This week, boys and girls, I’ve chosen quite the classic for you. “Young at Heart” performed by Frank Sinatra is a beloved song that has stood the test of time.
Wikipedia states, “‘Young at Heart’ is a pop standard, a ballad with music by Johnny Richards and lyrics by Carolyn Leigh. The song was written and published in 1953, with Leigh contributing the lyrics to what was originally a Richards instrumental called ‘Moonbeam.’ Frank Sinatra was the first performer to record the song, which became a million-selling hit in 1953 (and spilling over with popularity into 1954). The song was such a hit that a movie that Sinatra was filming at the same time with Doris Day was renamed to the song title, and the song was included in the opening and closing credits of the movie, which was released as Young at Heart.”
Youth has meant different things throughout the years. Now people are trying to stay so “young” that they are filling their bodies with unnatural fluids, and stretching their skin in ways in was not meant to be stretched! What is this fascination with looking “young” and where did it come from? What does “young” really mean? Are we going about it in the right way?
As you read the lyrics below, ask yourself what being “young” means to you.
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Young at Heart by Frank Sinatra
Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you
If you’re young at heart.
For its hard, you will find, to be narrow of mind
If you’re young at heart.
You can go to extremes with impossible schemes.
You can laugh when your dreams fall apart at the seams.
And life gets more exciting with each passing day.
And love is either in your heart or on its way.
Don’t you know that it’s worth every treasure on earth
To be young at heart.
For as rich as you are it’s much better by far
To be young at heart.
And if you should survive to 105
Look at all you’ll derive out of being alive!
Then here is the best part:
You have a head start
If you are among the very young at heart.
And if you should survive to 105
Look at all you’ll derive out of being alive!
Then here is the best part:
You have a head start
If you are among the very young at heart.
*Lyrics provided by www.lyricsfreak.com
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How does this song make you feel?
When was the last time you felt like “young”?
What does this song remind you of?
In the busy, crazy world that we live in, what can we do to stay young?
This week’s challenge: Go have some fun! Try doing what you did as a kid: go to a park, play a board game, watch a cartoon, or get some ice cream! Just get out and enjoy life, and see if it makes you feel any younger.
Click on the YouTube link below to hear the song:
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2 comments:
Great song, and a classic!
The song is about remaining youthful at your core: keeping a mind open to possibility and unconditionally receptive to love in all its forms. That is the essence of being young—being a kid—living in a world where ANYTHING can happen, and something new and exciting and good is always just around the corner.
Of course, the idea of "youth" has been hijacked and perverted in our society today. What began with advertising in the 1960s has become a full-blown epidemic: an obsession with staying young. We are taught now to revere the young and ignorant, to place them on a pedestal. While the elderly and wise we stow away in a nursing home where we need not see nor hear them.
The problems with this are myriad, chief among them the fact that the young, by very definition, don't know anything! In essence, we've become a culture willing to throw away wisdom for youthful-seeming beauty. And that is the epitome of vanity!
Not to mention we've become jealous of the young, envying their innocence and so conspire to bring their youth to an end as soon as possible (seen MTV lately? Still targeted at kids, hardly kids programming).
See what you did? You baited me with your post, and threw me off track! This song is about what we should admire about the young: the ability to dream and to believe, not only in ourselves but in a better world.
If more of us were young at heart, I think this world would be in better shape! And I, for one, am overjoyed that I have a fiance who is young at heart, and hopefully I can always keep it that way. ;-)
Ditto to "The Artistic Mercenary's" response! Enjoyed reading it! I agree that the song is about holding on to one's youthfulness, inside of us, not the outer exterior. The older I get, the more important I feel it is to keep my views, thoughts and ideas youthful. I refuse to become narrow-minded and critical, though I find many people gravitate that way when reaching a certain level of maturity. I still feel 25 inside and wonder if I always will?
I love this song, and in fact listen to "Frank" on a daily basis...not necessarily to retain the youthful spirit, but more enjoy the glossiness I get from his music...that all is perfect, beautiful and attainable. I guess getting older makes me feel younger... Jill T
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