Tuesday Tunes 21: Growing Up

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When I was growing up, all those years ago, the age of majority in the UK was 21, and the occasion was usually marked by a special birthday party. Things began to change in 1969 when the voting age was lowered to 18, giving rise to much confusion: did we now reach majority at 18? Did all those years of tradition have to be thrown out of the window? In typical British style we somehow managed to compromise by counting both as the birthday at which we were suddenly supposed to become mature, and many lucky people had two big birthday celebrations. Me? I had neither! But that may be a story for another day. After going themeless for a couple of weeks I’m returning to the usual plan for this week, and am marking the 21st post in this series with the theme: Growing Up.

There are many songs which talk about what growing up means to us, how a milestone can be a time to both look back and ahead, how it can be a time of reflection and of hope. I had so many from which to choose that I had difficulty even getting the selection down to four songs, so that is what I’m going with.

Where to begin? You just can’t beat the Boss, can you? This song really says a lot about casting off the shackles and constraints that you feel in youth and becoming your own person, and is the ideal launchpad for this week:

As is fairly obvious from the images in the video, this was on Bruce’s debut album, Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ, which was released in January 1973. As debut albums go, it didn’t do badly, reaching #41 in the UK albums chart and #60 in the US. Probably helped by later sales, after his career took off in a big way, it has sold around 3m copies. As I said, not bad!

This week’s second tune is one that takes the concept of growing up rather differently – in this case, wishing that a youngster could always stay the way they are. I have previously written a post themed around Taylor Swift’s Never Grow Up (find it in the search box if you’d like to) and Rod Stewart covers similar ground, with a lovely video to match:

From its title you could be forgiven for thinking that this is a Bob Dylan song. It is, in part. Rod borrowed a lot from Bob’s song in writing his own, and asked Bob for permission to use his words. They agreed on a co-writing credit and a 50/50 share of the royalties from Rod’s song. That sounds like a good compromise to me – it avoided the long legal wrangles that other songwriters have found themselves in. The song is included on Rod’s 15th studio album, Out Of Order, released in 1988, which peaked at #11 in the UK and #20 in the US – though it did make #1 in Sweden! The track was the second single released from the album, reaching only #57 in the UK and #12 in the US: I think it deserved better.

The next song for this week takes the theme of looking back on life when major changes have impacted you. John Lennon was 25 when he wrote this reflection on how his life had altered, and how he had grown up, in just three years after the Beatles’ massive success began:

Apologies for the static image, but that is the official video for the 2009 remaster of the track, and offers a huge improvement in quality over previous versions, allowing the song’s simple beauty to really shine. As you probably know, it was on Rubber Soul, which was the Beatles’ sixth album, released in December 1965. Unsurprisingly, it peaked at #1 in both the UK and the US, and in a number of other countries too. Like the other songs on the album, it wasn’t released as a single – the Beatles mostly kept singles and albums apart in those days, though a couple of tracks were released as singles in the US in 1966, one of which – Nowhere Man – reached #1. Here in the UK, we just bought their LPs by the shed load!

Having given you songs from three of the best known acts of all time, this week’s final selection is from one of my favourite bands, who will probably be unknown to most of you. Oysterband were formed in my East Kent homeland, and have been a major feature of the English folk music scene for forty years or so. They are also very popular throughout Europe, but have, as far as I know, never achieved much in the US – you guys have really missed out! This is a song about growing up to the point where the life you’ve known no longer gives you all that you need. I think it bookends this week’s post rather neatly with the Boss. Again, this is solely an album track, but is none the less superb for that:

I never fail to be uplifted by that! I don’t think the Oysters have ever dented the charts, here or anywhere else, but their gigs are always sold out (when we’re allowed to go) and they are a brilliant live band: I know, I’ve seen them! The female singer on that one is Rowan Godel, who isn’t a band member but occasionally lends her powerful vocals to their songs, as well as having her own band. The counterbalance between the two voices really makes that one for me. A little side story: several of the then members of the band were also part of Fiddlers Dram, who had a novelty #3 hit in 1979 with The Day We Went To Bangor. Sadly for them there was no follow up success but, if you’ve heard that song, you’ll probably agree that the current version of the band is far better!

That’s about it for this week. I’m off to celebrate my coming of age with a cup of tea and maybe a Mars bar (other chocolate bars are available). Have a great week, and I’ll see you again next Tuesday. TTFN 👋

38 thoughts on “Tuesday Tunes 21: Growing Up”

    • I looked up the Wikipedia article on age of majority before I wrote this piece, Robbie. It might surprise you on a couple of counts: the age in South Africa is stated as being 18, and that is the age of majority in a fairly large number of countries around the world. Here in the UK Scotland has chosen to reduce it to 16 but it’s still 18 for the rest of us.

      Glad you liked the Rod Stewart song – I’m getting to know the tastes of regular readers since I started this series 😉

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  4. Isn’t it fun to share somebody you know who is good with an audience who may be unfamiliar with the artist or band? Great sound from Oysterband! You were right—they’re new to me. It would almost be sacrilegious to say you don’t like The Beatles or Springsteen, and I won’t buck that trend. I’ve never been a Rod Stewart guy, but you batted three out of four with me this week. Thanks as always, Clive. Stay safe!

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    • It’s one of the main reasons I share music here, Pete. Glad you liked them, I think they deserve a wider audience. Sorry about Rod – I count myself as an eclectic fan of his, not everything he does is to my taste but I think this song is lovely, and has a good back story. You stay safe too 😊

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  5. as you might have guessed, you had me at Bruce. There are a few great versions of Forever Young, but I prefer the one by Joan Baez. Gret song choice by the Beatles, not one I hear too often.

    But I think my favorite song you shared is the one by Oysterband, a group I have not heard of. That song was just wonderful. The lyrics remind me a bit of Thunder Road by Bruce, my all-time favorite song. Man, last week it was Bellowhead, this week it is Oysterhead. I like your taste in music. I also want to check out some of the music of Rowan Godel – any suggestions?

    Another guy that has a couple of songs about Growing up is Harry Chapin, one of my favorite artists. Cats in the Cradle and Story of a Life often bring me to tears.

    And one line from a Bob Seger songs captures pretty well a downside of growing up: “I wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then.”

    Great blog, Clive.

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    • It was a good place to start! I like Joan’s version too but I think I prefer Rod Stewart’s reworking of the song, on balance.

      I’m pleased you like Oysterband – the English folk music circuit has a lot going for it. The album that song is from – Diamonds on the Water – is superb all the way through. They haven’t made a duff album, and there are three compilations – which don’t overlap – which give a real taste of what they do. I’ve drawn a blank with Rowan so far. She apparently released an EP a couple of years ago and was due an album this March. Nothing in Apple Music or on Amazon though, so I guess it may have been delayed. I haven’t tried Spotify yet.

      I considered that Harry Chapin song but then remembered I’d featured it earlier in this series!

      And Against The Wind is one of the best songs ever written 😊

      Thanks for your kind words and ongoing support, Jim.

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    • Glad to hear that, I’ve been a fan of theirs since their early days. One of your bands that I like is Great Big Sea, who covered Oysterband’s When I’m Up some years ago. I’ve seen Great Lake Swimmers live over here – they’re fabulous. Also a fan of Shanneygannock. And of course if you go further there are Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. And who could forget Walk Off The Earth, who make great music and brilliant videos.

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  10. You’ve a great playlist of songs there, Clive. If I added one to the list, it would be ‘Lonely Boy’ by Andrew Gold. A song about a boy growing up thinking he’d only ever be an only child.

    As for 18th and 21st birthdays, I remember them well. In fact, I remember those keys with 18 or 21 you got in a box. I haven’t seen them for a long time, but that’s probably a good thing. Like you, I never had an 18th or 21st birthday party, but I wasn’t really bothered by it.

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    • Thanks, Hugh. I remember Lonely Boy as being about a boy who felt let down by his parents when they gave him a sister: a great song, but it didn’t really fit where I was going with this. But you’ve given me an idea for another theme: watch this space!

      I remember those numbers too. Happy to report that the messages I’d passed on that I thought they were naff did actually work. The birthday I recall most was my 19th – a lovely day 😊

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      • Glad it’s given you an idea for another theme, Clive. I always thought ‘Lonely Boy’ was about growing up, but maybe it was just set at a specific timeline of growing up? Nonetheless, I do like the song mainly because of its piano content.

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      • It has actually suggested three possible themes, so I’m grateful!

        I checked the lyrics: it’s about his disappointment that his parents broke the promise he thought they had made to make him their only child, by having another. I used to have the album it was on, many moons ago!

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