love" - The Who.

"Where do you fit in zzzzip magazine
Where the past is the hero and the present a queen
Just tell me right now where do you fit in
With mud in your eye and a passion for gin"

"Hey, goodbye all you punks
Stay young and stay high
Hand me my checkbook
And I'll crawl off to die"

"But like a woman in childbirth
Grown ugly in a flash
I'm seen magic and fame
Now I'm recycling trash"

"Tower Of Song" - Leonard Cohen.

"Well my friends are gone and my hair is grey
I ache in the places where I used to play"

Red House Painters, "24" (depressing as fuck):

And I thought at fifteen that I'd have it down by sixteen / And twenty-four keeps breathing in my face

soft cell 'youth'

The entire Who By Numbers album

getting older - the clean

..and it's subsequent covering by Alastair Galbraith.

"Why don't you do yourself in?"

I may be over-reading the references to aging in these songs, but:

Iron & Wine's Dead Man's Will;
Richard Hawley's The Ocean;
Arcade Fire's In The Backseat;
The Clientele's Losing Haringey.

This also heavily over-represents current music, since it's what I happen to have on my iPod.

one by the Magnetic Fields, about dancing

Landslide!

oh and would Bjork's "I See Who You Are" count?

Willie Nelson & Roger Miller - "Old Friends"

Willie - "Yesterday's Wine"

The Fall - Living Too Late

When I'm 64 - The Beatles

The entire "September Of My Years" album by Frank Sinatra.

(Even though he would live for roughly 30 years more)

Rush - Time Stand Still

The entire Who By Numbers album

...and all of who are you, face dances, empty glass, all the best cowboys have chinese eyes...

ok, now i'm struggling to think of another artist as age-obsessed as townshend...

Buddy Guy - "Done Got Old"

that descendants song, i guess. (can't remember the name).

the ramones song, durrr.

33 - pumpkins

the ramones covered "i don't wanna grow up", or are you talking about a different one, andi?

Red House Painters, "24" (depressing as fuck):

And I thought at fifteen that I'd have it down by sixteen / And twenty-four keeps breathing in my face

-- Curt1s Stephens, Tuesday, 22 May 2007 14:28 (Yesterday) Link

i just turned 24, ouch

the ramones covered "i don't wanna grow up", or are you talking about a different one, andi?

-- wanko ergo sum, Tuesday, May 22, 2007 11:44 PM (26 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

i'll be honest. wasn't talking about another song or an original artist, or whatever. shit. whateves, so, i'm a poser. it's 2007 and i'm 21, a little slack?

i mean that i thought the ramones wrote that song, or phil spector or something.

BAN ANDI MAGS

ban andi mags

I'm pretty sure there are at least three hiphop songs called either "gettin' old" or "growin' old." For sure, one of them is by either OutKast or Goodie Mob (best of all, on their first record, I'm pretty sure.)

Husker Du: Hardly Getting Over It

All my freiends - LCD Soundsystem
Do you remember Walter? - The Kinks
(maybe) Weak Become Heroes - The Streets

Waiting Around to Die- Townes Van Zandt

Its a more, like, philosophical and stuff, take on getting older.

Everything Flows - Teenage Fanclub

Paul Simon - Old

Dusty Springfield - Goin' Back (I'm such a sucker for a lost childhood song)

The Band - Rockin Chair

It was a kick seeing The Clean playing "Getting Older" last year.

Birthday mix cd staples:

They Might Be Giants - Older
Sparks - The Decline and Fall of Me
Telex - We Are All Getting Old

Pretty much everything the Hold Steady have ever released.

Going Blind - Kiss
Cat's In the Cradle - whoever does Cat's In the Cradle
Losing My Edge - LCD
It Was a Very Good Year - Frank Sinatra
The Ballad of Lucy Jordan - Marianne Faithfull

Balcony Beach - Latyrx/Lyrics Born

Billy Bragg - Brickbat

fleetwood mac - landslide

Also,
The Divine Comedy - A Lady of a Certain Age
Steely Dan - Hey 19
Notorious BIG - Things Done Changed
Ahmad - Back in the Day

Actually, most of the songs about growing old that I've heard are pretty great. The Lee Hazlewood and Townes van Zandt ones mentioned upthread are real tearjerkers.

lex, you listen to Fleetwood Mac?! I would not have seen that coming.

i actually listen to the tori amos cover of 'landslide' more but yeah i'm down w/fleetwood mac. only have rumours though, and a copy of tusk which i should probably get round to listening to one of these days

"I Eat Dinner" -- Kate & Anna McGarrigle
"September Song" -- Willie Nelson (et al)
"The Author Reflects On His 35th Birthday" -- Conjure

(I have a birthday next week.)

"When I Was a Kid" Robyn Hitchcock

great morbid lyrics in the verses ("and it's strange how people get older / they waddle and drool and eventually molder / they molder awaaaaayyyyy")

"Backside of Thirty" - John Conlee
"Forever and Ever, Amen" - Randy Travis

Bob Seger - Rock and Roll Never Forgets ("Sweet 16's turned 31")
John Mellencamp- "Cherry Bomb" ("17 has turned 35")
Pretenders - "Middle of the Road" ("I'm not the cat I used to be, I got a kid I'm 33")

Love Story (You and Me) - Randy Newman (but Harry Nilsson's version is superior).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ozl5SahSko

Rocking Chair - Garcia and Grisman -- add "Touch of Grey", too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6qqT81Ea_g

Old & in the Way - Many, Jerry's version prolly best known

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT1TRFrIeXI

Les Vieux - Jacques Brel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy-Y6DudhY0

The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul - XTC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfRQGZUKS2Y

Ripples - Genesis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DS-PMY2PVF4

Waiting Around to Die - Townes van Zandt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emHZ2oj8wDk

Old Man - Neil Young

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vef03k5i8VI&ob=av2n

Significant birthday coming up or something?

Just dying, sorry.

We're all doing that

All apart from Michael Rother iirc.

In an attempt to discertain the context of your reference to Michael Rother, i found his birthday and mine to be the same, please expand.

Pavement - We Are Underused

He looks better now than when he was 23 (xp)

So do I, but then again I was poorly.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KUZAaxHSQyU/Thxc43I2cuI/AAAAAAAABYI/BJrAYw9v4XU/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2011-07-12%2Bat%2B15.39.12.png

I don't know what he was doing to poor old Klaus. Drinking his blood?

Christmas Island - Twenty Nine

howlin' wolf - getting old and grey
junior kimbrough - done got old

Rolling Stones - Mother's Little Helper

taylor swift - never grow up

these are some odd choices, but to me, they're all about the dignity and sadness of geting older; decay; and nostalgia:

• the clientele, losing haringey
• william basinski, the disintegration loops
• gavin bryars, philip jeck, alter ego, the sinking of the titanic
• richard hawley, the ocean

The Pugilist at 59 - Tom Russell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkMtNiiRPGI

Leonard Cohen - "I Can't Forget"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNIIwqafrO4

The Cure - "Sinking" (he was 25 lol)

The Cure - "The last day of summer"

Pet Shob Boys - "The Samurai in autumn"