Well, I might as well reveal part of my very long list of “best music”. This time I’ll post my choice of the best “songs about aging or dying” for Baby Boomers. These aren’t necessarily all good (I’m not a fan of Mellencamp, for instance), but they’re all notable. And yes, I realize that “Long May You Run” is really about Neil Young’s car (a 1948 Buick Roadmaster hearse he called Mortimer Hearseburg), but it’s still appropriate. Further, some of the songs are about lost love, but all refer to the sadness of passing time.
Father and Son Cat Stevens
Touch of Gray The Grateful Dead
When I’m Sixty-Four The Beatles
Boys of Summer Don Henley
Cherry Bomb John Mellencamp
Long May You Run Stills-Young Band
All Summer Long The Beach Boys
Caroline No The Beach Boys
Nick of Time Bonnie Raitt
When We Was Fab George Harrison
All those Years Ago George Harrison
Rockin’ Chair The Band
Taxi Harry Chapin
Cat’s in the Cradle Harry Chapin
Old Friends (Bookends) Simon and Garfunkel
Don’t Fear the Reaper Blue Öyster Cult
Wasted on the Way Crosby Stills & Nash
I welcome readers’ suggestions, and I’ll put up five of the songs that I think are particularly good and underappreciated:
“Boys of Summer” (1984). For some reason this song absolutely brings back my own teenage years, and quite vividly:
“Caroline, No” (1966), by the great Brian Wilson.
“All Those Years Ago” (1981). Nobody seems to remember this song by George Harrison, but it’s not only great, but a moving tribute to his late fellow Beatle, John Lennon. It’s clear that despite their tiffs, Harrison really loved Lennon.
“Taxi” by Harry Chapin (1972). I’m sure this song is long forgotten, but it’s among the very best ones on the list. The “soprano” part is sung by “Big John” Wallace, Chapin’s bassist; everybody thought that the original record used a female voice. You can end the song at 7:31; it just repeats with the lyrics shown.
“Nick of Time” by Bonnie Raitt (1989). I love this song; the tune is excellent, with a good hook, and the words are wonderful:
Great list
I know readers here diverge on late Lennon, but IMHO
Watching the Wheels (1980) has a strong … what, looking back vibe?… and the sounds e.g. the carousel sort of sound just BAM hit hard, as a nod to Sgt. Pepper’s…
Also a great overall tune, IMHO.
Good call! It’s easy to underestimate solo Beatles songs by comparison to their joint efforts.
“Watching the Wheels” was one of John’s best solo recordings. Speaking of late Lennon, I’m surprised no one has mentioned “Grow Old With Me”:
John was murdered before he could make an official studio recording of the song, but the demo has a raw beauty and immediacy that probably would have been reduced by a “proper” recording, as proven by later attempts to sweeten the demo with strings and orchestration.
“Hello In There,” by John Prine
Oh man, that is such a deep song.
‘Hello In There’ is a favourite.
‘Sam Stone’ is another great song from John Prine, which can be added to PCCE’s list.
‘Sam Stone was alone when he popped his last balloon,
Climbing walls while sitting in a chair.’
I totally agree. Hello In There is quite wonderfully evocative.
This YouTube Video captures it perfectly.
https://youtu.be/RfwGkplB_sY
I didn’t know who wrote it, I’ve only ever heard the Bette Midler version, which I love.
“This Is All I Ask”,
a classic popular/jazz standard written by Gordon Jenkins in 1958 (he considered it his finest composition).
https://youtu.be/TbkxjlBjGM8?si=tOyO7dJruOC-sMRA
Tony! I love his voice. I didn’t include songs from earlier times, or I would have included “September Song”, an oldie most recently (and perhaps more plaintively) sung by Willie Nelson. Here:
“Taxi”. I have probably not thought about that great song for decades. And this and so many others cannot be aired now on most radio stations bc it does not fit the ‘algorithm’.
Grim list, boss. But while we’re at it:
“Tomorrow Never Knows” (Beatles) even tho they say “This is not dying…” It is. Possibly one needs the psychedelics on board to hear it….
All Those Years Ago is one of my all time favorites.
D.A.
NYC
What about The Ballard of Lucy Jordan by Marianne Faithful?
I love that, I still play it a lot.
At the age of thirty-seven she realized that she would never ride through Paris in a sports car with the warm wind in her hair.
“Wasted on the Way” is one of many examples of C,S&N’s excellent harmonizing and sweet sounding yet poignant tunes filled with bittersweet thoughts. As for Blue Öyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper”, it has just the right amount of cowbell.
Damn, I forgot the CS&N song!
“Time” from Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon. From one of the greatest of all albums, no less.
I have been on a PF kick lately, playing their songs very loudly (like I would in college) but also now watching YT videos about how they worked. Amazing stuff.
You might want to watch the life version of Mother with the youtube search ‘mother pink floyd legendado’
Yes.
“Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii” is one of the best rock performances of all time IMO. Yes, watch and listen Loud! It was released right before Dark Side of the Moon, though nothing from the album was played. Later versions of the movie has studio outtakes from when they were recording Dark Side. The Directors Cut came out in 2002 which has a lot of added footage. Music maestro Steven Wilson remixed the soundtrack for a 4k resolution version released in April 2025. I would like to watch that version, but haven’t yet.
This doesn’t add anything to the discussion, but I commented because you said you were on a Floyd kick.
It was briefly in cinemas last year. Saw it there in one with a good sound system. Such a great band, and Waters had some good lyrics back in the day. What a shame that he has become so überwoke. He doesn’t seem to realize that his current behaviour is the same as much of what he objected to when he was younger. (And he even wrote an entire concept album—The Wall about that very concept.)
Yeah, Waters baffles me. Pity.
Thanks for the feedback on the re-release.
Miles From Nowhere Cat Stevens
Time by Pink Floyd?
Ah, too late 🙁
Time, from the album Dark Side of the Moon
Here are a few more, focusing on a sort of midlife crisis vibe:
“Once In A Lifetime,” Talking Heads
“Time,” Pink Floyd (mentioned by two others during the time it took to write this!)
“You Can Call Me Al,” Paul Simon
“Last Leaf,” Tom Waits, which Willie Nelson included on his most recent album and regularly performs
Speaking of Tom Waits, there’s also “Time” from Rain Dogs that is apropos to the discussion.
Your list is excellent. “Father and Son” by Cat Stevens may be my favorite song of all time. Here are a few more greats.
“Is That All There Is?” Written by Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller, and made famous by the great Peggy Lee.
“The Impossible Dream.” Composed by Mitch Leigh, lyrics by Joe Darion, and sung by many, including Robert Goulet, Frank Sinatra, Jim Nabors (Amazing!), and baritone Ed Ames.
“Sunrise, Sunset.” Composed by Jerry Bock with lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, from the musical Fiddler on the Roof. Sung by Tevye, Golde, Perchik, Hodel and others in the cast.
“You Can Close Your Eyes.” By James Taylor. May or may not be about aging, but I read it that way. James Taylor and Carole King sang this together at a concert I attended. There was not a dry eye in the house.
“September of My Years.” Written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn, and sung by the incomparable Frank Sinatra.
“Will You Remember Me?” Rosanne Cash and John Levanthal.
“Diamonds and Rust.” Joan Baez. On the album Diamonds and Rust. (How could I not have thought of this one earlier?)
“Winds of the Old Days.” Joan Baez. Also on the album Diamonds and Rust.
“Those Were the Days (My Friend).” Connie Francis. Also Mary Hopkin.
In fear of breaking the Roolz, I will cease and desist here. Once I start into Johnny Cash’s records with Rick Rubin, I could find another half-dozen greats.
There’s no end to wonderful and emotive songs about aging and death. It’s one musics great themes.
“Hello in There” by John Prine
End of the line – Travelling Wilburys.
I love its jauntiness.
“I Will Follow You Into the Dark” by Death Cab for Cutie. Some religious tropes are mentioned, but this doesn’t strike me as a religious song (and especially so when you get to the lapsed Catholic part):
The opening lyrics:
Love of mine, someday you will die
But I’ll be close behind, I’ll follow you into the dark
No blinding light or tunnels to gates of white
Just our hands clasped so tight, waiting for the hint of a spark
Evie, parts 1, 2 & 3 sung by Stevie Wright.
https://www.reddit.com/r/OldSchoolCoolMusic/comments/1qaxrp8/stevie_wright_evie_parts_12_3_live_at_sydney/
It is awkward to begin to describe what this song deals with, without ‘spoiling’ the end, but these lyrics from part 3 –
“When I woke this morning
I was king of the world
Longing to know if we’d a boy or a girl”
give some context.
Just two from so many melancholy possibilities:
Make Mine a Small One, by Eleanor McEvoy
In My Life, the Beatles
Many good choices, but number one for me is “Across the Great Divide” by Kate Wolf. Yes, the years have slipped by, but the third verse speaks to the finest hour ever seen.
Just listened to a recording of this. So beautiful. My introduction to the song was Nanci Griffith’s version.
Indeed Griffith does a great job. Wolf died way too young
Nice list & additions
I’d add: Audioslave – “like a stone”
Great song! Can’t go wrong with Chris Cornell’s vocals.
I don’t think I am going to have a funeral, but if I did, then this would be the first song. I’m atheist, and there’s no ‘maker’, but I think the sentiment is ok in this context.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_RBtabpXjZE
At My Funeral – Crash Test Dummies
I’m still young, but I know my days are numbered
1234567 and so on
But a time will come when these numbers have all ended
And all I’ve ever seen will be forgotten
Won’t you come
To my funeral when my days are done
Life’s not long
And so I hope when I am finally dead and gone
That you’ll gather round when I am lowered into the ground
When my coffin is sealed and I’m safely 6 feet under
Perhaps my friends will see fit then to judge me
Oh when they pause to consider all my blunders
I hope they won’t be too quick to begrudge me
If I should die before I wake up
I pray that the Lord my soul will take but
My body, my body, that’s your job
I can’t be sure where I’m headed after death
To heaven, hell, or beyond to that Great Vast
But if I can I would like to meet my Maker
There’s one or two things I’d sure like to ask
What a drag it is getting old….
He Stopped Loving Her Today
St. James Infirmary
Rock and Roll Never Forgets [they’re not all morbid]
Strange Fruit
Stagger Lee
Last Kiss
Dead Man’s Curve
Knocking on Heaven’s Door
Bad, Bad Leroy Brown
Nobody Left to Run with Anymore
“Sleep’s Dark and Silent Gate” from Jackson Browne’s The Pretender? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ttaETAtO0M
I’m glad to see zero mentions of “Seasons in the Sun”!
Johnny Cash singing “Hurt” by Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails.
Sandy Denny’s “Who Knows Where the Time Goes?”
Yes.
Good one!
Pink Floyd’s “Free Four” from their Obscured By Clouds album –
The memories of an old man.
Are the deeds of a man in his prime.
People Who Died by the Jim Carroll Band
Jethro Tull (like most of their songs, words and music by Ian Anderson, great wah-wah solo by Martin Barre), “We Used to Know”:
Whenever I get to feel this way
Try to find new words to say
I think about the bad old days
We used to know
Nights of winter turn me cold
Fears of dying, getting old
We ran the race, the race was won
By running slowly
Could be soon we’ll cease to sound
Slowly upstairs, faster down
Then to revisit stony grounds
We used to know
Remembering mornings, shillings spent
Made no sense to leave the bed
The bad old days they came and went
Giving way to fruitful years
Saving up the birds in hand
While in the bush the others land
Take what we can before the man
Says it’s time to go
Each to his own way I’ll go mine
Best of luck with what you find
But for your own sake remember times
We used to know
Ian Anderson has a song about death on the latest Jethro Tull Album, “Curious Ruminant” (2025). The song, or rather spoken piece, is called “Interim Sleep”. The lyrics are about reincarnation, which I’m not on board with, but it makes for a beautiful guided meditation.
I’m pretty sure that Anderson doesn’t believe in reincarnation either. Although unusual in rock music, there are songs in which the narrator is not the actual singer.
Curious Ruminant is the latest album. While I think that The Broadsword and the Beast from 1982 is their last really good album, Anderson has continued to make good music, even though he is no longer in the biggest band in the world. What about the following, from Roots to Branches from 1994 (32 years ago; who knows where the time goes?):
So why are you holding my hand tonight?
I’m not intending to go far away.
I’m just slipping through to the back room
I’ll leave you messages almost every day.
And who was I to last forever?
I didn’t promise to stay the pace.
Not in this lifetime, babe
But we’ll cling together:
Some kind of heaven written in your face.
So why are you holding my hand tonight?
Well, am I feeling so cold to the touch?
Do my eyes seem to focus
On some distant point?
Why do I find it hard to talk too much?
And who was I to last forever?
I didn’t promise to stay the pace.
Not in this lifetime, babe
But we’ll cling together:
Some kind of heaven written in your face.
So why are you holding my hand tonight?
I’m not intending to go far away.
I’m just slipping through to the back room
I’ll leave you messages almost every day.
And who was I to last forever?
I didn’t promise to stay the pace.
Not in this lifetime, babe
But we’ll cling together:
Some kind of heaven written in your face.
James Keelaghan’s “Who Dies?” from his album Road.
King Crimson: “Epitaph” from In the Court of the Crimson King.
Buddy Guy’s version of Done Got Old by Junior Kimbrough. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean by Blind Lemon Jefferson. Old and in the Way by Hazel Dickens.
I nominate “Senior Citizens,” from Pete Atkin’s 1974 album “The Road of Silk.” Atkin, whose lyricist was none other than Clive James, earned much critical acclaim in the UK during the ’70s but never sold well, so his work is one that decade’s buried treasures. “Senior Citizens” contrasts the loneliness and heartbreak of old age with the promises of youth and its illusory sense of time. The arrangement is exquisite, rising from a strummed electric guitar to bass, drums, and finally gorgeous strings. The lyrics are just as fine:
And all the shares they ever held in laughter
Are now just so many old engravings–
Their sands have run out long before their savings
And the fun ran out so long before the sands.
They’ve lost touch with the touch of other hands
That once came to caress, and then to help…
“The Dutchman”…”Long ago, I used to be a young man, and dear Margaret remembers that for me.”
I heard this live decades ago in Austin TX, don’t remember who sung it then, probably Steve Goodman or Jerry Jeff Walker. It is more poignant now that I too have a “long ago”.
Here’s Jerry Jeff Walker’s version:
The official lyrics of the chorus end in “for me” but I think it was “in me”.
It was written by Michael Peter Smith
Yes, I know, but I heard it from Jerry Jeff or Steve G.
A silly one good for a laugh that comes to mind is “Seasons in the Sun” by Rod McKuen, made into a hit song by Terry Jacks. The lyrics are pretty dumb, e.g.
We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun
But the only stars we could reach
Were the starfish on the beach
I like that song! I didn’t know that the lyrics were by Rod McKuen.
Haha!
Not one of you mentioned:
“Old Hippie” by the Bellamy Brothers?!?
The Beach Boys “When I Grow Up To Be A Man” (1964)
Indeed Griffith does a great job. Wolf died way too young
Brown Eyed Women- Grateful Dead
Sugar Mountain – Neil Young
My Back Pages – Bob Dylan
Rita Coolidge – “We’re All Alone” (written by Boz Scaggs, but her recording was the one which charted in the UK)
Pulp – “Help The Aged”
A House – “Endless Art” (basically a list of famous names who were no more)
Yello – “30,000 Days”
What about End of the Innocence by Don Henley? especially the third stanza:
Oh, who knows how long this will last,
now we’ve come so far, so fast.
But somewhere back there in the dust
is that same small town in each of us.
I need to remember this,
so baby give me just one kiss,
And let me take a long, last look
before we say good-bye.
Lots of great songs above. I’ll add
“When I’m 84” by The Beautiful South
High Hopes from Pink Floyd’s Division Bell (sans Roger Waters), and two songs from David Gilmour’s latest album: Luck and Strange, and Scattered with a recommendation to listen to the live versions from his concert tours.
Have a listen to this newer song by Nikki Sixx. A man who lived a rough life and made it to the other side. It’s by his band Sixx:A.M and it’s called Life is Beautiful.
https://youtu.be/UJIDbxGrRqc?si=umEDThSI75sP3PIT
100 Years by Five For Fighting.
Some latter day Dylan, Highlands, Not Dark Yet, Key West; some latter day Leonard Cohen, Leaving the Table; and a shout out to Joe Henry’s brilliant Our Song
“It Was a Very Good Year,” by Frank Sinatra (originally by the Kingston Trio).
Solo by KT member Bob Shane. (IIRC, Sinatra was driving between Palm Springs or Desert and LA and was so taken with the song that he pulled over to listen.)
Other songs:
“I’m Glad I’m Not Young Anymore” – Lorne Greene
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ed4qmr-AvxQ
“Old Folks” – Ronnie Milsap and Mike Reid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFeXjSH-tiU
Doug R- YES! My favorite. (And I don’t particularly like Sinatra, but he sings it well.)
Comes a time – Neil Young
Everyone talking – Harry Neilson
Pirate looks at 40 – Jimmy Buffet
I know these by dint of jamming to these tunes of late.
Tom Waits’s “Shiver Me Timbers” is the most beautiful, heart-wrenching song about death that I know.
https://youtu.be/vfLY8NZCQMg?si=DrXZRkzY9JMdD-Hr
I’m leavin’ my family
And leavin’ my friends
My body’s at home
But my heart’s in the wind
Where the clouds are like headlines
On a new front page sky
My tears are salt water
And the moon’s full and high
And I know Martin Eden’s
Gonna be proud of me
Many before me
Been called by the sea
To be up in the crow’s nest
And singin’ my say
Shiver me Timbers
I’m a-sailin’ away
And the fog’s liftin’
Sand’s shiftin’
I’m driftin’ on out
Ol’ Captain Ahab
Got nothin’ on me
Come swallow me, don’t follow me
I travel alone
Blue water’s my daughter
I skip like a stone
Please call my missus
Tell her not to cry
My goodbye is written
By the moon in the sky
And nobody knows me
I can’t fathom my stayin’
Shiver me timbers
I’m a-sailin’ away….
And I’m leavin’ my family
And I’m leavin’ my friends
My body’s at home
But my heart’s in the wind
Where the clouds are like headlines
On a new front page sky
Shiver me timbers
I’m sailin’ away
Not Dark Yet, Bob Dylan
Oh, Death, Ralph Stanley
Spirit in the Sky, Norman Greenbaum
Long Black Veil, many versions. My choice is The Band’s.
Pretty much all of Leonard Cohen’s final album, You Want it Darker .p
Hurt, by Johnny Cash ..
The way he sings it, seems you can feel the hurt he’s appearing to feel of being old, and knowing that death is at hand.
Go Rest High On That Mountain — Vince Gill.
Telephone Line, Electric Light Orchestra
Hello in There by John Prine
https://youtu.be/OVhA01J0Zsg?si=hxl5PXj6fCrjppqo
Lee Hazelwood – My Autumn’s Done Come.
https://youtu.be/Qo24xN9mj8Q?si=F2Q1bJQ467Mv8RY5
The Hungry Years by Neil Sedaka.
I’ll go with “Forever Young” by Mr. Dylan. As a geezer, that’s how I roll.
Old Friends Paul Simon
Has anyone mentioned “Time” by Pink Floyd?
Surprised no one has mentioned “My Generation” by the Who which has this famous line:
“Yeah, I hope I die before I get old”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN5zw04WxCc
Would you consider adding “My choice of best movies about getting older or dying.”?
This is the saddest song I know, but I’m a d*g lover. I lost three as a child and buried three more as an adult. I find it hard to listen to. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao0KgBdRHPg
Eleanor Rigby
On West Coast time here, so a late post. On the dying side of things, I’m surprised no one mentioned “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” from the the Monty Python’s movie “Life of Brian.”
Slip Sliding Away, Paul Simon