Posted on Jun 6, 2018 in Aging
There are plenty of songs out there about the joys of being young, but what about growing old? Thankfully we have artists who have dedicated entire songs to the process of aging, the pleasures, wisdom, and stories that accompany it, along with the love we hold for seniors close to us. Here are some of the best songs about growing old:
In this touching tribute to Grandma, Bill Withers describes the way his Grandmother’s hands symbolized her nurturing, caring attitude. The short single was from his hit album Just As I Am, and includes scenes from Bill’s childhood, including going to church, and being put to bed. She passed away before Bill could pen this loving song, and he says at the end, “If I get to heaven, I’ll look for Grandma’s hands”. The intro to this song is actually the sample used for “No Diggity” by Blackstreet.
Grandma’s hands clapped in church on Sunday morning
Grandma’s hands played a tambourine so well
Grandma’s hands used to issue out a warning
She’d say, “Billy don’t you run so fast
Might fall on a piece of glass
Might be snakes there in that grass,”
Grandma’s hands
Grandma’s hands sooth the local unwed mother
Grandma’s hands used to ache sometimes and swell
Grandma’s hands used to lift her face and tell her
She’d say, “Baby Grandma understands
That you really loved that man
Put yourself in Jesus’ hands.”
Grandma’s Hands
Grandma’s hands used to hand me piece of candy
Grandma’s hands picked me up each time I fell
Grandma’s hands, boy they really came in handy
She’d say, ” Mattie don’t you whip that boy
What you want to spank him for?
He didn’t drop no apple core,”
But I don’t have Grandma anymore
If I get to heaven I’ll look for
Grandma’s hands
Ironically, this tribute to love in old age was written by Paul McCartney at the tender age of sixteen. The song takes the point of view of a young man asking his love if she will want to stick around for all the activities of older age, like knitting a sweater, doing the garden, and renting a cottage in the summer. Paul paints a rosy picture of life in the golden years, but he touches on some of the important aspects of love that people who are young take for granted.
When I get older losing my hair
Many years from now
Will you still be sending me a valentine
Birthday greetings, bottle of wine?
If I’d been out till quarter to three
Would you lock the door
Will you still need me, will you still feed me
When I’m sixty-four?
You’ll be older too
And if you say the word
I could stay with you
I could be handy mending a fuse
When your lights have gone
You can knit a sweater by the fireside
Sunday mornings go for a ride
Doing the garden, digging the weeds
Who could ask for more?
Will you still need me, will you still feed me
When I’m sixty-four?
Every summer we can rent a cottage
In the Isle of Wight, if it’s not too dear
We shall scrimp and save
Grandchildren on your knee
Vera, Chuck, and Dave
Send me a postcard, drop me a line
Stating point of view
Indicate precisely what you mean to say
Yours sincerely, wasting away
Give me your answer, fill in a form
Mine for evermore
Will you still need me, will you still feed me
When I’m sixty-four?
This David Bowie classic is another example of his mastery of both lyricism and catchy melodizing. Changes is about David coming to terms with the way both he and the world are changing. For many of us, holding on to the past is tempting because it is safer. However, David is saying that he not only recognizes the inevitability of change, but that he is even welcoming and encouraging of this fact: “Strange fascination, fascinating me, changes are taking the pace I’m going through.”
I still don’t know what I was waiting for
And my time was running wild
A million dead-end streets
Every time I thought I’d got it made
It seemed the taste was not so sweet
So I turned myself to face me
But I’ve never caught a glimpse
Of how the others must see the faker
I’m much too fast to take that test
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strange)
Ch-ch-Changes
Don’t want to be a richer man
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strange)
Ch-ch-Changes
Just gonna have to be a different man
Time may change me
But I can’t trace time
I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence and
So the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They’re quite aware of what they’re going through
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strange)
Ch-ch-Changes
Don’t tell them to grow up and out of it
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
(Turn and face the strange)
Ch-ch-changes
Where’s your shame
You’ve left us up to our necks in it
Time may change me
But you can’t trace time
Strange fascination, fascinating me
Changes are taking the pace I’m going through
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strange)
Ch-ch-changes
Oh, look out you rock ‘n rollers
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
(Turn and face the strange)
Ch-ch-changes
Pretty soon now you’re gonna get older
Time may change me
But I can’t trace time
I said that time may change me
But I can’t trace time
Against the Wind was written by Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band for the 1980 album of the same name. The song concerns an older man’s reminiscence on his younger days. He realizes that as a young man he spent all his time fighting to go faster and experience as much as possible. He even leaves behind a woman he could have spent his life with in the pursuit of wealth and success. The song culminates with the image of a cowboy continually riding into the sunset, away from civilization.
It seems like yesterday
But it was long ago
Janey was lovely she was the queen of my nights
There in the darkness with the radio playing low
And the secrets that we shared
The mountains that we moved
Caught like a wildfire out of control
‘Til there was nothing left to burn and nothing left to prove
And I remember what she said to me
How she swore that it never would end
I remember how she held me oh so tight
Wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then
Against the wind
We were runnin’ against the wind
We were young and strong, we were runnin’
Against the wind
The years rolled slowly past
And I found myself alone
Surrounded by strangers I thought were my friends
I found myself further and further from my home
And I guess I lost my way
There were oh so many roads
I was living to run and running to live
Never worried about paying or even how much I owed
Moving eight miles a minute for months at a time
Breaking all of the rules that would bend
I began to find myself searching
Searching for shelter again and again
Against the wind
A little something against the wind
I found myself seeking shelter sgainst the wind
Well those drifter’s days are past me now
I’ve got so much more to think about
Deadlines and commitments
What to leave in, what to leave out
Against the wind
I’m still runnin’ against the wind
I’m older now but still runnin’ against the wind
Well I’m older now and still runnin’
Against the wind
Against the wind
Against the wind
Still runnin’
I’m still runnin’ against the wind
I’m still runnin’
I’m still runnin’ against the wind
Still runnin’
Runnin’ against the wind
Runnin’ against the wind
See the young man run
Watch the young man run
Watch the young man runnin’
He’ll be runnin’ against the wind
Let the cowboys ride
Let the cowboys ride
They’ll be ridin’ against the wind
Against the wind…
This song is not so much about the beauty of growing older, but the importance of letting go of and making peace with your past. The whole album is about the theme of the suburbs and growing up, and this song sets the tone with the narrator accepting that his childhood is over, and that he has to focus on giving his child a better upbringing than he had. The tone is sad, but ultimately hopeful and forward looking.
In the suburbs I
I learned to drive
And you told me we’d never survive
Grab your mother’s keys we’re leavin’
You always seemed so sure
That one day we’d be fighting
In a suburban war
Your part of town against mine
I saw you standing on the opposite shore
But by the time the first bombs fell
We were already bored
We were already, already bored
Sometimes I can’t believe it
I’m movin’ past the feeling
Sometimes I can’t believe it
I’m movin’ past the feeling again
Kids wanna be so hard
But in my dreams we’re still screamin’ and runnin’ through the yard
And all of the walls that they built in the seventies finally fall
And all of the houses they built in the seventies finally fall
Meant nothin’ at all
Meant nothin’ at all
It meant nothin
Sometimes I can’t believe it
I’m movin’ past the feeling
Sometimes I can’t believe it
I’m movin’ past the feeling and into the night
So can you understand?
Why I want a daughter while I’m still young
I wanna hold her hand
And show her some beauty
Before all this damage is done
But if it’s too much to ask, it’s too much to ask
Then send me a son
Under the overpass
In the parking lot we’re still waiting
It’s already past
So move your feet from hot pavement and into the grass
Cause it’s already past
It’s already, already past
Sometimes I can’t believe it
I’m movin’ past the feeling
Sometimes I can’t believe it
I’m movin’ past the feeling again
I’m movin’ past the feeling
I’m movin’ past the feeling
In my dreams we’re still screamin’
We’re still screamin’
We’re still screamin’
Thanks for reading our list on some of the top songs about senior aging and growing older! You can visit the Landmark Senior Living blog for more information about assisted living, elderly care, senior health/fitness and more.
