♫ Forever Young ♫

Posted on by under music

Last night my friend Carolyn over at Nuggets of Gold wrote a post … she’s a storyteller, and a damn fine one at that.  Her post was titled “Forever Young” and naturally this song by Rod Stewart came into all our minds.  I don’t know about Tippy, Jim and Jason (her most prolific commentors), but the song stayed in my head all evening!  Begging for release, it was (Carolyn, I owe you one, my friend!) and so I really had no choice but to play it here tonight.  I really can’t complain, though, for I do like the song and the video is rather interesting.

Rod Stewart wrote this song with his guitarist Jim Cregan and his keyboard player Kevin Savigar. Rod considers it one of the songs he’s most proud of, saying …

“I love ‘Forever Young,’ because that was a real heartfelt song about my kids. I suddenly realized I’d missed a good five years of Sean and Kimberley’s life because I was so busy touring all the time. With these kids now I don’t make that mistake – I take them on tour with me, so I can watch them grow up. So that’s another favourite. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a big hit in England, but it’s like a national anthem here (America).”

Andy Taylor of Duran Duran produced the album with Stewart and performed the guitar solo on this song.  Released in 1988, the song went to #9 in Canada, #12 in the U.S., and initially only reached #57 in the UK.  However, it returned to the UK singles chart in 2013 after it was featured in the Tesco 2013 Christmas advertising campaign. This time it peaked at #55, improving by two whole places!

The structure of the lyrics in this song is very similar to a Bob Dylan song of the same title. After its completion, the song was then sent to Dylan, asking whether he had a problem with it. The two men agreed to participate in the ownership of the song and share Stewart’s royalties.  Wow … no lawsuits, no arguments, just the spirit of cooperation to provide good music.

In January 1989, immediately following the broadcast of Super Bowl XXIII, NBC Sports used “Forever Young” as the soundtrack for a year-in-review montage showcasing highlights from the 1988 Summer Olympics, the 1988 World Series, the 1989 Fiesta Bowl, and Super Bowl XXIII. All four events had been broadcast by NBC.

This video was filmed on Potrero Road in Hidden Valley, Ventura County, California.

Forever Young
Rod Stewart

May the good Lord be with you down every road you roam.
And may sunshine and happiness surround you when you’re far from home.
And my you grow to be proud, dignified and true.
And do unto others as you’d have done to you.
Be courageous and be brave.
And in my heart you’ll always stay

Forever young. (Forever young)
Forever young. (Forever young)

May good fortune be with you, may your guiding light be strong,
Build a stairway to heaven with a prince or a vagabond.
And may you never love in vain.
And in my heart you will remain

Forever young. (Forever young)
Forever young. (Forever young)
Forever young. Forever young

And when you fin’lly fly away, I’ll be hoping that I served you well.
For all the wisdom of a lifetime, no one can ever tell.
But whatever road you choose, I’m right behind you win or lose,

Forever young. (Forever young)
Forever young. (Forever young)
Forever young. Forever young
For forever young

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Bob Dylan / Jim Cregan / Kevin Savigar / Rod Stewart
Forever Young lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc, BMG Rights Management, Iricom US Ltd, Universal Music Publishing Group

Discover more from Filosofa's Word

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

22 thoughts on “♫ Forever Young ♫”

  1. This song is so reminiscent of Bod Dylan’s composition, but I would like to add another name to the list of people who created such beauty with it. I hope your readers will take the time to listen to John Baez, with Bob Dylan’s “Forever Young”:

    Liked by 2 people

      • Again, different lyrics. Rod changed most of the lyrics to suit his situation, John sand Bob’s lyrics. It is her voice that I love. Rod could never sound like her.

        Liked by 1 person

        • No, thankfully Rod could never sound like Joan or vice versa! In part, perhaps it is the difference between male & female, for I typically prefer male singers, though there are many female singers I love, such as Barbra Streisand, Whitney Houston, Roberta Flack and others.

          Liked by 1 person

  2. Pingback: ♫ Forever Young ♫ | Filosofa’s Word | Ramblings of an Occupy Liberal

  4. Love this song and video. It was good to see he could still do something this good, around fifteen years after I rather lost faith in him. This was a Tuesday Tune for me last year. There is another song with the same title by a band called Alphaville, but don’t go for their version: look up the cover by Andrea Von Kampen. If you go to YouTube, search for Hafod Hardware – they used it as background music for their 2019 Christmas ad, and it’s beautiful. It went viral, with all sorts of media coverage, as they are just a local store in a small Welsh town. Really heartwarming stuff.

    Liked by 2 people

Comments are closed.