10 Songs About Getting Old

These 10 songs about getting old cover many different angles on aging from a wide variety of artists. Aging affects everybody, from the jazz age to the punk age. We all age, so everybody sings about it. However, some of these songs might be real downers at your next birthday party, so be careful out there.

1. Fats Waller -- "Old Grand Dad": Maybe you don't want to be known as an "old grand dad." Grandfather just sounds better. We'll bet you'd just like the "grand" part left off, right?
   
2. Bill Withers-- "Grandma's Hands": Do you remember the first time you noticed how wrinkled your grandma's hands were? It was freaky, right? Ah, but those were the same hands that made you chocolate cookies, so respect the hands!
   
3. Will Oakland, "Silver Threads Among the Gold": This song begins, "Darling, I'm growing old." That'll kill any party. Ah, but true love lasts a long time--even into old age.
   
4. Jacques Brel -- "Les Vieux": This is a French song. In fact, its story takes place in Paris. So it speaks of aging in the most romantic tongue.
   
5. Elvis Costello -- "Veronica": Back in the day, it would have been impossible to imagine this angry young man singing lovingly about an older woman. But then again, he also had the help of Paul McCartney to write it. Maybe Paul McCartney helped bring out long-hidden sweetness from Elvis Costello's pen.
   
6. LCD Soundsystem -- "Losing My Edge": When you age, you can't help but notice the things you can no longer do as well as you used to. That's what this song's about. No, it's not about the untimely death of The Edge of U2, in case you're wondering.
7. Hoagy Carmichael -- "Rockin' Chair": We all probably have an image of older folks, taking it easy and rocking in a rocking chair. Oh, if only aging were like that all the time. But hey, it can be.
   
8. Nas -- "Can't Forget About You": Of course, the rocking chair sunset is possible. This is a contemporary rapper imagining his life when he can finally "kick back," although the line about him wearing a straw hat is a little tough to picture.
9. The Magnetic Fields -- "When You're Old and Lonely": Now this song is closer to reality. Loneliness is one sad consequence of aging. But, just as there can be the rocking chair end, there are people who can avoid that lonely final chapter--if families choose to make it that way.
   
10. Neil Young -- "Old Man": Neil Young has always seemed like an old man. Heck, he even sounds like one. Listen to how his voice warbles. He could imagine the life of an old man because he was (and is) an old man trapped inside a young man's body. Well, he's an old man himself now.