Here’s another entertaining ninety minutes for young and old with popular songs for you, this time with songs from my library about childhood, youth and life expectations, all blended with blues, soul, pop and rock.
| Title | Artist | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Because They Are Young | Duane Eddy | “Because They Are Young” by Duane Eddy was the title song of the movie starring James Darren and Tuesday Weld.The Rebels, put in a cameo appearance in the movie to play the song. James Darren in 1960 and Helen Shapiro in 1962 released a vocal version of the song. In the 1960s, various rock radio channels used Because They’re Young as their theme music and since 1984 it is the official theme music of the Flemish musical nostalgia radio show ‘De Pré Historie’. |
| The Young Ones | Cliff Richard | “The Young Ones” is a single by Cliff Richard and the Shadows. The song, written by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett, is the title song to the 1961 film The Young Ones and its soundtrack album |
| Young Folks | Peter, Bjorn And John | The feel-good song “Young Folks” is the first single from Swedish band Peter Bjorn and John with female vocals by Victoria Bergsman, released in 2006. |
| Alright | Supergrass | This song embodies the spirit of youth, when we’re free to hang out, see the sights, and write goofy lines and uses audio samples from “Fresh-Garbage” by Spirit. The song was the lead single from the soundtrack of the 2003 film Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle. |
| Feel Good Time | P!nk | “Feel Good Time” is a song by American singer Pink, originally written by and recorded by Beck and William Orbit. |
| Glory Days | Bruce Springsteen | “Glory Days” by Bruce Springsteen is about the encounter with an old friend who was a star baseball player in high school. |
| You Get What You Give | New Radicals | “You Get What You Give” by The New Radicals became an anthem for young dreamers ready to take on the world with music on their side. The title is kind of a mantra: you’ll get back in life what you give to others. The song also rails against big business and the forces of oppression, sounding at times like a Bernie Sanders rally as it rails against the health care and banking industries: |
| Have A Nice Day | Stereophonics | “Have a nice day” by the Stereophonics, released in 2001, is based on a conversation the band had with a cab driver in San Francisco Bay when they were touring in the United States. At the end of the journey the driver ended the conversation with: “That’ll be seven bucks, have a nice day”. |
| What Is Life | George Harrison | “What Is Life” by George Harrison, released in 1971, holds ambiguity in the lyrics and suggests a connection between spiritual and physical. It could be to Harrison’s wife at the time, Pattie Boyd or a devotional song like many of Harrison’s compositions. The spiritual guitar quest opens with Harrison playing the fuzztone guitar riff, which is then joined by Radle’s bass and “churning” rhythm guitar from Clapton. |
| I Wish | Stevie Wonder | “I Wish” by Stevie Wonder, released in 1976 as the lead single from his eighteenth album, Songs in the Key of Life (1976) and deals with childhood and teenage experiences. |
| Once in a Lifetime | Talking Heads | “Once in a Lifetime” by Talking Heads, released in 1980, was cowritten by Brian Eno through extensive jams, inspired by Afrobeat musicians such as Fela Kuti. The song is about the drudgery of living life according to social expectations, and pursuing commonly accepted trophies (a large automobile, beautiful house, beautiful wife)” and whether they are real and how people acquired them, a kind of existential crisis. |
| New Frontier | Donald Fagen | “New Frontier” by Donald Fagen, released in 1982, is a satirical take on life in the early 1960s, particularly the fear of a nuclear war, which had been revived in the early 1980s. This was included on Fagen’s first solo album after Steely Dan called it quits in 1981. The song is about growing up in the suburbs in the late ’50s and early ’60s. Some of the cultural references include “pushing the button,” “Tuesday Weld” and “Dave Brubeck.” The title comes from President Kennedy’s political agenda for the country during his brief administration. |
| Millennium | Robbie Williams | “Millennium” by Robbie Williams, released in 1998, with the chorus line “stars directing our fate” made it as the most popular song about the new millennium, which began on January 1, 2001, but was commonly celebrated a year earlier. |
| Forever Young | Alphaville | “Forever Young” is a song by German synth-pop band Alphaville, released in 1984. |
| The Long and Winding Road | The Beatles | “The Long and Winding Road” by the Beatles, released in 1970, is according writer Paul McCartney “all about the unattainable; the door you never quite reach … the road that you never get to the end of” |
| (Just Like) Starting Over | John Lennon | John Lennon finished the song “(Just Like) Starting Over” while on holiday in Bermuda, and recorded it on 9 August 1980 at The Hit Factory, referring to it as the “Elvis/Orbison” track. |
| La robe & l’échelle (Single Version) | Francis Cabrel | “La robe & l’échelle” (The Dress and the Ladder) by Francis Cabrel explores the transient nature of time and the importance of certain moments and memories in our lives. |
| Hier encore | Charles Aznavour | “Hier encore” by Charles Aznavour, released in September 1964, reflects on his life, recalling how he had wasted his younger years on hedonistic pursuits, and now that he is older, he is unable to do everything that he had planned. American country musician Roy Clark had a hit with the English version of the song, titled “Yesterday When I Was Young”. |
| Old Man | Neil Young | “Old Man” by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young, released in 1970, featuring James Taylor playing six-string banjo and Linda Ronstadt on backing vocals, compares a young man’s life to an old man’s and shows that the young man has, to some extent, the same needs as the old one. |
| Forever Young | Bob Dylan | “Forever Young” by Bob Dylan, released in 1974, was written as a lullaby for his eldest son Jesse, born in 1966, relating a father’s hopes that his child will remain strong and happy. |
| Slip Slidin’ Away | Paul Simon | “Slip Slidin’ Away” by Paul Simon, released in 1977, is a trilogy – man, woman, father who all “slip slide away” and a fourth verse which can be considered an overview, or critic by the one who knows it all. |
| Dust In The Wind | Kansas | “Dust in the Wind” by American band Kansas, released in 1977 and written by band member Kerry Livgren, is a meditation on mortality and the inevitability of death. Resemblance can be found to the biblical passages Genesis 3:19 (“…for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”) and Ecclesiastes 3:20 (“All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return.”) and the phrase “dust in the wind” occurs in Psalms 18:42 (“I ground [my enemies] like dust on the face of the wind…”). |
| All This Time | Sting | “All This Time” by Sting, released in 1990, are a reference to the death of his father, symbolized by the image of a young boy, Billy, who, at the death of his father, wishes to bury him at sea instead of going through the Catholic rites. |
Sources
The information sources of the song facts include, but are not limited to, Wikipedia, songfacts.com, discogs.com, secondhandsongs.com, YouTube and artists’ related websites.
